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 .
JJ’s latest
Court 21 10:30
Mr Justice P Smith
For Committal
Sd v RIFC
And interim hearing same v same
tayred 9th December 2015 at 2:32 pm
Totally agree Tayred.
These things have to be judged in the detail.
For example there is nothing to stop the winter break including one date either in the first or last week for rearranged fixtures to be played.
So effectively a built in free midweek or weekend date for postponed fixtures to be completed.
Yeah, remember that one well. Borderline that that game should have gone ahead. I was at the King Street end of the Soother, could barely make out what was going on up the other end at times so thick was the fog.
How I wish I didn’t take those heady days quite so much for granted.
Edit: oh hold on – was that no the Gothenburg game the following year?
Sorry to interrupt the fixture conversation, But any structural engineers looking in?
https://twitter.com/CollectCelticFC/status/674531461257633793
Good Afternoon,
Call me an old cynic or paranoid but I don’t like the fact that Doncaster and Regan have suddenly crawled out from under their respective rocks to make public pronouncements on our game.
They will stop at nothing to get TRFC into the top division, by hook or by crook, and they will tell us it is for the good of the game.
Despite what the media would have us believe the game has never been healthier and I think it would get healthier without the baggage which comes with TRFC.
I am not anti Rangers per se but I do not like what they represent.
Like many on here a contrite Rangers who acknowledged the cheating, felt sorry for the creditors and who acknowledged that they are a new entity would have been welcomed into the fold.
They could have re-emerged, made some gesture of provision for the creditors and wounds could have been healed.
That being said what contribution does the blue pound actually make to whatever club you support?
When you add the collusion and connivance of the Governors of our game who with their secret five way agreement condone cheating it is too much to take; certainly not again and not in our name.
I am, and always have been, of the opinion that the real beneficial owner of Sevco is CW.
The SFA and SPFL would be well advised to do nothing which includes TRFC for the next 18 months until the dust settles on the upcoming Cases, both Civil and Criminal.
How foolish they would look if they allowed TRFC clear passage to the top table only to find that this particular TRFC was a nonentity.
Let them make fools of themselves if they must and hell mend them but don’t let them make fools of the fans again!
I believe John Clark when he indicates that they will do it when we are not looking.
Past behaviour is a good indicator of future conduct.
Don’t trust them and stay vigilant.
The sooner the SFA call an EGM and clear the house out the better. If it can be done at FIFA it can be done by our clubs.
The shame that one cheating club and the inept performance of the SFA has inflicted on our game will be with us for a generation.
Enough is enough
For a brief moment yesterday, I actually thought the league cup revamp was nothing to do with Sevco and machinations to promote the Ibrox club until I read Doncaster’s musings on the 14 team league. That explains the entire pantomime.
He sets off an apparently innovative and welcome change into a dour and tired competition, and then just as an addition fires in a model to guarantee Sevco promotion if they finish second. A 14 team league. Top 11 stay up, one and two in championship automatically promoted and playoff bottom of premiership versus third, fourth playoff winner from championship.
It had to wait this long into season. Had Sevco been home and hosed, we would have had no suggested change; had they been in a struggle to get into top two, he would have suggested a 16 team league.
Doncaster’s ideal league is the one with the fewest teams, but which revives the Old Firm model. His actual ideal is the Roger Mitchell two team league model!
All on here who had thought that the league cup announcement was not based upon serving the greater good of Sevco, like myself, need just note the curious juxtaposition of the two.
They will sell it as a reform , a modernisation, a whatever.
The reality is as it always has been. The football authorities’ prime and sole function at present is to be the liferaft of last resort to rescue a Rangers, any Rangers from the icebergs they keep on driving themselves into.
No, you’re right enough. Porto game was the foggy one.
Gothenburg game was the one where Gothenburg got a last minute equaliser which ultimately put us out on away goals as we drew the second leg 0-0. Their equaliser was just a route one ball through the middle with Ekstrom skinning McKimmie (the only man back) for pace. Why on earth we didn’t have 10 men behind the ball at that point I don’t know.
