It has taken a year longer than predicted, but a critical appraisal of TRFC’s progress through the lower leagues must include recognition of the improvements on the playing field made under the new manager Mark Warburton. SFM usually precludes lengthy discussion on subjective issues like relative abilities of players and managers and referees, but on this subject, and by any objective standard, that is a given.
It is therefore right that he and his players should receive the congratulations of us all at SFM.
It has to be said that, despite the pitfalls, man-traps and honey-pots that remain to be successfully negotiated by the Rangers board, they have implemented their own stark version austerity, contrary to their rhetoric, whilst managing the expectations of their supporters. Perhaps some of what we have come to term “reasonable” Rangers fans would argue that the lack of humility still evident in the demeanour of the TRFC board is an essential part of managing those fans whilst imposing the austerity package on them.
Much like a political party conference, a football board has to play to it’s core support as well as the rest of the country.
How that will pan out is anybody’s guess, just like the random bagatelle that is the “TRFC in Court” saga.
There is also the existential problem to deal with. Many TRFC fans bought into the ‘same club’ myth at the outset, not because they actually believed it, but because it suited them, and because it served as an understandable GIRUY to the rest of us. With the passage of time, the suspension of disbelief, even in that constituency, is now complete and arguably irreversible. The problem for them is that the rest of have not subscribed to that rather bizarre set of contradictions. No other club has to have the “company that operates” prefix. Nor does any other club compel observers to skirt around the facts and search for a form of words acceptable to both sides of a mutually exclusive argument. In short, and existentially, the new Rangers don’t fit into the same kind of comfortable groove that other clubs do.
All of these problems for the new club, and many more, will exercise our minds to a greater or lesser extent moving forward, depending on how sensitive our outrage thresholds are to the various legal and Jungian issues. However we at SFM need to focus our sights on those whose maladministration of football gave rise to those problems in the first place – the SFA, SPFL, and by extension, the clubs – all of them.
Here are some facts;
- The SFA award clubs a licence to participate in UEFA competitions.
- The licence is only to be awarded if the applicant club has no unpaid tax debts.
- Both the club and the SFA have responsibility to notify UEFA of any debts (belt and braces routine in case the club ‘forgets’ to notify the SFA).
- In 2011, one club applied for and was awarded a UEFA licence.
- That club had accepted debts to HMRC – which were outstanding and overdue.
- These facts have been in the public domain since 2012,and were brought to the attention of ALL clubs in Scotland as well as the SFA.
- Nothing has been done by any club, or the SFA, to investigate the claim at #5
- SFA Chief Executive Stewart Regan, when asked by an SFM member what he would do if these claims could be substantiated, said; “Nothing!”
- All clubs will be within a few weeks, issuing season ticket renewal forms.
The story contained in points 6 and 7 above is a lengthy and protracted one.
From sources inside two clubs I have been informed that the problem here is subversive and obsessive fans, who don’t represent the vast body of fans generally. On points 1-5, my sources refused to comment. Conversations with SFA officials and print journalists yield the same reaction, with the addition that it is “just Celtic fans obsessed with Rangers” making the claims.
The lesson, if there is one worthy of the name, is that the bearers of the message need to attacked, and the message itself ignored. We could speculate why that is, but that would be to fall into the trap, taking our eye off the ball.
Perhaps I am being naïve, but my inference is that the SFA and clubs have no intention of doing anything about what was at best incompetence on an unbelievable scale, or at worst corruption. A source at Celtic Park was complaining in victim-like fashion to SFM that many Celtic fans were threatening to close their season book accounts over this issue, and that Rangers might have 45,000 SBs next season whilst Celtic could be down to as low as 20,000.
It had never occurred to him that actually supporting an investigation into SFA malpractice would add another 10,000 to the SB takeup.
Overall, the clubs and the SFA want us to believe that an investigation into this licensing issue is a Celtic or Rangers thing. It is neither of those.
An investigation, even if finds that corruption or incompetence has taken place cannot harm Rangers – old or new. There are no titles to strip here. The licence has been used and thrown away, so it cannot be “un – awarded”.
The only people who have anything to lose out of this are those individuals who allowed it to happen – those who our clubs seem so keen to protect.
More importantly, an investigation may be the catalyst for changes in procedures at the SFA to ensure that rigorous accountability is enforced -accountability that the clubs are eager to avoid.
Are we wrong? I hope we are not foolish enough to imagine that everything we believe is set in stone. I am confident that we are correct in our assumptions and in our interpretation of the facts, but please, let’s hear the counter-argument. Thus far, not one word of rebuttal save the usual invective reserved for the messenger has been uttered.
So what do we do? For me it is simple. If we really love our sport, and do nothing, the sport is lost to us completely and irrevocably.
If our view that sporting integrity has been killed off by those in charge of the game is correct, we lose nothing by embarking on a season ticket boycott. However by doing so we may awaken those in charge to the realities of our power as fans and prioritise in their minds the need to listen to what we say.
My view? if they ignore us, they can take their industry that they pretend is sport, and put it somewhere away from my reach. I neither want it nor need it.
If enough of us feel the same way, we WILL get a clean game. If we are as few as the MSM claim we are, at least we will have freed ourselves from a bent one.
I won’t be buying any more season books until I see these issues addressed. It certainly is tough love, but it is the only way for me. And it is driven by love – a love of the game I spent decades supporting, thinking that on the whole it was played on a level playing field. Certainly not driven by a sneering disregard for truth and integrity and a worship of acquisition.
Maybe it’s not just the end of Rangers’ journey then. Certainly if it’s not the end of ours, we find ourselves at a crossroads. The fans, the clubs, and Rangers too. The decision we make over the next few months may determine the future of our clubs, our sport, our Saturday afternoons.
I can tell you this though. Even when the dark facts are laid before us starkly as this, and when football is at the mercy of those who really do hate sport for its own sake, it is worth mentioning the common thread of decency and purpose we have all shared here on SFM, the friendships we have forged, and the love of football we have demonstrated.
I’ll leave the source out – sure you can all guess. So we’re guaranteeing tv companies top six old firm again are we? Hell, that’s never caused any problems before!
Firstly well done to Warburton and his team for an efficient campaign with some good football along the way.
Secondly the premier clubs who voted in 2012 to keep the Rangers in the top, then the second league now have what they wished for after four colourful years.
