LNS is currently back in the headlines. It might therefore be a good time to try to set out a timeline describing correspondence we had with the representatives of the authorities over discrepancies and anomalies that appeared to have arisen. None of this is necessarily predicated upon the recent findings of the CoS in the Big Tax Case, but stands on its own.
Back in February 2014 The Scottish Football Monitor wrote to Harper MacLeod, the law firm that the SPL had engaged to gather evidence for the Lord Nimmo Smith (LNS) Commission investigating the full and proper registration of players paid by Rangers Football Club under Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) arrangements.
The initial set-up of the LNS Commission on 5th March 2012 by the SPL (View File) charged LNS with a look at EBTs from 1st July 1998 (when the SPL came into being).
In practice though, the Commission only looked at EBTs from 23 November 2000 onwards.
This change of date was based on the earliest side letter supplied by Duff and Phelps, although Harper MacLeod had requested ALL documentation from 1998 to March 2012 relating to ALL EBTs.
This prompted a series of letters to Harper MacLeod from The Scottish Football Monitor, although Harper MacLeod’s replies failed to address the issues raised.
The passage of time blurs memories but this archive is designed to remind readers of those blogs and correspondence, and the key points contained in them.
It also highlights the apparent inability or unwillingness on the part of the SPL and SFA to engage with us in any meaningful way.
NB: The SFA were informed of our correspondence by Harper MacLeod in October 2014.
It is extremely difficult to be concise in this situation. There are various strands of argument and details seemingly small, but vitally important – however the following is an attempt to make the material accessible and provides links to the relevant files in chronological order (links are in green).
- Item 1: The first SFM letter of 19th February 2014 to Harper MacLeod
- Item 2: The Annexes containing the documents apparently not supplied to Harper Macleod in the spring of 2012 along with other pertinent information about the testimony given to LNS during the Commission.
- Item 3: The SFM response of 29 March 2014 to Harper MacLeod’s reply to the first letter.
- Item 3.1: An SFM analysis of Harper MacLeod’s initial reply attached to response at 3.
- Item 4: An SFM blog of 5th September pointing out how the documents not supplied had a direct impact on the advice given to the SPL Board to accept The Decision of The LNS Commission.
- Item 5: The last letter of 4th October 2014 to Harper MacLeod answering points raised by them (see next) and thanking them for passing our correspondence to the SFA Compliance Officer who has so far deigned not to reply.
- Item 5.1: Harper MacLeod’s actual response to SFM 5th September letter.
- Item 6: An SFM Blog (Inc. a transcript of an interview between Alex Thomson and Stewart Regan).
- Item 6.1: Truncated version of above blog.
- Item 7: A clearer extract of key document from Item 2 Annexes
Having no locus to demand answers from the SPL or the SFA, all we can do is provide information – information that we believe presents a prima facie case that LNS was deeply flawed even before the latest developments in the Tax Case came to light. The challenge for us is this: what can we do about it?
It is clear from the meagre response we have received that the authorities are unwilling to engage with us, so it is fair to assume that further correspondence will be met with the same lack of response.
Are we merely a bunch of obsessed nut-jobs with our own take on the Flat Earth conspiracy? If that is the case, surely a few words of explanation to dispel our doubts would have had traction with the rest of the football public. Indeed the lack of any reply undoubtedly serves as confirmation of our belief that something may be seriously wrong.
The questions have been posed. The SFA appears to think that not answering them is a wise course of action. Given that anecdotal evidence presents a compelling case that the general football public are widely in agreement with us, are there any journalists out there who will take the time to look at what we have observed and what we seek clarification on?
There are undoubtedly inferences to be drawn from the evidence we have, and from the silence of the authorities.
The statement by Celtic on Friday 13th November is certainly a start in the process we wish to begin, but it only mentions the elephant in the room. It gives no clue about how it could be transported to another place.
In the first instance we at SFM seek only explanations, and despite the inferences mentioned earlier, we are still eager to be satisfied that rules were followed and justice done.
Is there really nobody in the MSM who has the courage to seek the answers we seek? I suspect not. What we do in the absence of that courage is important. We are at a crossroads. Either we give up on the game altogether and spend our Saturdays and Sundays doing other things – or we find a way to get these questions out of blog pages and into the mainstream.
We need an alliance of fans of all clubs to do that, and we will be looking to build that alliance. I would urge fans of all clubs to give this material to fan sites of their own clubs.
These are not just words. There can be no movement on this issue unless our reach is extended. SFM alone does not have the clout required to bring the clubs to the table or the MSM to fair and balanced reporting. We need that alliance of fans desperately. We don’t seek leadership of that alliance – but we are happy to provide it if required.
This is not a campaign to have Rangers punished. I understand that Rangers fans (since their club is in the middle of this mess) are reluctant to see us as anything other than a bunch of Rangers haters.
That is unequivocally not the case from the perspective of the moderators of this blog. SFM is committed to justice, and to the integrity of the sport we all love.
Justice is ON THE SIDE of Rangers and their fans – it does not conspire against them. A growing number of Rangers fans are coming round to our way of thinking and our tone must reflect that. This is not a Celtic or Hearts or Aberdeen or anybody else v Rangers issue. This is a fans v corrupt authorities issue.
We all deserve answers, and hopefully our alliance will compel each individual club to act in the interests of the fans .
Indeed a standard “loan agreement” (template headings* typically available from the internet) would have the following clauses. It is inconceivable that anything less stringent would have been used.
*LOAN AGREEMENT
Introduction
Loan Repayment Date
Loan Repayment Schedule
Early Repayment
Loan Purpose
DocumentationLoan
Interest
Default Interest
Loan Payments Application
Representations & Warranties
Borrower’s Undertakings
Immediate Repayment Due To Default
Fees Expenses
Payment Methods & Procedures
Notices
Assignment
General
Jurisdiction
Kilgore Trout 1st December 2015 at 9:41 pm #The Rangers nil? Who missed the penalty? @ 1:43 pm
“…. the people who are.”
Worthy of more than a mere thumbs-up.I will be adopting that, if you have no objection.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Cheers KT. Thanks for noticing. Consider the adoption papers approved and signed.
The major concern that I have is the possibility that Ashley may be induced somehow to drop his ‘judicial review’ action against the SFA’s absurd acceptance of King as F&P.
The SFA board, it must be assumed, are running scared.
In my opinion, and as a matter of common experience,guilty and scared men might conceivably get up to further no good in an attempt to prevent themselves being found out.
As others have remarked, the decision by King to repay to Ashley money he was loaned came hard upon the heels of his ‘courtesy call’ to Hampden.
I think, as others do, that that is too much of a coincidence, and I conclude that some dirty work was agreed.
Quite what that may have been can only be guessed at, but it’s likely that the SFA have promised King something, anything, if he can persuade Ashley to withdraw his action. Who knows, it may have involved a promise of financial aid, direct or indirect.
With men dedicated to self-preservation rather than transparency of governance, we must expect even worse of them than has already been seen.
And with these men already shielded by the SMSM, we expect even that ‘worse’ to be ignored and/or defended.
DCK states the £5m will not be a loan as such as it will be repatriated into shares. Then on the other hand, they announce that they didn’t lose res 10 because they received more votes than they thought they would……(Does Bennet have shares…Anybody know?) If not that is his chip in, along with the 3 pound fifty from Murray out the windae.