Still think we’d have beaten Barca in the Semi, they had a poor record against Scottish teams in those days 😛
Regan to talk about the 5 way agreement! I might tune in.
iceman63 9th December 2015 at 5:10 pm #
I was thinking of how poor the crowds might be in these section games, and that some clubs might actually lose money. Then I remembered, there’s one club with a rather large support that might welcome the oportunity to have an extra couple of home gates in July! Watch out for their home games being against the more attractive teams in the hot ball section!
Chairman of TRFC visits SPFL headquarters; ‘Mr King, we were wondering if there were any changes to Scottish football you’d like us to make to ease your, ahem, short term financial inconveniences?’ Followed by greasy smile ?
Well, Neilly, July might see us having to dig deeper into the Season Ticket money than we’d like…’
‘How would a couple of competative home games against Partick and Motherwell sound?’
‘That’d be grand, Neil, and if you could ensure we’ve no expensive away travel arrangements to make.’
‘Leave it with me, Mr King, there’s an idea we’ve been kicking around for a while. Give me until next week to think of an excuse for it’s introduction. One or two might object but the rest won’t bat an eyelid…oh, and Stewart and I were just wondering…’
iceman63 9th December 2015 at 5:10 pm #For a brief moment yesterday, I actually thought the league cup revamp was nothing to do with Sevco and machinations to promote the Ibrox club until I read Doncaster’s musings on the 14 team league. That explains the entire pantomime.He sets off an apparently innovative and welcome change into a dour and tired competition, and then just as an addition fires in a model to guarantee Sevco promotion if they finish second. A 14 team league. Top 11 stay up, one and two in championship automatically promoted and playoff bottom of premiership versus third, fourth playoff winner from championship.
innovative and imaginative suggestion and feel that it’s implementation can’t come soon enough…..really, really not soon enough…..end of this season would be fine…. 
===========
Speaking as a Dundee United fan I can only commend Mr Doncaster’s
Dundee UTD might be in TRFCs division without reconstruction-it saddens me to say that I would prefer that to a 14 team pauchle. That gives them the duty to win the Championship in the season after this present one. Not only that, but given the current bottom league table. Clyde might have the duty the year after that unlikely to the point of ridiculousness but stranger things have happened.
i would commend an article in the Guardian regarding the working conditions in SDs main warehouse- Dickensian yet still MA is less reprehensible than DCK in my view.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/09/how-sports-direct-effectively-pays-below-minimum-wage-pay
Anticipating TD’s re subject but just got in from libations in my local and went on line to SSB.
Found Messrs Guidi, Rae and McCulloch generally slagging off CFC players and Ronnie Deila and having a laugh.
Quickly switched to Shortbread to catch up on the supposed Regan appearance.
What do I find?
Messrs McIntyre, Wilson and McAvennie doing the self same thing.
Is there nothing else to talk about at this time in Scottish football?
Has some sort of superior, ethereal being on a fifth level above us mere mortals decided what we should be listening to?
I’ll carry on listening just in case Regan turns up.
For the lamb dictionary.
Ram-a-lamb-a-ding-dong. An angry disagreement, unlikely on Sportsound with their, ahem, impartial panels.
Lambinar flow- The output of the MSM,SFA, SPFL spokespeepil when they spout forth, inebriated by the exuberance of their own verbosity – sure I learned that one on here
Lambprey- A prehistoric bloodsucker. Thrives in infested ponds. A fish that has been around since before the dinosaurs, and has returned to these shores. K1ng Henry I died after eating a surfeit of these fish. How ironic when the little lambs find out how gull1ble they have been, and they are again on the menu
Not a lot from Stewart Regan on Sportsound tonight, other than that an early draft of the 5-way Agreement, published in an unnamed newspaper, was genuine. It subsequently had some clauses added and some deleted.
I think we can therefore assume from what he said that any later drafts, e.g. that published by CF, will also be genuine and a true reflection of the status of the discussions at that point in time.
The copy I have is “External Draft 6”, so I would anticipate that it is a late version, close to the final agreement.
“On the lam(b)” – SMSM sports churnalists being constantly on the run from more informed Internet Bampots.