Thirdly Regan Doncaster and others have also accidentally created a further point of “difference” to allow another polarizing factor to fuel future reasons for “getting it right up the opposition” especially between the preferred duopoly clubs for the benefit of their televised product and the empty seats at Celtic Park.
Complicity abounds.
Plain sailing is not however a likely outcome.
Sad, but unsurprised, to read of the response/lack of from other clubs, Tris, but thanks for trying so hard for the benefit of our game. I think the main problem with the whole Rangers scandal is that, to a man/woman, the boards of our clubs just wanted the problem to go away and every banana skin that RFC and TRFC overcame convinced the cowards that they were doing the right thing for their respective clubs/themselves.
Watch every crook, charlatan and coward involved in the whole saga walk away with a smile, some will even be richer for the experience! My cynicism has become more entrenched the longer this has gone on, and I didn’t have a high opinion of the people running football, anywhere in the world, beforehand.
People get involved in the running of football clubs for all sorts of reasons, and it will be a long time since anyone got involved with the sole intention of improving the game or ensuring it’s honesty.
While I believe that Ann Budge genuinely got into the game purely to save Hearts, I hold none of the hope that others seem to hold that she will, in any way, improve the game along the lines we would all wish to see. She is first and foremost a highly successful business woman, who just happens to love Hearts. Whatever the future holds for her and my club, she will do her very best for Hearts, even if that means allowing what all the chairs and CEOs of Scottish football see as the (second) biggest club in our game, to get away with murder!
Rangers were always the bully, with the SFA and SPL it’s bully boys, but when Turnbull Hutton did what always needs to be done with a bully and his boys, not one club stood beside him, instead performing the only honourable act any dared to do (the vote), behind closed doors.
One thing we can take succour from in this week of the ‘return’; they think the journey’s over!
Well done to TRFC in winning the Championship, you almost matched Gretna’s sterling effort, though you did manage to surpass their accumulated financial losses. If I remember rightly, their efforts continued unabated in the top tier.
SmugasApril 6, 2016 at 15:23
“We’ve got an appetiser in 10 days’ time with the Scottish Cup semi-final between Celtic and Rangers, but we’ve got four pretty big main courses to look forward to next year.”I’ll leave the source out – sure you can all guess. So we’re guaranteeing tv companies top six old firm again are we? Hell, that’s never caused any problems before!
____________________________________
Ee aw, ee aways says that…?
For those that don’t get it, I think it was the Donkey that said it
Good Blog Tris.
1) Indeed it would be churlish not to congratulate TRFC for winning their league.
But more importantly, IMO, it is a pretty decent effort from Warburton who had <2 years management experience and a history in the City before joining the Govan club. And although TRFC uses more resources, it doesn’t necessarily ‘buy’ the league, [Leicester anyone ?].
2) The SMSM is now officially stoopid.
After 4+ years the ‘print churnalists/radio phone-ins/BBC/etc’ seemed to have learned nothing at all wrt the Ibrox saga – and continue to misrepresent the truth !
3)The management of the senior clubs, SFA and SPFL are now officially stoopid.
Tough love: unfortunately, I think it is becoming more apparent every day Tris that only the repeated threat of a Scotland wide ST boycott will force any change whatsoever. That is a sad state of affairs – we seem to be back in the same position as the ‘No to Newco’ campaign in 2012 – and the clubs and the SFA/SPFL have learned nothing at all about improving their customer service either.
Easy for me to write as I don’t have a ST, and I can only guess at the mental anguish of those ST holding fans who are trying to decide what to do next.
Just noticed what must be about the most truthful paragraph written on a BBC sports page for a long time, with regard to ‘The Journey’.
“With the club mired in debt, Rangers entered administration and then liquidation in 2012 under the ownership of Craig Whyte – who has since faced criminal charges over his stewardship at Ibrox – and had to re-enter the Scottish football pyramid in the fourth tier.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35974305
Sorry if link doesn’t work or if this has already been posted.
Continued thanks to all for the good work on here.
CMONTHESHIRE
They narrowly missed telling the whole truth by putting ‘re-enter’ in there.
Can’t re-enter somewhere you’ve never been!
I’m sure there’s a joke in there about an immaculate re-entry but its probably too early!
But since I’ve brought it up, to enter something afresh, riding on more than a whiff of other people’s money despite warnings to the contrary as to why this might be a bad idea, an entry which everyone assumes (i.e. has been sufficiently media shot blasted) is a re-entry with all of the good stuff like titles but none of the bad stuff like debt looks pretty damned immaculate to me!
What could possibly go wrong?
Hi Trisidium,
I used the f symbol to share this blog post on Facebook but the photograph at the top of the post is not visible. Can you sort this out?
Suppose the bears will be demanding the promised ‘overinvestment’ now – to buy quality players to make an impression in their fist season in the top league.
There might be some unrest if the new faces are mainly loanees / free transfers.
Think Warburton really has his work cut out to manage TRFC fans’ expectations next season.
If TRFC supporters are genuinely convinced that Rangers survived liquidation, surely they would be embarrassed at the thought of winning any lower tier titles and would prefer their ‘return’ to be as low key as possible, instead it’s like they’ve achieved some kind of football first, and we should all be jealous! I genuinely believe that if Celtic were to somehow find themselves relegated, then their return would only be greeted with a sense of relief from their supporters. Of course, that might not be the case if they were trying to convince us all that they were the same club had their demise come about as the result of liquidation!
There is something very contrived about the level of this never before known celebration of a club, any club, winning the second tier of any league that I’ve ever heard of, and it’s not just the club and it’s supporters that are celebrating. In fact, there could be a world record of words said about something that often passes without much attention!
Regardless of the OC/NC debate, what can a club that has run up over £30m of losses, and has – how many millions does it owe? – of debt in three and a half years bring to the Premiership? That’s one thing that’s returning to the top tier, at least!
StevieBCApril 6, 2016 at 17:47
Suppose the bears will be demanding the promised ‘overinvestment’ now – to buy quality players to make an impression in their fist season in the top league. There might be some unrest if the new faces are mainly loanees / free transfers. Think Warburton really has his work cut out to manage TRFC fans’ expectations next season.
___________________
This could well be one of the aims of the over-the-top celebration of a second tier title. The PR machine is in motion painting a picture of a returning giant and a magnet for some of the best young, to be loaned, talent in English football.
Stevie
I think that an interesting question arises out of your observation. As T says, the new board have managed fan expectation quite well so far. Will that strategy survive a failure to compete realistically for the title?