I doubt the £5m will be there, and I doubt Uncle Mick will say, “Alright, give me it !”, to call the bluff.
Seems to me a load of stage management going on, and to be honest, that is more DCK’s game than Ashley’s. Even the camera crew at Hampden the day before was managed.
Smoke and mirrors ! They are so restricted by future court cases and confidentiality agreements, that they needed something more than the living wage to talk about….Something a bit “Whoopee-doo!”.
Its all about the courts as far as Uncle Mick is concerned, and all about keeping the paying customers onside for DCK.
wottpi 2nd December 2015 at 10:53 am # Re the Ashley Loan. Just to recap
MA asked for the loan to be repaid earlier in May this year by way of a request for an EGM
He also asked for explanations of how the Plc failed to secure an NOMAD and how the 3Bears loan of £1.5m was structured.
The board kicked the other queries into touch but put forward resolutions to the EGM relating to repaying the loan and continuing negotiations with SD to improve the Retail deal.
The vote at the EGM said no to repaying the loan and yes to continuing negotiations.
While the SD loan facility had no published repayment date it is assumed (perhaps wrongly) that the fine print will have had some from of condition where it could be called in if other and certain conditions were breached.
It is assumed that if this was the case this is why MA may have been within his rights to call for repayment.
As discussed, it seems highly unlikely that, if MA feels he is on strong ground with regard to demanding repayment within the bounds of the original loan facility, he be at all threatened by new and ‘outside’ conditions such as those mentioned by John James.
My guess is MA would only agree to drop his ongoing fights with T’Rangers, King and the SFA if there was something else on the table that took his fancy. 30% shares, stadium naming etc etc.
________________________________
One thing’s for sure, if there’s any negotiating going on, ie there’s something TRFC need but aren’t entitled to without MA/SD’s agreement, Mike Ashley will want something fairly substantial before he gives King and his board anything that they are negotiating for!
It is quite usual for a lender to have an early repayment penalty clause within any loan agreement, I’d expect that there will be similar penalties, perhaps in the shape of onerous conditions, within the loan agreement covering MA’s £5m loan. Or a clause that says repayment can only be made at the agreement of both parties. If there genuinely is a condition that the 7 year notice period for the kit deal can only be given after the loan is repaid, then Big Mike certainly has good reasons for not wanting his money back!
Allyjambo 2nd December 2015 at 11:26 am
The whole point is that the £5m was at least a Wonga type deal being offered to a desperate man. It may even have gone into loan shark territory given the urgency of the situation of £5m being required in January and then almost immediate finance in the form of a further £1.5m required two months later as soon as the 3 bears came on board.
(As we know the overall facility was for the £10m and with the firsth tranche of £5m, the King/ 3 Bears money and the required £2.5m to see the season out we are in the same territory the club has always been in since the SDM takeover, i.e because the club is not run on a sustainable manner at least an additional £10m is required each and every season just to keep the lights on)
In those circumstances who knows what was agreed and what was signed up for.
It could be a straight forward loan agreement or something written up by Saul Goodman!!
John Clark 2nd December 2015 at 11:16 am
“As others have remarked, the decision by King to repay to Ashley money he was loaned came hard upon the heels of his ‘courtesy call’ to Hampden.”
———————————
I think you have hit the nail on the head there JC. It seems MA asked for his 5M back in May this year and has let his lawyers deal with it from there.
My gut tells me that it is the SFA who have demanded DCK to pay him his money back as they want MA off their backs.
Court is the last place the SFA want to go.
A poster provided a link yesterday to an article by Adrian Durham in the Mail online (I think) with the preamble ‘let Celtic fans beware’ so to speak. So I took the advice and ignored the link. However, I was reading The Clumpany this morning and the article was his topic. It is truly awful in terms of lies, denying truth and history, deflection and well just about everything you can think of regarding poor non existent journalism.
The Clumpany is very humorous – sorry bears – but he can put people like AD in their place too. So I googled this AD guy to find out his background why his ire at all things Celtic. It seems we are not alone, he will have a go at anybody for effect. This from Wicki:
“He was described in The Guardian as an “expert phone-in troll, arrogantly spouting inflammatory football opinions in the hope of prompting some indignant phone rage from an uppity fan.”
Tells you everything about him.
To Mr. Durham Celtic & all of Scottish football revolves around Rangers. The Clump’s response:
“And what about the other clubs in Scotland, Mr Durham? As far as I am concerned the game is all about them too. Today’s Scottish Cup draw demonstrated this in spades. By far the most exciting Fourth Round tie was Hearts against Aberdeen, and I am really looking forward to it, despite being a fan of neither.
Two of our top teams – with great history and tradition – squaring off in a winner-takes-all encounter far earlier in the competition than either would like.”
He should go back to trolling on phone ins. Try Radio Clyde for a start.
JC
I posted this last Saturday (not to mention the 2 TD’s?)
“Or was the courtesy visit just Regan and Doncaster flying their last kite and hoping if DCK pays off MA he might go away and drop certain legal cases? I suspect MA is beyond that and will continue even if he ever gets his 5m back.”
I obviously agree with your post above because I have absolutely no trust whatsoever in those who occupy the Hampden bunker or to the lengths they will go to in order to (a) cover their own trail/backs and (b) keep any team playing out of Ibrox going.
Slightly off topic but last night someone asked me about Resolution 12 yesterday so to make explanation easier I googled it for them and up came the old You Tube clip on “Hitler finds out Resolution 12 has been tabled for Celtic AGM”. Gave everyone present a laugh especially given what we know today, but it is still well worth a few minutes of the day.
Scottish football needs a strong Arbroath and East Fife
25/11 King “drops in” at Hampden. Tea and biscuits.(with Doncaster?- just a guess) Say 2pm. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34921891
Only a few hours later, that very same day, the Ibrox Board meet in the Blue Room. The Ibrox Board then decide, contradicting their previous pronouncements, to immediately repay Ashley’s £5m loan. King then gets on the phone, and “within an hour”, finds peepul (RRM) prepared to put up the £5m. All this done and dusted by, say, 10pm latest.
Next day (10am) The AGM are told that Ashley’s loan will be repaid.
STVGrant confirms on twitter that “the money is in the bank” to repay the loan.
Wouldn’t you think that any decent journalist (Grant Russell?) would be following this up? Has Ashley been repaid? Is there a lump sum of £5m sitting in a “Rangers” bank account right now, just waiting to go to Ashley? Has Ashley a right to refuse? Has Ashley refused?
Why, oh why, are none of these journalists asking any of these blatantly obvious questions? What is the problem? Any one else smelling a rat here?
This morning I was reading through some of the pre-March RNS stuff (looking for the one about the Blue Pitch et al proxies) and came across this one:
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/12241662.html
Which includes the following passage that may or may not be relevant in light of recent stage management.
I note Kim Whyte v Craig December 3rd at COS.
Doubt there’s anything left.
ianagain 2nd December 2015 at 2:35 pm #I note Kim Whyte v Craig December 3rd at COS.Doubt there’s anything left.