Clamber – smsm noise in favour of the rightful place myth, what SDM did over the BoS, the rise through the leagues on the journey to perpetual CL anointment by right of birth as the peepul
Well, listened to Regan and his ‘in depth’ interview.
Fortunately, I had some tissues handy when poor Diddums told us what a hard time he’d had when his walking holiday in Lochinvar was interrupted. All those nasty attacks etc.
Then it seems that the 5 way agreement was nothing more that getting the SFA,SPL,SFL,Oldco and Newco ‘onto the same page’.
Well at least it wasn’t to get them onto the same ‘square’ or ‘level’.
Also he admitted it was to get Rangers back in the league.
So, where had they been in the meantime?
Not exactly too taxing for the poor lad and then when it was finished it was back to slagging off Celtic. Bring on the TD’s for that!
Lambrettas: What our Mods will use when the Bampot victory cavalcade goes to Hampden.
easyJambo 9th December 2015 at 7:35 pm #Not a lot from Stewart Regan on Sportsound tonight, other than that an early draft of the 5-way Agreement, published in an unnamed newspaper, was genuine. It subsequently had some clauses added and some deleted.
_____________________________________________
Didn’t tune in to this EJ. Was it presented as a relaxed ‘of course there was/is a five way agreement’ as if it had always been in the public domain and accepted by fans and msm alike?
Outrageous if presented as such, and allowed to pass by without serious scrutiny. Did Reagan even feel the need to defend the agreement in any way?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35056808
Is someone having a laugh in the fifth picture or is it just a premonition?
Gunnerb,
That was exactly it.
Seems it was leaked in a Scottish newspaper so everybody knew about it, it was in the public domain and there were no dissenting voices.
Nothing to see, therefore, so perhaps we should move on.
Outragious, as you say.
If the 5-way agreement is no big deal , mibbes we’ll see it in print, complete with signatories and dates .
And, sorry Mungoboy, old club/new club
Paddy,
IIRC, I thought I was quoting Regan who referred to them as Oldco and Newco but then again short term memory loss can be a problem at my age
alzipratu
hahahaha,good spot
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35056808
But in July 2012 weren’t Sevco 5088 and / or Sevco Scotland Ltd trading as “The Rangers Football Club” or was that RIFC plc!? (to be determined in the Scottish Courts) already in receipt of an SFA membership conditional on its surrender of their SPL share to Dundee FC?
Auldheid 9th December 2015 at 2:27 pm #For anyone wanting a better understanding of the Ibrox Share Wars I recommend the latest Podcast between Big Pink and David Low.I had a better understanding of the factors and impact of Res10 failing as a result of listening.
=========================
Have just listened to the podcast and would echo Auldheids comment above.
Interesting to here David Low’s opinions on Roger Mitchell as well, they might well surprise some on here.
From cry baby Regan’s ramblings;
“That led to a five-way agreement that covered all of the potential issues that might arise as Green’s company took over Rangers’ SFA membership”.
Really Mr Regan! can a company be members of the SFA? Having read the SFA articles of association, I thought it was only football clubs or associations who could attain membership. Nowhere does it say companies can become members.
So Mr Regan did you mean Charles Green’s club or association? And if you mean club then obviously this is yet another confirmation the 2 clubs existed at the same time.
The fact they cannot bring themselves to speak the plain and simple truth, means they must continue to use terms and words which are plainly wrong to try and circumnavigate the obvious simple facts.
Apologies for the OC/NC reference but it never fails to amaze me what ends they will go to to avoid the truth. If they are the same club as is Doncaster’s and possibly Regan’s position, why was there a need to transfer or “take over” (Ha Ha) the membership????
These administrators have no chance of taking the game forward or healing the wounds between the flat earth society and the rest of Scottish football unless and until they can stop speaking with forked tongues.
‘normanbatesmumfc 9th December 2015 at 9:27 pm
‘……The fact they cannot bring themselves to speak the plain and simple truth, means they must continue to use terms and words which are plainly wrong to try and circumnavigate the obvious simple facts…’
____
Of course they must!
They know, they cannot not know,the truth.
And that truth about themselves and their actions is pretty horrible.