The board may be hoping for a Martin O’Neill effect from Warburton. When MON arrived at Celtic much behind the scenes effort went into managing expectations of his team given the realistic expectation that Advocaat’s RFC could be overtaken in a short time. However, O’Neill succeeded spectacularly, and the fan management became moot.
Of course O’Neill did have around £25m to spend 🙂 Although still not packing the financial muscle (or access to free credit) that Rangers possessed (this was the Flo season) MON was able to compete financially.
Seriously though, the question is how much goodwill have the board earned from the fans? And how quickly will it run out?
My journey’s end began today
On speaking to a friend today, let’s call him a fan of an ibrox club.
Ibrox friend….Were back.
ME…. The usual response to that one.
Ibrox friend….Wait until you see the better TV deal the league gets now.
ME….well let’s hope if it can be renegotiated? but anything is better than the SPFL paying a tv company money to cover TRFC games.
Ibrox friend….Lier.
ME…(In my younger days a clenched fist would have seen anyone call me a Lier to my face knocked out. but i’m much older and wiser now)http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/rangers/spfl-pay-bt-sport-250k-to-show-rangers-games-1-3417629
Anyhow back to conversation.
Ibrox friend….you celtic fans can’t wait for rangers to be in the top flight.
ME…not bothered either way, but lets hope this ibrox club when in the top flight does not leave 276 creditors in it’s wake if it goes bust trying to catch celtic.
Ibrox friend….how do you know, we have not paid the creditors back.
ME….MY JOURNEY STARTS TODAY. after 4 years it seems my ibrox friend has forgotten everything
..”Celtic fans were threatening to close their season book accounts over this issue, and that Rangers might have 45,000 SBs next season whilst Celtic could be down to as low as 20,000.
It had never occurred to him that actually supporting an investigation into SFA malpractice would add another 10,000 to the SB takeup…”
Too true Tris, myself and friends who withdrew support pending proper governance are seriously, desperately hoping to be given an opportunity to `return to our rightful place` and offer our financial support to our clubs.How blinkered have club boards been? Do they really believe we will all come flooding back now that a team has been promoted from the championship??
StevieBCApril 6, 2016 at 17:47
===============================
They have “over invested” over £30,000,000 to get to and win the second tier of senior football in Scotland. We won’t know how much until the 2016 accounts are released.
How much more do they want “over invested” for flip sake.
The very definition of hubris (not the Greek tragedy meaning, unfortunately) & a shocking view of where big media institutions stand on Ra’Gers. It can’t all be Level Sinko’s doing, can it?
Not much hope in EUFA sticking a leg in now:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35981302
More “ethical” experts bite the dust.
Can we please please empty the whole shower in Switzerland out and start again.
Having witnessed the unbelievable bias shown today by almost 100% of the Scottish media, I now see Neil Doncaster has wasted no time in entering the fray to welcome Rangers ‘back’ to the top league. I ask once again where the bias stops, and what the end game is? The media and Neil Doncaster are clearly quite prepared to condone tax evasion on a significant scale, while the rest of the country becomes more appalled by it by the day given recent revelations. Not only do cheats win in Scottish football, they get an official blessing to do it.
Jingso.JimsieApril 6, 2016 at 19:36
______________________________________
It’s certainly not Level ‘thinko’
I’m very much looking forward to the MA v the SFA at COS in late April.
We will see then the extent of the reach of the “establishment in Scotland” when gazed upon by the court system.
IAIAGAIN @ 21:12
==================
What chance there will be reporting restrictions? I would not be at all surprised.
On the few occasions I find myself listening to talksport…it never ceases to amaze me what I sometimes hear being discussed.
Today, not sure who the presenters were…but it was just after 1pm and they had decided to run a slot regarding Rangers return to the Scottish premiership…in this slot they invited a Scottish journalist to the table….step forward Bill Leckie from the Scottish Sun…
To be fair…Bill attempted to be impartial from a purely football perspective…and generally he was…
However the questions/suggestions being fed to him from the 2 English hosts clearly demonstrated their enormous lack of knowledge on what has and is taking place in Scottish football….
Not once did Bill attempt to correct or give them pause for thought on some of the current issues facing SEVCO fc or the SFA….it was all about promotion…the return of the old firm games…the increased competition their promotion will bring to the SPFL…and a general Hurrrah!
The one outstanding claim made in the slot…that Bill Leckie allowed to slip past was one of the English lads stating that next season Rangers will have a bigger transfer budget than all the top flight Scottish clubs combined outwith Celtic! which surely means they will be challenging Celtic for the title…wow…just wow
If I was unaware of the goings on in Scottish football…I would have extracted the following from this show and the cooperation from the guest that…THE Rangers had been demoted…Scottish football had suffered…In the words of Bill Leckie ‘Only Celtic fans don’t want them to RETURN…but secretly they do? and they will do as well as Hearts have this season.
God help us!
ianagainApril 6, 2016 at 21:12
‘..What chance there will be reporting restrictions? I would not be at all surprised.’
_________
Well, it’s not a criminal trial, and there’s no question of a potential jury possibly being influenced by anything reported.
So perhaps the only matters that the Court might be asked to be kept confidential ( i.e not mentioned at all in open court, as in our Imran’s ring-fencing claim) would be related to ‘business confidentiality’.
It’s hard to see, though, how the SFA board’s explanation of how they arrived at a decision on whether a South African based convicted criminal ( or, indeed, any other criminal wherever based) would involve a discussion of the SFA finances or other commercially sensitive material.
Unless, of course, their response was to be related solely to the commercial ‘need’ on the part of the SFA for the new club’s would-be director to be kept sweet to ensure the promised cash injections from such an iconically wealthy fairy-godfather, and/or for supporters of the new club to be kept sweet for other reasons.
They might not wish folk to have any court-room confirmation that their board deliberations may not have included any mention of ‘integrity’ , but might rather expose them as unprincipled, cowardly, and venal ‘administrators’ with no interest in the sporting ethics.
( Kind of like FIFA and we now learn ,perhaps even the guy elected a few weeks ago expressly to replace the guy suspected of being suspect while in charge of UEFA)
But just as in Dorothy Parker’s famous ” if all the girls attending [the Yale ball] were laid end to end..”, I would not be surprised if some attempt is made , and successfully so, to keep any dirt from surfacing.
JC
Haud on John.
They will be having your pencils and pad off you with this kind of talk.