******
Actually, there’s still that lovely villa in Grasse (that used to belong to one Monsieur Duvalier) which is probably now worth about £7.5m. You know, the one which is only down the road from a certain knight’s vineyard…coincidentally.
Yes, but crucially, and it is utterly extraordinary that the Ibrox club didn’t see this coming, whilst the two parties are taking up the corners you describe the company continues to lose cash. To make massive losses for questionable return. Mike can stand in his corner and watch for as long as it takes. DCK can stand in his corner, he can have 50,000 crowds to accompany him for that matter, but his corner is receding all the time. Kicking the can, the status quo, continuing the glorious journey, whatever, is not an option. Not without more cash its not.
I just have this wonderful image of Dave going for his cosy cuppa with Neil and Stu, and them asking, as is customary given their respective positions, how they can help?
And DCK replying “Right guys, just before I go toe to toe with this Ashley guy in court, I just wanted to check with you, this whole same club malarky. It is real yes? I mean properly defendable, nothing to hide, court of law, under oath and all that, real, yes?”
And lo the 5m was said to be repaid!
Thinking it through, the only card left to King now is to draw in the £7.5m on the presumption to the lenders that 1/ they will have preferential status (ie no other lenders), 2/ security is coming, if not immediately available and 3/ that said loans, whilst not repayable as such will be convertible to equity.
He could just get away with it. £7.5m to get to the SPFL, ND to announce his super new OFTV deal, a couple of wins in August apparently virtually guaranteeing them CL football next year and he looks for the exit stage left pronto.
I can see him getting away with it too. Just as long as he doesn’t go public with what the £7.5m is supposed to be used for. What was it that clever b*gg*r Charlie used to say, “working capital purposes”, aye, perfect, that’ll do.
What could possibly go wrong?
Mr King, I’ve got Mr Ashley on line 1 for you…..
Just had a thought about our illustrious Scottish football ‘leaders’ in the Hampden bunker…
Sometimes as a last resort, humour can generate unexpected results.
And recently we saw the SMSM share the photo of the Aberdeen fans with their ‘LNS Commission’ protest banner at the foot of the Hampden steps.
I was surprised that the DR used the photo which I think was lifted from Twitter [?], but much of the print media content is simply lifted from social media anyway as it is a cheap and easy way for them to fill their pages.
So…
In this festive season could the Scottish fans not ‘help’ make the Hampden bunker a more pleasant bolthole for the SFA/SPFL leaders ?
…by pretending to donate decorations etc to spruce up their refuge.
I’m thinking if anyone was passing Hampden they could quickly stand at the bottom of the steps and take a selfie, whilst holding e.g. a small Christmas tree, or Christmas lights, a Christmas stocking, a bag of chocolate coins or tangerines…or perhaps a box of mince pies?!
A host of amusing Twitter photos lampooning the ‘leaders’ who refuse to come out and communicate with the paying customers could even be picked up by the SMSM ?
A bit of mild embarrassment might get a response from Hampden – but it could certainly give the footie fans a wee smile ?
[Whilst she’s in Glasgow just now, I’ll ask my wife nicely to do a selfie on my behalf.]
Ashley camp reporting a reply shortly to the King repayment proposal,delay due to Big Mike has been splitting his sides since last Friday lunchtime he is still in much pain from this report but it is subsiding by the hour.
Extract from DR today;
“SPFL sponsor Ladbrokes loses £54million in tax avoidance case
…The bookies admitted they did attempt to avoid tax using a 2008 scheme which saw the group manipulate a fall in the share value of one of their companies to create a loss in another for tax purposes…”
==================
Ahhhh…
Now I see where the ‘common values’ between the SPFL and their league sponsor converge…
During the Scott Allen debacle the wearer of the Magic Hat quite rightly, via his comments to the press, tried to keep things low key and professional.
However given the the SMSM totally ignored his stance I trust they will continue to ignore such calls or calm and respect in relation to transfer speculation with their normal MO and noise up & unsettle T’Rangers every day for the next four or five weeks with constant stories of their man leaving for new managerial pastures.
Extracted from the SFA / News webpage;
“NewsScottish FA educates coaches across the GlobeMonday, 30 November 2015
The Scottish FA will deliver coach education courses on FOUR separate continents in December, with projects taking place in Scotland, Asia, Africa and South America.
The programmes are aimed at enhancing Scotland’s reputation as ‘Home of World Class Coaches’ in line with the 2020 Scotland United strategy and forging long-lasting partnership with associations and clubs across the globe.
…
Football Development Manager Donald Gillies says having Scottish FA coaches working across the globe shows the reputation that Scotland has in the field:
…”
http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2986&newsID=15728&newsCategoryID=1
=======================================
I am not qualified to comment on Scottish coaches’ current reputation across the globe.
Maybe other, informed Bampots could comment on the veracity of the above SFA quotes ?
But I certainly can comment on how this seems to confirm that the SFA does in fact live in its own wee bubble / bunker.
No website ‘News’ entries on the HMRC win, or Going Concerns on TRFC accounts…but the SFA will gladly tell you about how it ‘educates’ the world about football.
Gombeen-man English used the word ‘professionalism’ ( or the lack of it)in the discussion on Stokes’ tweeter rant.
I think that English can be more fairly characterised as more seriously ‘unprofessional’ in his own professed ‘vocation’ than Stokes as a footballer may have been in his.
Stokes’ deficiencies only harm himself..A less than committed journalist-paid by the BBC—harms us all.
Stevie BC
Am not sure what the SFA think they are doing but interesting to see Jimmy Bone going to South Africa. He was once Power Dynamos coach on Zambia and won the league with them before getting fed up with Zambian administrators (at that time in the 90s as good as ours are now) – with the late Ian Porter field in country at the same time they maintained Scotkand’s reputation!!!
However saying they are going to Africa gives one impression but when you see it is Cape Town I do not se the same hardship they might find in other countries in sub’Sahara Africa! That said am not sure what they can drum into RSA coaches – at least nothing that the frustrations of the day can’t be sorted in a bar!!! South Korea, Rio de Janeiro …….aha why not send the boys and girls for a holiday? Try West or East Africa and then see if you can make a difference – what’s that. .. too difficult … shame. Off you go then and enjoy the beach and shopping said a local cynic!
Scottish Football needs a strong Arbroath and East Fife (maybe even get that on next year’s mugs)
With Gary Neville’s move to Valencia as manager, which of Scotland’s pundits, commentators or pressmen will be in the running to replace him on Sky Sports? Mark Hately,Graham Spiers, Tom English, Dougie Donelly. The list is endless and doesn’t include any of the above.
smartie1947 2nd December 2015 at 7:30 pm #The list is endless and doesn’t include any of the above…
===========================================
Smartie…pure dead brilliant…ah’m luvvin it
Yes we do need to start a campaign to free the SFA. Its outrageous just how long these poor mites have been ensconced in the bunker hiding from the wild eyed bampots and their dangerous truths.
#freethesfa
#dosfaknowitsxmas?
Wednesday night is my usual night to listen to Sportsound while in the car.
Just the 1 Rangers Correspondent (Kenny MacIntyre) in the Studio tonight plus Tom English, Gordon Waddell and Joe Miller. Oh and a report from the Rangers Correspondent Richard Wilson.