So they must, absolutely must, convince themselves that they are not liars, or else the mental conflict would be too much to bear.
There is no way back for them other than a frank acknowledgement of their wrongdoing. It is clear that they are not disposed to countenance that.
But they KNOW , independently of anything you or I or any other person may tell them,that when they die , they will die in shame.
Kind of like Carmichael, the hollowness of their ‘victory’ will be with them for the rest of their lives, and live on long after their deaths.
Folk. I have just come home from a really fantastic concert, so was in a good mood. Then I stupidly read the BBC version of Regan’s interview and was immediately put into a bad mood. It looks like most folk on here ain’t impressed either.
No profound comments from me, but I’m just one more person who turns up to watch games at amateur, junior and senior level who thinks I just may be wasting my time.
But, on a more cheerful note, I had the pleasure this lunch-time of visiting SFM Central and having a cup of coffee made for me by Big Pink-, and none of your teaspoon of Nescafe in a mug , but coffee made in one o’ thae sophisticated wee machines!
A very pleasant experience, and I bought another two mugs, as Christmas prezzies for my two drinking buddies who were the reason for my trip to Glasgow.
And, curiously, Sandyford Place is not a million miles from the flat at 1088 Argyle St in which I spent the first 3 years of my life, until my dad got a ‘corporation hoose’ in the east end in 1946.
Oh, the tears of things!
I didn’t listen to the Regan interview on Sportsound last night. I did read a puff piece about it on the BBC website by Richard Wilson which convinced me I made the right choice. Within said puff piece Regan states of the Rangers meltdown “You make a judgement call given the facts and situation that you’re faced with. We had to get a solution that was in the best interests of Scottish football and that’s where we got to.” Really?
Today’s courtroom drama at the RCJ Chancers
Division.
Looks like two separate hearings. The first will be King’s alleged contempt of court order about the SD/RRL deal. The second may well be a counter claim from RIFC seeking to lift the gagging order.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
CHANCERY DIVISIONCOURT 21
Before MR JUSTICE PETER SMITH
Thursday, 10 December 2015
At half past 10
FOR COMMITTAL
HC-2015-002185 Sports Direct International Plc v Rangers International Football Club
INTERIM HEARINGS LISTSame v Same
James Doleman should be providing updates via Twitter.
I also decided to give the Regan interview a miss. Why bother? Last time I heard him on Radio Scotland all he said to any tricky question was ‘ it’s time to draw a line in the sand and move on, the fans will argue about it for ever more so let them decide’ .
When it comes to football administration, Regan is a permanent embarrassment and occasional disgrace! No doubt he was given his questions last night or it was pre-recorded but what would have been entertaining would have been a live broadcast with the BBC actually recruiting a real journalist to pose the questions. Where’s Alex Thomson when you need him?! If/when Thommo gets another go at him we might at last be free of this failure of an administrator.
In other news Stewart, the chancer you deem fit and proper is in the High Court today.
I repeat Stewart, you are an embarrassment of an administrator.
John Clark 9th December 2015 at 11:49 pm #‘normanbatesmumfc 9th December 2015 at 9:27 pm‘……The fact they cannot bring themselves to speak the plain and simple truth, means they must continue to use terms and words which are plainly wrong to try and circumnavigate the obvious simple facts…’____Of course they must!They know, they cannot not know,the truth.And that truth about themselves and their actions is pretty horrible.So they must, absolutely must, convince themselves that they are not liars, or else the mental conflict would be too much to bear.There is no way back for them other than a frank acknowledgement of their wrongdoing. It is clear that they are not disposed to countenance that.But they KNOW , independently of anything you or I or any other person may tell them,that when they die , they will die in shame.Kind of like Carmichael, the hollowness of their ‘victory’ will be with them for the rest of their lives, and live on long after their deaths.
____________________
Totally agree with what you say, John, but think you have bestowed upon them a virtue they do not have. These men, and their ilk at the top of most enterprises, do not have the conscience that will cause them to die in shame, nor the self-awareness to ever acknowledge to themselves the harm their actions/inactions have done; unless they are taken to book, that is.