Sorry, ianagain: t was upthehoops’ post I was relating to , not yours, that he was relating to.If that makes sense!
ianagainApril 6, 2016 at 22:47
‘…Haud on John.They will be having your pencils and pad off you with this kind of talk…’
_________
I cannot now remember the precise circumstances long ago in which I first heard that Dorothy Parker quote, only that it was in some pub discussion involving football statistics along the lines of ‘well, IF ‘x’ drop a couple of points it would mean ‘y’ could still ..’, and one of the group came out with ” as Dorothy Parker said, if all…” and it took me a full millisecond to ‘get it’.
And then I nearly choked on my beer at the clever unexpectedness of the wit.
It was as good and probably better than the sometimes brilliantly clever stuff that the ‘Two Ronnies’ came up with.
Or were you referring to my comments about our wonderful Football Governance people?
well 4 years have gone bye and we still await to hear /see the truth from our media,it’s absolutely astonishing that not one reporter within the media setup today would stick his neck out and spout the truth.
most of us have managed to keep our emotions in check ,though this one from the clumpany spoke for many
” But right now it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that you are an absolute moron if you pay a single penny into any part of Scottish football.”
yet we have to be careful with such language,i fear we might only isolate others from our own journey and lose support in the process as hard as it has been to stomach in the last 24 hours.
make no mistake, next season is no better than american wrestling if the truth cannot prevail.
it’s going to be one big ROYAL RUMBLE indeed next season,we have to be persuasive and keep the message simple to others on supporter blogs/facebook etc if we are to have an impact regarding season tickets or attendees.
the last resort would be to have a local gathering of such minds to protest at the grounds collectively, especially when the new club comes to town and sadly if the new rangers win on the day, this could actually favour our fight for justice as ill feeling will rise.
so i would ask all club members to organize a big banner on match day illustrating the big fix at hand with leaflets explaining in laymans terms what we are about and the outcome we seek.
the matchday program will be the last chance for our clubs to redeem themselves, i wont hold my breath on that.
admittedly i dont have much to add as most cover this subject matter in far better detail than i ever could and thanks to all for keeping us informed. i hope mr clark can continue to keep us in the loop regarding the court outcomes.
i dont post much but will probably have some short comment to add on most pages to stop the media lying to all about this being about a TRFC/CELTIC issue and would encourage others to even change their post name that illustrates their club position. keep em honest!.
WHAT! the arrogance from the player of a new club called halliday is astounding,when i came across the bbc report on the new club.
“We’ve got to be challenging for the title,” said Halliday. “That’s not me being arrogant or disrespectful to Celtic at all.
no thats you just being a total tube, they really are so up themselves, not to recognize the rest of the teams in the premier league.
i hope many club managers will put this up on the dressing room pin board as way to motivate the players. though i hope the truth is outed by then of course.
that halliday is in for some reality check.
one thing concerns me though, is all the talk of next season and not much on the cheating issue or if they are to be non attendees next season on most aberdeen fan sites.
motor redApril 6, 2016 at 23:23
‘…well 4 years have gone bye and we still await to hear /see the truth from our media,.’
___________
Yes. But we now KNOW, rather than merely suspect, that our newsmen are bought men.
Utterly discredited, collectively and individually.
We hold the moral high ground, lie as they might.
.Simples.
JOHN CLARKAPRIL 6, 2016 at 22:39 Well, it’s not a criminal trial, and there’s no question of a potential jury possibly being influenced by anything reported.
===================================
I hope you’re right John, but the cynic in me says whoever the presiding Judge is may be persuaded that the SFA have a right for the details not to be reported. Of course, there may be dynamite revelations or admissions which show the SFA up in a poor light, and there will almost certainly be media people sitting in the court listening. I understand the media would have the right to petition the court to have restrictions lifted if they felt it was in the public interest to report. What are the chances of that happening if the evidence is damning? Would the media want to report it at all? After all, they have put a protective shield around the SFA throughout this whole sorry saga.
As a point of interest, you have sat in a courtroom during this saga where reporting restrictions have been applied. I do not expect you to reveal any details on here of course, but have you heard anything you believe would make headline reporting if the restrictions were not there? I stress I ask only in a general sense and if you don’t want to answer then no problem.
Well decision has been made. No season tickets next until someone at my club makes it clear that they are not/were not complicit in the corruption that has been so evident in the game here in the most corrupt wee country in the world. Walk up only for me and my 2 grandsons. I cannot deny them the opportunity to support the team however there will be no new replica tops and no official merchandise bought. Any new scarves or badges will come from street vendors etc. Small protest I know but I feel better for it as the club have been advised of my position.
What about the production of plain white scarves with the words ‘I SUPPORT MY TEAM ONLY’ on one side and the team name in team colours on the reverse. These would be highly visible and become a talking point between fans. Unison can be shown at all the grounds around Scotland and make the authorities well aware that this is not a Celtic v TRFC affair. Any entrepreneurs out there who could manufacture and market such scarves. Just a thought.
It’s a brilliant blog from Tris, pragmatic but despondent unfortunately, like my emotions at present. All of us on here know what’s coming next season & since Tuesday night, my stomach cannot contain the bile that is sloshing around.
It could all be so different, but that opportunity is long gone & what we’re left with is a cheats charter, a game where the sectarian pound is the ONLY thing that matters.
Without SFM & occasionally Twitter, my views have been drowned out in the celebration, that is the “return of normal service”, the sectarian hate fest, appearing on your TV four times a year, the freak show, from a cold & chilly Northern outpart of Europe, where two teams, bereft of any outstanding or world class players, kick lumps out of each other, for the delectation of the discerning lunch time viewer of Sky Sports, before they move onto the more refined dining of the EPL…
And apparently, that’s what makes Scottish Football great, this is the brand that we export all over the world……God help us!!
Furthermore, we should rejoice, we should be grateful & thankful that the people running our game have (stage)managed to make this happen, indeed TRFC have “saved” Scottish Football…..
As John Lydon once said “ever thought you’ve been cheated”…..”ever realised you’ve been conned”
Neil Lennon on Radio Scotland blabbering on about Rangers being back and 4 old firm games guaranteed being good for Scottish football! What can I say!
Is Jim Whyte on Holiday just now ? How on earth could this pass the approval process !?
Rangers added the Championship title to their two other lower league trophies on Tuesday, when Mark Warburton’s side beat Dumbarton 1-0 at Ibrox.