Neverthless the show seemed to be pretty much wall to wall Glasgow club chit chat with a long 20 minutes of repetitive tittle tattle about Anthony Stokes – far too much coverage frankly and nothing insightful offered whatsoever.
Then we had the usual carefully manicured Rangers reporting and clearly someone at TRFC is briefing the BBC now about the Warburton situation. Which was then discussed at great length, again will almost no insight offered whatsoever.
Putting aside the fact these guys offer little more than any fan down the pub, the interesting question is surely why TRFC are leaking like sieve about the Warburton situation.
Are they trying to force him out the door by making him unpopular with fans?
Do they already know he is leaving and hope to save face by making a pre-emptive to give the impression they did everything we could and Warbs is being unreasonable…
Or could it be they know he is staying but want to take maximum credit with some clever planted stories about how money is no object on the march to glory etc
Whatever it is, the Beeb don’t just stumble upon these stories and I’m certain 99% of them come direct from the club either officially, unofficially or officially unofficially.
I notice there’s some confusion on twitter, with Warburton stating, quite forcefully, that there’s been no approach to him, or TRFC, from Fulham, yet Alasdair Lamont is saying:
“They’ve (TRFC) offered him more money both personally and to spend in January in an attempt to ward off Fulham’s interest.”
As a result of the interest Fulham haven’t shown??
Needless to say, Mr Warburton (see, that’s respect) is finding the press coverage rather disrespectful! I presume that includes Mr Lamont (more respect).
BREAKING NEWS: It has just come to Mr Lamont’s attention that the press release he received says Fulham based roofing firm, Warburton & Co, have been offered an increased payment to encourage them to doss in Edmiston House (net saving to TRFC) with extra money to spend on strengthening the stand (typo made it look like squad).
I posted this a while back from Ian Ladyman / Daily Mail.
A very positive piece about Warburton’s abilities, and he obviously co-operated with quotes given and photos.
“Mark Warburton has gone from city trader to saving fallen giants Rangers… ‘It amazes me that clubs scrimp on staff, then pay players £12,000 a week’ says the Ibrox boss…”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3324320/Mark-Warburton-gone-city-trader-saving-fallen-giants-Rangers-amazes-clubs-scrimp-staff-pay-players-12k-week-says-Ibrox-boss.html#ixzz3tCTO2Chr
=================
Don’t know what to think about the Fulham stories, but it would appear that Warburton has been proactively boosting his profile down south.
Doesn’t make him a bad person.
But if he was indeed a canny City trader, then he will be well aware of the risks in managing TRFC, and mibbees his calculated gamble was to get into Ibrox – and get out again ASAP – onto better opportunities at a stable club elsewhere ?
[Someone (?) had mentioned that his wife had remained in their home in/near London – which seems quite telling, if confirmed.]
And if there is no truth whatsoever in the Fulham stories, then Warburton should be squeezing TRFC for an improved / longer contract – just to reassure the fans of course…
Very curious BBC behaviour to report via Lamont that MW has been offered this and that. Officially this would never be done publicaly and if so only after an approach has been made. Even at that normally upping offers are done privately and only after a Board have given it consideration!
Then seemingly with his twitter account MW states “….going nowhere no club has approached me” no mention of singular FFC being the club. Contradicts the actions of Lamont and the message he’s received!
John
i very much doubt that MA will drop the judicial review. His reasons are both personal and business. However, I believe is principle aim is to undermine the foundations of the dual ownership rules.
As ever, the SFA’s pathological need to protect Rangers, blinded them to any long term consequences of ther actions. Those consequences may be very grave for European football.
Deldon 2nd December 2015 at 9:24 pm
‘…Very curious BBC behaviour to report via Lamont that MW has been offered this and that. ‘
_______
It would indeed have been curious -and unacceptable-behaviour by the BBC when reporting on any aspect of life.
But in some extraordinary way, BBC Radio Scotland Sport, lost and loses all sense of balance and proportion when it comes to ‘reporting’ on matters to do with Charles Green’s new creation, as they did when reporting on SDM’s RFC(IL) .
The editor ( or whichever title the day- to- day controller of what goes out on air is known by) seems to be allowing his/her people to help push a certain line, regardless of the fact that no sources are identified, that line being that the current board at Ibrox must be defended and supported no matter which lunatic line they take in the Warburton affair- either paying him over the odds to keep him, or saving a bob or two by letting him go and hiring instead the kind of useless toss-pot of a manager whose ineptitude as a football manager matches mine as a gardener.
I have nothing against Warburton (except maybe that he allowed himself to be fed a lot of dross about what a scoosh it was going to be to take TRFC from the Championship into the premier league). I think he has had second thoughts, and realises that his board are straw men, unable to run their club except by begging for loans.
He may also think that they are not all honest and honourable men,to a degree (as Graham might say) much greater than the average English FC Board.
But what do I know?
on the day that the scottish income tax letter blew in my tent flap is it only me that gets thedrift that spiers, english and that dick. wilson would want us all to lob in 50 quid to cover the hole rfc would have blown in scotlands finances with their ridiculous dos and ebt schemes. its beyond belief that these three clowns fervently want herbert konterman et al to evade/avoid paying pro rata tax with every jock tamson………..
its beyond further belief that these three climb into a bbc wheelchair every time there’s a ‘ nervy moment’ on the tax evasion and take this line……. is denying these side letters existed AND it taking a ‘ foreign’ police force RAID to discover said sides not the least bit embarrassing and worthy of comment by these three Lambs….. baaah……
We have an interesting couple of months ahead. Despite absorbing all that I can in the desire to understand the current situation and see a well governed, level playing field, I have no idea if BDO will be granted leave to appeal. I have no idea if the various legal cases involving RIFC will move forward to judgment or whether some accommodation will be reached. The one thing I do know is that the business is unsustainable, the ‘soft loans’ cannot be converted to equity and free money has not been part of any business plan I have ever been involved with. With the failure to approve the appropriate resolutions at the recent AGM, the only solution is the much favoured ‘Sugar Daddy’. It doesn’t look too sweet.
There is a nice test coming up for the treatment of big teams when ineligible players are fielded. It appears that Real Madrid fielded a player who should have been suspended for tonight’s Copa Del Rey tie.
I wonder if they will be thrown out the competition. My heart says that they should be but my head says otherwise.
Summoned by the discussion about Mr Warburton’s future, a random thought which has floated about inside my head for some time resurfaced. I have always found it a curious development that the new club sourced a manager who had a previous career as a city trader. A rare combination indeed. Given the succession of dodgy financial wheeler dealers who have (dis)graced the Ibrox boardroom since the new club’s inception, it is indeed too large a coincidence for me to easily swallow. I stress I have no evidence to offer, but my intuition suggests there is a connection. Could he have been lured to Ibrox, for example, with promises of rich pickings from future share manipulations or similar?
Now that resolution 10 has failed and the financial future looks fairly grim, with no obvious opportunity for imminent financial shenanigans, rumours immediately surface that Mr Warburton’s might be for the off. The old intuition is furiously flashing again. Another coincidence? Is there a connection?
scapaflow 2nd December 2015 at 9:43 pm # John
I very much doubt that MA will drop the judicial review. His reasons are both personal and business. However, I believe is principle aim is to undermine the foundations of the dual ownership rules.
…………………..
A lateral thought
The executives at Hampden will be wetting themselves at the prospect of a Judicial Review into whether the SFA followed their own rules in approving a G.A.S.L. as a Director of RIFC
And yet
If the Judicial Review was examining if the SFA broke their own and UEFA rules in giving RFC approval to participate in the 2011/2012 CL campaign
Or
If the Judicial Review was examining if the SFA broke ;their own and UEFA rules in the process of reaching the 5 way Agreement
Then
…………Wetting themselves would be the least of their worries
Which begs two questions?
Have the clever lawyers working for MA figured out a legal reason that would enable MA to legitimately request Judicial Reviews into these other two issues?
Because
If there was a real prospect of either of these issues being taken up by MA
IMO
There would be a groundswell of support for MA from the majority of Scottish fans
Just a reminder…Mr Warburton openly stated earlier this year that from the moment he left Brentford…he did not receive 1 offer of management from any other club prior to being offered the job at Sevco…he was not contacted by any other chairman.
Now if you run through the current list of football managers currently out of work then there is a distinct feeling that the Fulham story linking Mr. Warburton appears a tad unusual or in line with the PR we have come to expect
In fact when you read the BBC match report of the game against Dumbarton…one is left with the idea that Mr. Warburton is being openly promoted for any takers…according to Mr. Wilson the result was significant when you consider Dumbarton had 8 yes eight ex SPL premier league players in their team (must be why they are sitting 2nd bottom)…whilst Mr. Warburtons team only had 2 players who had played at that level previously? What was the point of that comparison?
I guess it all falls in line with…he is doing a terrific job and with that the club are having to deal with his success from other clubs?
Cobblers spring to mind…which reminds me my shoes need repaired.
gamesabogey 2nd December 2015 at 10:45 pm
‘… I have no idea if BDO will be granted leave to appeal. I have no idea if the various legal cases involving RIFC will move forward to judgment or whether some accommodation will be reached. The one thing I do know is that the business is unsustainable…’
________
That’s a really good distinction to make: between on the one hand,what all the legal stuff might result in ( in a whole lot of ways), and on the other,the question of whether as a matter of fact the new club is , in effect, an already failed , administration-bound , enterprise, regardless of all the legal stuff.
The legal stuff ( involving the SFA etc) does matter, longer term, in relation to the integrity of our Sport and the honest administration thereof.
The basic financial stuff affecting the new club is of no particular importance: it may die, it may live.
Our concern must be that our Football Authorities do not, in the event of the death of the new club, again betray every principle and mount a campaign of denial of death, and help create and ‘legitimise’ some some cobbled-up new being as being ‘Rangers 18 seventy whatever’.
They’ve tried it once. They will try it again.
If we let them.
easyJambo 2nd December 2015 at 10:49 pm
Depends on whether they will be asking Sandy Bryson to pass judgement
easyJambo 2nd December 2015 at 10:49 pm said:
There is a nice test coming up for the treatment of big teams when ineligible players are fielded. It appears that Real Madrid fielded a player who should have been suspended for tonight’s Copa Del Rey tie.
I wonder if they will be thrown out the competition. My heart says that they should be but my head says otherwise.
————–
If Cadiz (the opposing team in tonight’s match) make an official complaint – and their president has already stated that they will – then R.Madrid will be ejected from the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup). The Spanish FA rules are quite explicit about this (no room for discretion!) and there is already a precedent this season with Osasuna having been eliminated for fielding a suspended player.
GoosyGoosy 2nd December 2015 at 11:23 pm
‘…IMOThere would be a groundswell of support for MA from the majority of Scottish fans.’
________
There is, I think, an understanding among the general run of supporters of Scottish clubs, that Ashley , no matter his reasons, is bringing to light, via the Courts, some of the hitherto murky dirty work of our Football Authorities.
There would naturally be support for him- if he can force our SFA to tell the truth , and the whole truth , we will be grateful.
We do not want him to drop his ‘judicial review’ actions.
This is not to say that we want to further any further ambition that he may have that may be to the detriment of our game, or sport in general.
GoosyGoosy 2nd December 2015 at 11:23 pm #
“If there was a real prospect of either of these issues being taken up by MAIMOThere would be a groundswell of support for MA from the majority of Scottish fans”
——————————————————————————————-
Indeed……But not from the fans he is hoping to make a lot of money from GG.
Then of course he would also potentially render his key to Third Rangers practically worthless….. Much as TRFC fans are having difficulty facing up to the fact they cheated, for some, to have it officially confirmed, will be a bridge too far and a walk-away event. Especially as Ashley would not be able to hide anonymously in the background. He still has seven years jerseys to punt.
I believe his plan is just to eliminate DCK and thoroughly discredit him, and get his own men on the board, whilst doing minimum damage to Sevco.
A wee bit of white charger PR and he is rolling. A billionaire saviour ?!…..Candy from a baby!….. A few sheckles in a war chest to compete in the Premier, and the SFA will be treating him to a fine meal in the Hotel Du Vin.
I would say he is only a contempt charge away from it. He won’t be too bothered as to where the courts eventually put the assets. They will be made available….He really could be the saviour of the new club.
Resolution 10? Forget it, it’s a passing fancy. Resolution 12? Now we are talking.
The people who drew up resolution 12 had real meat in their hands. An obvious breach of the rules governing football. 2 years ago. Let me repeat that 2 years ago.
What has happened since?
Let’s say I got food poisoning from a shop and complained, two years later, no reply. Let’s say I was paying far too much tax on my wages, complained to East Kilbride, no reply two years later?
I’d not be happy.
Just how long does it take the people at Hampden to reply? Two years? At the recent Celtic AGM one of our protagonists said that the people in the background of Resolution 12 were content at what CFC were doing in the background regarding Res. 12. That is good as far as it goes, but.
Celtic are without doubt the biggest heavy hitters in Scottish Football, that’s not being boastful but my club should not be tippy toeing around corruption. we have reps. at the highest levels in SFA, SPFL, so why two years?
If this was an issue for any other team it would be dealt with in – days/ weeks / months (delete as appropriate). Get your finger out Celtic, on behalf of all of Scottish football, take the lead.
jimbo 3rd December 2015 at 12:45 am #
‘.. Get your finger out Celtic, on behalf of all of Scottish football, take the lead.’
_____
No. This is not a Celtic v new Rangers issue.
The SMSM would absolutely love it, if they could deflect the whole rotten corruption of the governing bodies into a mere inter-club rivalry rivalry.
Do not,I beg you, attempt to put any more onus of responsibility on Celtic than on any other club.
The cheating club owned and operated by arch dirty cheat SDM cheated the WHOLE of Scottish Football.
The Football authorities cheated the WHOLE of Scottish Football.
Do not act the madam and suggest that it is up to Celtic alone to take the lead in sorting out the bad guys.
That task is for the whole of honest football to tackle.
. ,
A couple of thoughts on recent developments.
I don’t know if he excluded them at all, however if he did and did so without legal justification that’s a pretty big howler. The Rangers Co Sec is a qualified experienced Solicitor. A mistake of that nature would be unusual, not to mention if it had occurred then it would likely have drawn a legal challenge from the disenfranchised shareholder.