The promotion to join Scotland’s elite clubs from next season comes almost four years after Charles Green bought the assets of Rangers after they were consigned to liquidation amid a financial meltdown.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10232060/neil-lennon-reckons-rangers-promotion-to-the-premiership-is-a-positive
I too like the point:
“It had never occurred to him that actually supporting an investigation into SFA malpractice would add another 10,000 to the SB takeup.”
I agree it is worth club Boards thinking about.
I think there are three categories of Celtic supporter emerging; those that:
Have decided they are renewing, either happily or with reservationsAre buying for the first time or returning, excited by what they see as the return of something attractiveRequire their clubs to show some guts and leadership around the likes of Res. 12, improper registrations, governance etc. before renewingFrom a business point of view, it would make sense to appease the category 3s, as the other 2 will buy anyway, and better to keep the 3s than alienate and lose their contribution.
I suppose there is the possibility/likelihood that clubs knew all along that Rangers were allocated the UEFA licence while insolvent and they may not have the appetitite to open old sores – fudge it, produce the odd trite comment and ride it out, while knowing they lost money for shareholders, money that could have purchased better players.
I have never sat on a Board, but surely a clear opportunity to add a sizeable chunk to its SB numbers in one move has to be attractive to any Board.
Of course clubs need to know how many may not renew to allow them to make that business decision and I don’t know how many category 3s are actually out there supporting all clubs. Not sure if anyone knows, maybe it’s small.
I think we all know that the powers that be want us all to move on. They are hoping that time will diminish the efforts of ‘the obsessed” who seek the truth.
On social media yesterday I was made aware of Louise White,on the Radio Scotland morning call in show, being in full liquidation denial mode.
I scanned through the catch up version and couldn’t believe my ears. However I was also pleased to hear many fans from many clubs try to get on and tell it how it really is in an articulate manner.
Similarly the comments boards of some papers are full of people seeking the truth and painting a realistic picture of where we are and how we got here.
I take heart we are not just the West Coast obsessed Old Firm fans they would like us to be .and that there are significant numbers who won’t let things lie..
Keep the faith. It may take time but one day we will get to the bottom of this shambles.
celtic fc incorporated 1897April 7, 2016 at 10:08
Thanks for that CFCI 1897. The simple truth simply stated . Now ,if only we could get the other Media outlets to re-produce this .
“Rangers added the Championship title to their two other lower league trophies on Tuesday, when Mark Warburton’s side beat Dumbarton 1-0 at Ibrox.The promotion to join Scotland’s elite clubs from next season comes almost four years after Charles Green bought the assets of Rangers after they were consigned to liquidation amid a financial meltdown. ”
By the way Morarbhoy – I’m still a Category 3.
Could somebody please ask Mr Doncaster a simple question – how can he state that we will have 4 Celtic v TRFC games next season?
Surely if it is a true sporting contest the number of games is an unknown until the league split has been decided? Or are the rest of the clubs irrelevant to Doncaster and the SPFL/SFA? Unless the risks to Doncaster et al are just to great to rely on those stuffy old “sporting” rules.
FAO any MSSM journalist that may be having a peek at SFM – I am not part of the “West of Scotland thing”. I am Edinburgh born , reside in the east Scottish Borders and have followed Hibs for over 55 years. Now, while the last admission may raise a question over my mental state, I do believe that it qualifies me as someone who has no axe to grind.
Many on here know that I have been pushing a petition for a while now and, on the back of that, have approached UEFA and many other persons/organisations that SHOULD have an interest in the proceedings. The initial contact produced an unanimous response – NOTHING! The follow up contact by phone has produced a response from three of those contacted – UEFA whose representative basically said “Naw, we get to many complaints from individuals to act on them”, the Sports Integrity Initiative where they responded with “Oh yeah, I saw that but haven’t read it. I might do some time.”, and Hearts whose employee Denise Oldham said “As a matter of policy, the club makes no comment on any private individuals’ petition to any organisation.”
The latest stage has been to start contacting owners. The first being Sir Tom Farmer of Hibs. The documentation has been sent to his home address and, after seven days, there has been no response.
So why am I saying this? Well firstly, to give an update to those who have supported the petition but mainly to re-emphasise Trisidium’s point that who we are up against probably won’t respond to any appeal to their better side. The side that should be filled with a desire for integrity and justice. The moves will not stop and I will continue plodding away in the hope that the nagging headache I can cause will encourage at least one to break ranks. One is all that is needed. Oh that Turnbull Hutton was still with us.
I have always stated that a more direct action was the most likely to succeed but that too has its obstacles. We need many more of the ordinary fans to be aware of the issues and this is where the media blackout is hitting us the worst. It is all very well talking and complaining about it on insular websites where it is always the same relatively small group that reads what is written. All that is achieved here is that the already aware have their beliefs reinforced. We need to get the message out before any action is called for. It looks like the only way to do that is private advertising and that costs money. We need to go down the crowd funding route and I ask that anyone who is reading this who has experience in doing it gives me a PM on this site so I can be advised on it. I am novice on this as I was with the petition and, while it did not affect the petition that I was learning on the run, crowd-funding and the subsequent action needs to be undertaken with a degree of expertise.
Let’s change this from pissing against the wind to pissing in the pot of those who are destroying our sport.
https://www.change.org/p/scottish-football-association-return-integrity-to-football-administration-in-scotland-94421b40-2d6b-4d4b-9cff-912c9849478f
There is one thing though that has confused me in these discussions and that is the belief that withholding the purchase of season tickets hurts the club. This is a myth and in fact could even strengthen a properly run club. The purchase of STs is a saving over the equivalent of the same number of pay at the gate tickets. How STs help the club is that they have money in before supplying the product. It gives them money to put towards the purchase of players or ground maintenance. It is no more than a reflection of how the ordinary guy works nowadays. It follows Thatcher’s brain washing of the populace that they deserve to have everything NOW. She tied people into debt that meant that they could not fight anything that the government did for fear of losing all they had. That is how the unions were destroyed and she spent huge amounts of oil money to achieve her goal. That is the same fear the clubs will have should ST money be withheld. That is our strength.
In the same way that the public haven’t always lived with debt so it has been with clubs and ST money. It is a relatively recent occurrence that fans have paid up front for their tickets. So, when I was a regular match attender was I putting my club at risk by paying at the gate? NO!!!