File under speculative.
Fulham may be interested , easy enough for journalists to confirm. This though has had a whiff of leverage about it since it aired. Warburton may be testing the “over investment ”
File under “Manager exerting a little pressure”
The question is why & why now ?
From an Internal perspective settling now is naive. It raised a huge Red Flag for Warburton that ( if true) significant sums can be raised at very short notice. See Warburtons subsequent actions detailed above. However i’m sceptical that this was a genuine offer to pay this money.
Confidentiality agreements work both ways. King made it very clear that Lawyers from both sides would have to be involved to finalise this loan repayment.
Why ?
The £5 million loan agreeement would have been detailed to include all relevant details . Including, but not limited to , the process and method of repayment . Involving Lawyers , and stating repayment would take place in January has all of the hallmarks of a move to prevent immediate court action by Ashley , timed to gain maximum exposure and support given it was the centrepiece of the AGM . I think it entirely likely that Lawyers representing RIFC are engaged to renegotiate the terms of the loan repayment, and to do so under a confidentiality agreement.
Offers to settle are public, however the conditions attached are confidential. These conditions could include anything , especially if the purpose is to avoid repayment. They could cettain,y include conditions no business would accept, far less one as savvy and dominant as Sports Direct. King stated that it was NOW the right time and the right thing for the business. However he didn’t explain , and wasn’t asked , why it was the right time or the right thing to do.
Paying back the £5 Million doesn’t do anything to improve RIFC’s return from Rangers Retail (RR) . RR , as i understand it, owned the rights to the trademarks . They will receive them back from SD on repayment, and SD equity will return to 49%. However SD’s 49% counts double in all voting related to financial matters. That doesn’t change with the loan repayment. Which means that dividend payments to RIFC will still be decided by SD.
Who do you think can best afford to have the profits of RR retained in the company rather than distributed to shareholders ? Not rocket science is it. Even with the loan repaid, SD based on current attitudes are unlikely to distribute profits. They don’t even have to justify that, and they have the financial muscle to wait for their money out of RR. Unfortunatley for Kingco they don’t have that financial muscle.
Which takes us back to why and why now ? There has been speculation that SD threatened insplvency or the SFA exerted pressure. I don’t have any information on that, however neither would be my first inclination. Fortunately for Kingco they are enjoying the benefit of being able to make grandiose statements without the accountability that a listing on an exchange would prevent .
I’d echo Derek Llambias . Why is the time right Mr King and what is the benefit to RIFC Mr King ? when it was categorically stated by you only a few months ago that it was not the right time nor in the company’s interests .
Assuming that King is not just grandstanding, again, and that the £5 million is repaid this takes Kingco deep into significant money territory. The annual accounts confirmed that a further £2.5 million ( minimum) is required for working capital . When the funds paid for equity and to provide current unsecured loans are added to these new loans the total spent will be in the region of £16.5 Million.
£16.5 Million before Rangers get to the top tier. Effectively for a season and a half in the Championship with a squad who are paid 25% of what Celtic’s squad are paid. That’s assuming no money is spent this January , if it is add it to the £16.5 Million. Best case scenario for Rangers is that they get promoted and earn extra revenue in the SPL. Possibly a couple of £ Million in TV revenue and at best £4 Million in match day income. However if all of that was allocated to player wages , the core funding requirement would be unchanged from the last season and a half . Thats without a £ spent on transfer fee’s .
So it’s not unreasonable to suggest that £40 Million in total needs to be spent by the time the summer transfer window in 2017 opens for business. Now i doubt that Kingco can afford to lose that type of money, a view that Keith Jackson agreed with in a twitter conversation we had earlier. The investors may take a view that most of this won’t be lost as it will all be converted to Equity. But that’s only on paper.
There are currently no buyers to allow an exit route for investors, and no sign whatsoever of outside investors prepared to share the burden of shareholder funding. Given the experiences of Laxey Partners, Hargreave Hale, Artemis, Cazenove and Legal & General, who’s experience of Kingco is that they drove down the share price and were responsible for being expelled from the AIM Exchange, it would be staggering if any City institution were prepared to deal with King ever, under any circumstances
Which takes us to the current state of affairs. Despite being in charge for 9 months , Kingco have not produced a business or operational plan for shareholders , fans or the media. They have also failed to deliver on any of King’s grandiose promises . Which leads to suspicions they have no plan and don’t have the funds King promised to deliver.
Kingco got a standing ovation at the AGM, given the way things are going I suspect fans of other clubs in Scotland would share that sentiment, but for very different reasons.
JC, respectfully, Resolution 12 is very much exclusively a Celtic issue but with wide repercussions for all of Scottish football.
jimbo 3rd December 2015 at 1:22 am #
‘… Resolution 12 is very much exclusively a Celtic issue but with wide repercussions for all of Scottish football.’
____
Eh? Not quite following you here, jimbo.
It is manifestly not an exclusively Celtic issue if it has , as it does, repercussions for all of Scottish Football!
If we have a lying, cheating Football administration which knowingly tells porkies to UEFA about the tax debt situation of a club in order to get that club a licence to play in European competitions, then I submit we have a problem for all of our clubs.
Simples.
There are liars and cheats out there that all of us have to get rid of.
JC, I think you are just in the mood for a blether. We both know that Res. 12 was put together by Celtic fans and presented to Celtic AGM. And it is to CFC that the authorities have to respond. I’m not going to lecture you any more. You and quite a few others are heroes of mine on line. Including the previous poster, Barcabhoy. Don’t listen to me JC as AJ said yesterday, I just throw my tuppence worth in. You take the trouble to go to court and report on it. Off to my kip, goodnight, take care.
What an absolute mess the media are getting in over Mark Warburton. ‘Exclusives’ everywhere and all contradicting each other. The Sun headline about him refusing FIVE big money offers from England has to be the most incredible yet. He is just six months in Scotland, in a league where he is shooting fish in a barrel most weeks, often against part time teams. He has had one outing against a top league side and was tactically destroyed. Yet the Sun wishes people to believe FIVE big money offers from England have come in already. No wonder their sales are plummeting.
I’m just glad I support a club the media say have a very poor board of directors and a rubbish manager. Heaven knows where we would be if we had the blue-chip directors Rangers have with the next special one in charge of the team.
@ John Clark and Jimbo there’s no need to disagree
Resolution 12 is an exclusively Celtic issue, being a matter between the Celtic shareholders and the Celtic Board.
However, the subject matter of Resolution 12 impacts the whole of Scottish Football.
Jimbo
JC
You are both right on Res12.
It is a Celtic shareholder sourced issue but always (and it can be proved) with the ultimate aim of obtaining a more transparent and accountable SFA.
If you read the statement at the last Celtic AGM —
“I’m going back now to the 2013 AGM, Resolution 12, which concerned licensing practices.
I would like to provide an update on progress regarding Resolution 12 from that AGM, relating to football authority licensing practices, which was adjourned indefinitely at that meeting.
In the past year shareholder representatives have worked with the Club to seek to achieve a satisfactory resolution to their concerns. The shareholders have engaged independent solicitors who are in correspondence with the SFA, having provided them with documentation for consideration.
This is an important matter of governance for the football authorities to deal with and the Club will continue to work with its shareholders in this regard.”
The final para says it all. Even if the original matter was just to obtain some form of compensation or apology the SFA’s behaviour since Aug 2014 when presented with evidence of an overdue payable has been the epitome of bad if not downright dishonest governance.
There was no response to defend the accusation of maladministration using the rules in which the SFA are expert at twisting the interpretation of to suit nor, as far as is known, to actually investigate the circumstances in which the licence granted in March 2011 was able to be retained in June 2011 under Article 66 of UEFA FFP.
Those circumstances make it clear that keeping RFC in the CL was paramount even if only to be able to pay the very tax bill that should have seen them excluded.
In doing so the SFA were taking a risk that the bill would be paid if CL qualification was assured as Malmo, had they lost to RFC in early Aug 2011 would have been raising their own Res12 on 11th August on hearing Sherrif Officers had called the day before to collect overdue tax.
The risks the SFA took to keep RFC solvent are incredible.
They might justify them on commercial grounds but in trying to save a limb with gangrene they have infected the body of the game.
What is needed is a clear out of SFA and biased reporting/reporters and an honest appraisal of where Scottish football now stands.
Reading Barcabhoy’s analysis its future certainly cannot be founded on forlorn hopes and empty statements coming from Ibrox.
A PS to above.
The SFA want this to become a two club issue. They desparately want it and it must not be allowed to become so.
They desparately want it because the last thing they want is scrutiny of their practices from 2011 onwards and with good reason. They have done everything but govern honestly.
They will fail. They will go away before the issue of accountability and transparency does.
They will end up with no game to govern if they stay on the current path.
To call the soft loans TRFC require and shall likely continue to require “working capital” is to accept the Humpty Dumpty Spiv Lexicon of Correct Sounding Words. Working Capital is the stock of funds which replenishes itself through its own use because it generates profits sufficient for that over the time of its use as such it is something any business uses. These soft loans are not to do that but to pay off a previous succession of similar loans and to plug long term losses. As time has proceeded the amount needed to deal with the former is taking up more of the funds obtained leaving less for the latter. At the end of the day this is an unsustainable spiral down to oblivion. Third Rangers will go the same way and Fourth and
Fifth all until Mr Micawber has his day- and remember he is an artifice of fiction- one of many n this saga.
I note that, despite Accrington boss John Coleman saying no-one was going anywhere in January and Josh Windass saying any move would be his decisions and not his Dad’s, we have talks of agents visiting Ibrox and more quotes from Dean on the subject of his lad’s career.
I’m getting a feeling this ‘respect’ thing down Edmiston Drive may just be a one way street?
upthehoops 3rd December 2015 at 7:21 am # What an absolute mess the media are getting in over Mark Warburton. ‘Exclusives’ everywhere and all contradicting each other. The Sun headline about him refusing FIVE big money offers from England has to be the most incredible yet. He is just six months in Scotland, in a league where he is shooting fish in a barrel most weeks, often against part time teams. He has had one outing against a top league side and was tactically destroyed. Yet the Sun wishes people to believe FIVE big money offers from England have come in already. No wonder their sales are plummeting.
I’m just glad I support a club the media say have a very poor board of directors and a rubbish manager. Heaven knows where we would be if we had the blue-chip directors Rangers have with the next special one in charge of the team.
____________________________________
Thank goodness Robbie Neilson wasn’t a City Trader, or he’d have been off to the EPL by Christmas last year! Or, at least, we’d have been reading in the rags that every top club in England was preparing to steal him away from Hearts.
To be honest, in terms of achievement with players and money available, I’d suggest there’s much more chance of English clubs showing genuine interest in Alan Stubbs than Mark Warburton. But I’m certain that media hype has often led to a high profile signing beating substance several times in the past, and will do in the future, too.
StevieBC 2nd December 2015 at 6:15 pm #Extracted from the SFA / News webpage;“NewsScottish FA educates coaches across the GlobeMonday, 30 November 2015
—————————————————————————-
I’m definitely missing something here and maybe the PR people have misinterpreted the message from above !
African teams at the last 3 or 4 World Cups have been on occasion exciting to watch and achieved some great results against the big-hitters and similarly some of the African players are spread throughout the major leagues across Europe commanding massive fees when they move between clubs.
Surely the African coaches are being brought over here by the blinkered and bunkered SFA!
Auldheid 3rd December 2015 at 9:21 am #
#######################################
A quick question of Stewart Regan: You once spoke of Armageddon in relation to RFC being liquidated, what exactly is the SFA plan as it currently faces its’ own end of days? Shall you be seeking redemption or are you intent on trundling down the path of MAD?
Remember Stewart, the truth shall set you free.
all bears should be concerned re this warburton for fulham rolling granary loaf…….. if the breadman goes south its not difficult to predict that…..
1. the future england goalie wont want to enhance his engerland chances up here
2. tavernier is bound to develop a craven for cottage life
3. waghorn will be lured by the prospect of his swapping tales of life at the new club with ross mccormack who will reply with his experiences of the old club
4. kenny millery is bound to pop up and say he can manage another season in englands top flight or he aways wanted to win a johnstones paint medal and it would be right up there !!
5. lee w is bound to hit freedom of contract and his rasping freekicks and crosses will look great floating down the thames.
6. as a few breadcrumbs of comfort warbs may offer to swap jason holt for a man who can fix a roof that he knows.
7. the london boys will prefer to head back to the london fleshpots having failed to score in the glasgow ones.
8. the rest can try and cling onto fifth place to make the championship play-offs.
9. and negotiate the tricky home cup tie v cowden or arbroath, which will be televised LIVE by the beeb.
10. spears,irish and dick wilson will state they all along thought the court of session guys were right and were forced to support ‘ the appeal’ …. and fulham have always been their english team…
11. its not really gardening weather, the roses are pruned and he’s ready to get back to managing and adding to the blackpool beach taxis in the january sales……..
When are the football authorities going to insist that the shape shifter club in Edmiston Drive provide solid evidence that they have a sustainable business plan that will see them through this season never mind as a going concern in the longer term. Soft loans,court cases coming thick and fast, shysters and con men abound.Like parents who have for so long indulged the tantrum throwing child,our authorities now have no idea how to apply sanctions or to impose any kind of discipline on the entity.They are gutless and an embarrassment to the sport they profess to govern.
Just read some tweets between Tom English and some, mainly, TRFC fans. Difficult to judge who makes themselves look more stupid, with English ending with this in defence of his BBC colleagues:
“Tom English @BBCTomEnglish 12h12 hours ago @AMcKellar89 You don’t know where the info came from.”
It appears no one thought to ask, though I doubt he’d give the answer, where it came from.
But amazingly, as evidence as to why the bears are so blind to what’s been going on at Ibrox, until it’s too late, one genius put up a picture of the back page of the most discredited ‘newspaper’ in Britain as evidence that Warburton had turned down 5 different approaches from English clubs!
Would be interesting if English had the guts to reveal who it was that gave the Beeb this misleading information, clearly deliberately misleading, which, one might think, would remove the usual defence of ‘protecting sources’. Such a source deserves ‘outing’.
‘The Scotsman’ has openly joined the anti-Ashley, pro-King brigade..