You will not damage your club if you don’t buy your ST, that is a fallacy. Sure, the club would prefer you to pay the lump sum but the reason is that their accountants are lazy, nothing else.
First we need to get the message out there, THAT should be our priority.
I am going to steal from one of JJ’s latest attempts and quote L Cohen but I am going to change it.
“First we take down Hampden
Then we know we’ll win.”
https://www.change.org/p/scottish-football-association-return-integrity-to-football-administration-in-scotland-94421b40-2d6b-4d4b-9cff-912c9849478f
Reiver – it is of course true that season tickets over the season work out cheaper. But that is only the case if people switch to attending all (or most) of the games through pay at the gate. With a season ticket you are likely to go to most games, without one…. many folk will stop regular attendance and instead pick and choose the games to go to. In the long run I reckon PATG goers will end up going to fewer games and therefore pay less. Add to that the loss of associated game-day earnings such as the programme, food etc. Of course if your team has a bad year, those PATG numbers will plummet.
Besides a mass withdrawal of season tickets purchases will put the fear of god up the clubs. Its the clearest way to make it perfectly clear to them that we have had enough, that we have lost all trust in our clubs and the SFA/SPFL and have decided to take our money elsewhere. There is a lot of comfort for a club to have all that money banked and available, even if ultimately the per-game ticket price is cheaper.
wottpiApril 7, 2016 at 11:19
__________________________________________________________________
I listened on ‘catch up’ last night and my ears were bleeding. Never, and I mean never, have I heard such unadulterarted bias, rudeness, arrogance… in all the tripe that has been spouted thusfar.
Louise White plumbed the depths of tastelessness and ignorance in her performance.
Tayred
I would really question your logic (in a nice way though)
Go back to the times when ST seats were a tiny part of the main stand. Can you remember seeing the empty spaces at Parkhead that we are seeing now. Compare like for like, ie when Celtic were top of the league.
The important factor isn’t whether the fans would bother going, it is whether the club would attract them in. Standard supply and demand and care about the product that you are selling. Just now the only product that the clubs have to sell is the new players that are signed at ST purchase time. How they perform during the season is unimportant to the clubs financially.
Comment from James D Twitter timeline.
I wonder though if Celtic are to some extent a special case though? Those empty spaces are only at Parkhead – as Ianagain has so hadily dropped into the conversation, attendances elsewhere are going up. I’d suggest a combination of Deila putting out a team that is not inspiring the fans to turn up plus dare I say the loss of the competition from the other side of Glasgow may have more to do with those spaces.
As for selling themselves to the fans. I guess ultimately fans want an entertaining day out, which in many cases means a team with some chance of success. How you measure that success depends on the team – Celtic fans win everything, Aberdeen fans – aim for a cup, push hard in the league similar for most teams in the SPFL, for others it may be something else. Aberdeen can’t compete with Celtic on signings, its a long time since Aberdeen made a signing that would convince folk to invest in a season ticket – Charlie Nicholas maybe!? Although was he not a midseason signing?
phils latest
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/dermot-desmond-and-resolution-12/#more-7419
I actually think yesterday morning’s phone in when Louise became angry exasperated and was ultimately destroyed by the truth was a bit of a game changer. The reporters on, Murdo and a second one sounded absurd and irrelevant and it was the single most effective piece of debunking car crash radio I have heard I a Lon time. I salute the contributors, especially the quietly destructive Willy who ripped the entire liquidation lie to shreds. Since then, the BBC has removed all references to demotion or relegation, and has recognised that Rangers had to enter, albeit they insisted on re-enter the league.
This admission has forced them into tortuous guff to maintain the same club myth, and left any intelligent reader utterly bamboozled by the insistence on the same club nonsense.
A small but significant shift, I feel. Perhaps the avalanche of complaints about the triumphalist p*sh that was broadcast on Tuesday night’s Ten O’clock news has had some effect.
We say, “But that is dishonest
They say, “So what!”
We say, “It is against the spirit of the game”
They say, “We don’t care”
We say, “But we care, What are you going to to about it?”
They say, “Nothing !!!”
We say, “I might not come back”
They say, “Don’t care”
We say, “We said No to Newco!”
They say, “Oh Feck!”
I don’t see it as an emotional predicament, but rather as a practical solution to a long festering problem. A clear statement from my club or I won’t set foot in the place again ! It will then cease to be my problem, but theirs.
Make our problem, their problem. It is we who pay the piper.
Phil’s latest.
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/dermot-desmond-and-resolution-12/#more-7419
Corrupt officialApril 7, 2016 at 13:27
Phil’s latest.
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/dermot-desmond-and-resolution-12/#more-7419
—————————————————————————————–
Developing story? We will see, but I’m not holding my breath!
Journey’s End.
Excellent blog but, hopefully, a beginning to the end.
Might I suggest for anyone with an interest in the Res 12 issue, click on the link given by TayRed and Corrupt Official; makes interesting reading.
I spoke to several friends (fellow Celtic fans) at the weekend to find out how they felt about the imminent promotion of The Rangers to the top league.
2 out of 3 were basically dreading the return of the fans of that club, for the cultural baggage and violence that would inevitably come with them. It has not been missed these last fou years.
The other was looking forward to the “big matches” despite the setarianism etc.
None of them were remotely worried about being challenged by them on the pitch in the near future. Aberdeen and Hearts are both seen as much more significant in that regard, and there was more of a general concern about the quality of Celtic’s performances.
All of us think that Celtic will probably generate greater revenue on the back of the so-called return of the so-called Old Firm. It remains to be seen if that will be the case. It is highly doubtful if this will benefit other teams in the top league.
None of us believe that this is the same Rangers that died in 2012.
None of us have any faith in the people that run the sport nationally.
All of us are worried that our own board are complicit in the mismanagement of the game and that it is fundamentally rotten.
The journey is ending for a lot of people now.
For many it will be the end of their involvement with the sport and the clubs they have loved all their lives.
Will this have a significant impact on club finances? Doubtful.
It will, however, turn away many of those who cherish the notion of sport for its own sake, people that should be at the heart of every one of our clubs.
If our clubs, if my club, is only concerned with the cash that they are able to extract from paying punters like me and has no commitment to the integrity of the sport we are paying to watch – they can do it without me.
My loyalty is to the community of fans that supports Celtic. We are the club. I have no allegiance to the board or the PLC.
In a way, this helps me to understand the Rangers fans, to some extent. They ARE returning to the top league, even if the club they come up with is arriving there for the first time.