This morning it carries,on its ‘Championship Fanzone’ page, a picture [taking up about a quarter of the page, bang in the middle of the page] of a ‘new club’ fan carefully posing with a poster on which is printed ‘ One last parasite Ashley out Enough is enough’, with a larger banner with the same message in the background.
It is a deliberately taken and arranged photograph, [Rob Casey( the photographer )having clearly positioned the fan ]rather than being a spontaneous, ‘news’ shot.The caption is
“taking a stand”
No doubt, the ‘Scotsman’ will next devote an editorial devoted to the ‘dangers’ presented by Ashley.
‘The Scotsman’ is , by and large, no more than a tabloid magazine with very third rate writers who write for the lowest common denominator, little more elevated than ‘The Metro’or the DR.
I reckon the increasingly feverish rantings of the SMSM is a reflection and an awareness of impending doom.
Although, if, as has been mooted, the SFA/TRFC’s latest trick is to appease MA, in the hope that he will back off from the Courts, the Scotsman’s contrived splash would seem to be contrary to that aim.
Came across this and thought it might be of some interest:
http://issuu.com/transparencyinternational/docs/2015_footballgovernanceleaguetable_?e=2496456/31444500
SFA does quite well but I think the one thing it fails on is relevant.
Re Hearts AGM
Announcement of plans to stay at Tynecastle and the aim of a new main stand constructed in May/June 2017
Also
The club announced that losses compared to last year were down to £415,000 from £994,000.
“Financially, we completely out performed our financial plan and our turnover has risen from £5,098m to £7,077 and a half-million pounds improvement on the bottom line and this does not include the donations from the Foundation of Hearts,” added Budge.
“Having lost £994,000 previously our losses are down to £415,000 in the past year and we are well on the way to breaking even or better this season, again, ahead of our schedule.”
=============================
Quietly heading in the right direction but, rightly and sustainably, not aiming for the stars.
I’m generally not that interested in stories about which manager is going where, but this quote caught me eye:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34980312#
Join the club!
(or is that company?)
gerrybhoy67
The African teams doing well at World Cups are due to their players in Europe and often very little to do with what actually happens at home – there are a few exceptions but mostly the successful sides have had quality players in Europe and, in the main (North Africa often the exception), foreign coaches.
The problem lies in identifying and then developing home grown talent and then coaching them to get them into the local sides and then having an excellent “agent” scheme to ensure your best youngsters get into teams in Europe – for years Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana and the likes have got players into the French, Dutch and Belgian leagues and the North Africans particularly get into France. East and Southern Africa has, for many years, been lacking in getting their players to the right quality and then into Europe – and as some overseas coaches have said in Southern Africa, getting into the third division in Europe/Scandinavia does not count but some media still try to refer to them as “internationals playing overseas”!!!
The other problem is that you usually find each country has the same tried and trusted coaches who almost go from club to club – hired by Chippa United and when fired snapped up by Black Aces and so it continues. If you thought Scotland and England was a merry go round of same old faces the same applies in Africa. The other problem is facilities – despite some decent stadiums (and in some cases quality stadiums as a result of hosting Africa Cup of Nations), some clubs cannot train there so have to use school or similar grounds and so development and skills are not always what they should be. Many coaches have gone to what they think are good African footballing nations and found the facilities and salaries make their jobs unbearable (not to mention the administrators). And then there is culture and discipline!!! You can take them to UK but you cannot take UK back to them. How would you react to a team insisting on walking onto the field backwards in order to ward off something the home team have left for them, or goalkeepers not allowed to put their spare gloves/bag in the net because it might contain “protection” for the goal – some local beliefs are just not understood outside of the countries concerned but you have to deal with them as strange as they might seem!
Scottish football needs a strong Arbroath and East Fife.
#
Auldheid 3rd December 2015 at 9:21 am #
#######################################
A quick question of Stewart Regan: You once spoke of Armageddon in relation to RFC being liquidated, what exactly is the SFA plan as it currently faces its’ own end of days? Shall you be seeking redemption or are you intent on trundling down the path of MAD?
Remember Stewart, the truth shall set you free.
=======%==
When all you think of life is in the commercial terms then the result is a Stewart Regan or a Neil Doncaster.
Love of the game is totally absent.
It might as well be cricket. 😉
And they’re not even very good at the commercial bit.
How can you be “paired” with three other teams ?
Scottish FA @ScottishFA 5h5 hours ago NEWS | Scotland have been paired with Belgium, Croatia and Bulgaria in #U19EURO Elite Round.
Good Afternoon
Has anyone noticed that the Daily Rag has singularly failed to report that King and the three bears actually lost the vote at the AGM?
Where is the balanced reporting in the media?
What possesses the bears that they see Mike Ashley as the bad guy?
Do they not realise that but for his intervention of lending £5 Million that the current version of Rangers would have ceased to exist?
Yet a convicted criminal is being hailed as the saviour of Rangers and he has not put in a penny of his own money.
Every real football fan who wants the truth from the SFA should be fully supportive of MA.
If he has his day in Court then the truth will have to come out.
The blazers will have to tell the whole truth because there will be a subsequent criminal trial and again the truth will come out because I am sure that Craigie boy will have everything on tape and will use it.
Should there be any discrepancy with what the SFA present as the truth and what really comes out in the tapes then perjury charges against those in the SFA could be raised.
The SFA will only get one shot at telling the truth.
You go to jail for a long time if you are found to be telling lies.
In the meantime I hear that sales of Imodium have gone through the roof on the sixth floor.
We have a statement! Just more Level5PR, sadly.
John Clark 3rd December 2015 at 12:09 pm #‘The Scotsman’ has openly joined the anti-Ashley, pro-King brigade…
============================================
I fear the Scotsman (at least on-line) has decided to pander to the BTL commentators who seem to spend all day, every day, pressing F5 & making the same (dull) points they’ve made for the past 40 months.
neepheid 3rd December 2015 at 4:39 pm
Presumably that can be taken as gospel like previous statements relating to
-Acquiring NOMADS
-Having adequate funding to see the season out
-Renegotiating SD contracts
-Over-investing (£30m)
-Champions League, Dallas Cowboys, 500million worldwide fans etc etc etc
Given the recent tweets on Alasdair Lamont’s twitter feed I’m off to the SPFL sponsors to place a bet on him being persona non grata down Govan way by the weekend.
Alasdair Lamont @BBCAlLamont 54m54 minutes agoIf no incentive has been offered to MW to stay that’s because of a change/delay on board’s part, not an inaccuracy from BBC.
Alasdair Lamont @BBCAlLamont 56m56 minutes agoAlasdair Lamont Retweeted Rangers FC
I stand by last night’s story and this doesn’t contradict it.
Rangers FC @RangersFCClub Statement: http://rng.rs/1TAr43v
Just had a look at the betting for next Fulham manager. From being a strong favourite 2 days ago, MW is currently second favourite with most bookies. The new favourite is Stuart Gray.
While MW is still around 2/1 with most bookies, on the exchanges his price is collapsing fast. Anyone interested can get around 20/1. That’s a pretty confident statement. Someone, somewhere is making a ton of money on these exchanges. Every one matched, of course, by some chump like me losing his shirt!