I have never been a regular attender. The club won’t notice a loss in revenue from me. I am just one of the massive Celtic diaspora who believe that the club should mean more, so much more, than the account book or even the silverware won.
SFM lets me share these thoughts and ideals with a community of fellow fans from across the country, including some Rangers fans, for whom sporting integrity is more important that the success or failure of their own team. For that I am hugely grateful.
Football without sporting integrity is nothing.
As some may be aware, at the beginning of each season, the SPFL applies a type of seeding when determining the fixtures, so that each team has the best possible chance of playing 19 games at home at 19 away. This is based on performances in previous seasons. If you end up in the wrong “half” of the table at the split, you may end up with 20 home games and 18 away, or vice versa.
Does anyone believe for a second that despite never having kicked a ball in the Premiership, newly-promoted The Rangers won’t be seeded to finish in the top half?
Interesting point Stevo, we can depend on the SPFL to do the right thing. ?
james forrest latest
http://thecelticblog.com/2016/04/blogs/souness-tours-the-newsrooms-guess-what-he-wasnt-asked-about
TONYAPRIL 7, 2016 at 12:42
phils latesthttp://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/dermot-desmond-and-resolution-12/#more-7419
===============
Interesting if indeed correct from Phil – including obtaining a copy of said dossier delivered.
But – IIRC – Lawwell seems to be producing acceptable numbers and earning his bonuses, so it would seem likely that he
would be given time to have his own forecasts confirmed or otherwise.
But, there must be something significant happening if the detail is supposedly now appearing on Desmond’s radar ?
]
[To state the bleedin’ obvious !
But as per Bordersdon above re: developments – I won’t hold my breath either.
STEVIEBC
breath holding in this instance can lead to the same fate as rfc 1872
Liverpool fans and pyros, eh ? What are they like ?
Journey’s End?
Welcome back to honest mistakes, whatever it takes.
Next time DUFC, AFC, HMFC or whoever turn up at Ibrox, or probably Parkhead now needing 3 points for Europe, what’s their chance if the tv deal is threatened by either TRFC not making the top 6 or one or other of the “Old Firm” not making the top 2, or if the prospects of one of them missing out on a European spot is possible?
If you support CFC or TRFC and that’s OK with you, buy a season book.
I can’t think of any reason why anyone else would even consider it.
Doncaster has told you straight.
StevieBCApril 7, 2016 at 16:14
‘…But, there must be something significant happening if the detail is supposedly now appearing on Desmond’s radar ?’
____________________
Maybe nothing more significant , perhaps, than the penny dropping on the realisation that the true significance of the misinformation given by the SFA to UEFA in order to secure to RFC(IL) their UEFA licence was the loss to him of a packet of money , and the potential for lots more!
You don’t get to be a rich man by allowing cheats to steal as much as a pound from you let alone a good few million.( Mike Ashley would no doubt endorse that sentiment)
Was Dermot actually not kept fully briefed by his board on the Res 12 evidence? Has he only now been given what many of us believe is cast-iron evidence of at least a cavalier attitude to truth telling on the part of the SFA when it came to checking the social taxes actual indebtedness, at a time when they insisted that RFC(IL) was merely ‘negotiating’ with HMRC?
If he was not kept fully briefed, then I imagine he will not be best pleased. And if he has only just been briefed when the supposed deadline for lodging complaint has been passed, I can imagine him being incandescent with rage.
If, on the other hand, he has known all along and was himself the voice that told the Board not to make representations to UEFA, then, frankly, he deserves to have lost money, and will deserve it if the share price of Celtic plc declines steadily: because its mentality is to denigrate those of us who want cheats and cheating out of Scottish football as ‘the integrity soviet‘.
MACFURGLYAPRIL 7, 2016 at 21:31
TRFC not making the top 6
what is the chance of two games at ibrox and one at parkhead
Really didn’t take long for a tenuous link to the saga to turn up in the Panama papers.
Dave call me Sirs first mug. Joe Lewis in extremely lucrative art deal. Was that money he lost or washed ?
Quote from ICIJ
The man who had power of attorney for Simsbury, and thus exercised control over the company and its bank account, was British billionaire Joseph Lewis. Then the richest man in England, Lewis made his fortune betting on currency movements. He was also Christie’s largest shareholder.
The Ganz catalog stated “Christie’s has a direct financial interest in all property in this sale,” but the terms of that interest were never explained.
Lewis had made a bet that would pay off in multiple ways.
The Ganz auction would help turn 1997 into one of Christie’s biggest years for sales up until then. The auctioneer raked in more than $2 billion that year.
Lewis did not respond to a request for comment.
One of the most expensive paintings s
Regarding trying to get our message out to a wider audience
May I suggest making a list of the 42 clubs and asking any supporters of these clubs who post on here to copy and paste the headline article onto their respective fans forums at least once a day everyday until we are listened to and that we identify the other non represented fans forums and allocate a poster to register and do the same on them .
That way ,we can at least ensure that all clubs fans forums have a heads up as to the goings on regards the coruption in our game
maybe we could get a few volunteers
You may get the impression that BBC via panorama is one of the trusted organisations breaking this stuff.
It shows how low its got when you realise they are just chasing
the story via ICIJ website..
The DR of broadcasting. Depressing.
A terrible journey ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_c22M_Z9jc
https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/search?country=&q=Dave+king&ppl=on&ent=on&adr=on
Have fun. Don’t worry he’d not there under his own name. Others will know what to look for.
They have released a searchable database.
“But if they’ve learnt anything over the last few days, it should have been that the ability to hide stuff that you’ve done is, frankly, just not what it used to be:”
I lifted this from https://storify.com/alexcobham/panamapapers-tax-justice-tweetgate
They could have been speaking of our little country’s Football Governance people, eh?
ianagainApril 7, 2016 at 23:51
‘..They have released a searchable database.’
______
A bit OT, but I listened with astonishment to a Radio 4 programme this evening about the Norwegian system where everybody’s income and tax paid is published ( and has been since 1918) and accessible to anybody ,in town halls and libraries and, in the days when there was a level,of illiteracy, publicly proclaimed by town criers.
And today, anybody can go online and see what anyone else earns and what they paid in tax. (In very recent times,the fact that someone is looking up your details is made known and their computer identity is logged, and the searcher is limited to about half a dozen searches.)
But still……. an interesting idea, particularly it seems to the female workforce in terms of equal pay for equal work.
It would never catch on here, of course, where those who have plenty want even more- and pay good money to struck-off pornographer tax advisors to devise ways of cheating the tax man!
4040 4,040 comments John ClarkApril 8, 2016 at 00:16
“..where those who have plenty want even more- and pay good money to struck-off pornographer tax advisors to devise ways of cheating the tax man!”
________
It’s maybe a bit unusual to comment on my own comment, but I’m sitting here quietly.
And all of a sudden, I feel no intellectual , abstract , cerebral sense of wrongdoing having been done.
No, what I feel as I write is that SDM cheated all of us, whether as tax-payers or as football supporters; and that the SFA condoned and facilitated that cheating; and that the SMSM (including, of course, BBC Radio Scotland) supported SDM and continue to support the myth created by the charlatan purchaser of the assets of a dead football club and founder of a new club.
In the great scheme of things that the Panama stuff is revealing, the likes of SDM and the minions of the SFA are laughably insignificant.
But they are still a source of poison, which as surely brings death to the very idea of sporting competition as loaded dice brings to the gambling table.
Really enjoyed this piece “Journey’s End” and a wee thought crossed my mind about one of the older Mobile Home sites in Santa Rosa CA, it too is called “Journey’s End” but there is a subtle difference. This is a site where a lot of the elderly people buy property to live out their last days before passing on to the next level, hence the name, I have a feeling that once this farce is over the “Journey’s End” for the RIFC and the SFA/SPFL will be more in line with the Santa Rosa “departures” than the Scottish Premier Leagues new arrivals!!
Yours in sport
Gaun the Killie
I speculated a few days ago that we might find that Vladimir Romanov was mentioned in the Panama Papers. It seems that I was right.
https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/5115-lithuanian-investigators-confirm-putin-friend-s-money-flows
I don’t recognise the names of any of the companies involved, so it is unlikely that Hearts benefitted directly from the transactions reported in the article, but I think that it is a reasonable assumption to make that Hearts did benefit from other dodgy financial deals by Romanov.
JOHN CLARKAPRIL 8, 2016 at 00:46
It’s maybe a bit unusual to comment on my own comment, but I’m sitting here quietly.And all of a sudden, I feel no intellectual , abstract , cerebral sense of wrongdoing having been done.No, what I feel as I write is that SDM cheated all of us, whether as tax-payers or as football supporters; and that the SFA condoned and facilitated that cheating; and that the SMSM (including, of course, BBC Radio Scotland) supported SDM and continue to support the myth created by the charlatan purchaser of the assets of a dead football club and founder of a new club.
=============================
The BBC are becoming a very interesting component in this story. I did not hear the programme the other day where the widespread view is the host Louise White had a ‘same club’ party line to stick to and would not allow any caller to suggest otherwise. I could listen on the i-player but I prefer to keep myself relatively calm. I don’t believe for a minute Louise White was personally championing the cause, I simply believe she was sticking strictly to instructions. Following the Jim Spence event a couple of years back the BBC seem terrified to go anywhere near an adult debate on this issue and for a publicly funded broadcaster supposedly giving us all a platform that is shocking. Had the BBC continued what it started so well with the two Mark Daly broadcasts, there would have been no hiding place for many who still govern the game. The LNS Enquiry and Resolution 12 are two areas where the BBC could have had a major influence in seeing real justice done, had they used the material others have worked so hard to establish. Of course, both of these events resulted in a direct benefit to Rangers, and perhaps that was just a step too far for the BBC to take.
Then we can go back to more recent times and consider the reaction of the BBC, and those who work in it, to the unanimous Court of Session verdict on the big tax case. The Sportsound programmes following the verdict were in many ways a joy to behold as we listened to presenters and pundits who had previously lived under the comfort blanket of FTT and UTT decisions scrambling once again to plead Rangers had no sporting advantage. There was no anger at already rich men escaping tax they should have paid for many years. No anger at the crime against society. No anger at what this tax could have bought for the Armed Forces Rangers use for an annual PR stunt. They even went as far as inviting an English based tax avoidance expert on the show to tell us all how wrong the verdict against Rangers was. There was no attempt to balance the debate with an expert supporting the CoS verdict. For weeks they clung to the hope that BDO would seek leave to appeal and when they finally did there was notable relief.
So to summarise. The BBC, like the rest of the media, have complete double standards on tax evasion and avoidance, although it can be narrowed down to being wrong for everyone except when it’s Rangers and people associated with them. Incredible, but true.
Easyjambo – re Romanov
We did not need the Panama papers to know about Romanov’s involvement with the Russian mafia. I have been writing about it on the Scotsman’s threads for years now. If you are interested I have the files. The usual answer was “If that was true he would be in prison.”
In one respect Hearts supporters should be appreciative of what he did and that is that the whole mess surrounding him led to the circumstances being right for the FoH ownership of the club.
Vlad had strong links to the Lithuanian government and, in particular, the security department. When Ukio Bankas went belly up there was a willingness, nay eagerness, within the authorities to keep everything in-house. Letting the debts of companies like Hearts be bought for so little was worthwhile to them as it shutdown potential investigations happening within foreign countries. It did not stop it happening in Serbia and Bosnia but it did in little old Scotland.
Everything from the 50 tonnes of granite, that was supposedly delivered to a tiny house in Milton Keynes, that led to the imprisonment of Anatoly Rupeta in Russia to the machine gun and grenade attack on the Lithuanian mafia group the Daktari’s HQ in Kaunas has links to Vlad. These links individually are circumstantial but when taken together lead most to suspend their belief in coincidence.
Currently we are asking questions about our authorities involvement since 2012 but if you take into account the fact that both Dundee United and Dunfermline rejected Vlad’s advances before Hearts welcomed him then perhaps we should asking if more should have been done to protect our game much earlier.
Upthehoops
Be careful in your assumption that it is only the BBC in Scotland that is being controlled. One of the things that has had a huge affect on my outlook in recent years was the proof that the BBC allowed lies to be broadcast by their editors and reporters during the Referendum debate. The main one being the hatchet job on Alex Salmond regarding him supposedly refusing to answer Robinson’s questions. You can judge for yourself here –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EMLOTsimSs
I now treat the BBC as an extension of the government’s propaganda unit and with that attitude I have revisited many news highlights from my past. Even the likes of George Galloway appears to be something very different. All very disconcerting.