Only then will they have cause to reflect on what they have done, but their shame will not be felt because of the realisation of the harm they have caused, it will be from the shame of getting caught and the damage they have done to their careers and their standing within their group of piers.
They will certainly never care what we, the Scottish football supporters, think of them and what they have done, for we are no more to them than a target group to aim their spin at, and they know that by the time the damage they are doing to our game is obvious to even the most willfully blind, and is irreversible, they will be long gone with their inflated pensions tucked under their arms.
No matter what your politics are Mr Carmichael MP made a serious mistake.
He took a political decision for what he probably thought was the good of his party and did something that others in his field are reputed to also do.
That doesn’t make lying and outright chicanery right or acceptable.
Although he might limp on till the next election his days as a politician are numbered, his reputation is unrecoverable and he has done huge damage to the Lib Dems throughout Scotland and even more maybe irreparable damage to the wonderful Liberal tradition in the Northern Isles.
The parallels with Regan are obvious and I think the prognosis will be the same in time.
His leading part in the conjuring up of the big lie, – the 5 way agreement will never go away.
Now his rationalisation that there might not have been a big fuss after an early draft was printed so it must be OK and commercially acceptable is just plain wrong coming from a person who should be leading our game and following the rules which govern it.
Like Mr Carmichael he and his fellow drivers will one day be held to account.
In the meantime the irony is that the fickle but ever-present law of unintended consequences has seen the club they sought to save carpetbagged by some of their fellow conspirators.
That sums it up for me, Ally, and not just in football.
The world is currently run at every level by people who would describe themselves as “pragmatists”, and whose universal mantra is “the ends justify the means”. Breaking a few rules (or even laws) is neither here nor there to such people, just so long as they keep on getting away with it. The only thing that touches such people, in my experience, is a prison term- you see some real remorse then, believe me. Unfortunately, in the world of the white collar criminal, prison terms are very rare indeed.
Following on from Carmichael’s “vindication” in court yesterday, I have just surfaced from reading the latest reworking of history by Tony Blair. There is nothing that could shame such people. They can always convince themselves that they “did the right thing”, and their immunity to effective legal sanction simply reinforces them in that view.
The SFA/SPL are small beer in comparison, but Regan displays exactly the same mindset. “Never mind how we did it, it was all for the best, so let’s move on” sums it up as best I can. The idea that football is a sport, and what suits football best is strict and impartial adherence to the rules, never enters Regan’s head, apparently.
The fact that his “creative solutions” have destroyed all faith and confidence in the organisation that he heads will simply be seen by Regan and his buddies as a bit of that collateral damage we hear so much about these days. Well Samson brought the temple down on his own head, and if you call that collateral damage, then that’s what we’re watching here.
I honestly don’t see how the SFA can survive what has been done in its name over the last 3 years, certainly not in its current form. Far too much damage has been done. Perhaps if no court cases were pending, then it could stagger on, and rely on the short memories of many football fans to get it through. However I cannot see any way that the SFA can survive exposure of the facts in open court.
If the pending cases don’t bring the SFA down, then surely Resolution 12 holds the key. Is it 2 years now, that the SFA have refused to respond to a member club’s valid questions on the matter? At some stage, that member must surely take legal action, and if the club’s Board won’t do it, then hopefully its fans will.
I note that Regan wasn’t even asked about Resolution 12 in his softball interview yesterday. Surprising? Not in Bonny Scotland.
Just as a follow up on the Winter shutdown discussion. I note that Aberdeen have weeks in January/February without a Saturday game. That includes 2 midweek trips to Glasgow and one to Inverness, with Celtic fans also asked to make the trip North of a Wednesday night. All to accommodate the TV cameras of course.
I am sure the safety of the travelling fans was taken into account when all this was being planned. At least a shutdown for those cold and dark January/February days would make these trips significantly less hazardous.
I know this isn’t just a problem for Aberdeen, Celtic fans have suffered for years. I would add that every game for Aberdeen involves at least a 140 mile round trip, but also acknowledge that a short trip can be every bit as hazardous as a long one.
Came across this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU
I know it’s not football relevant but it does show the lengths the “powers-that-be” will go to fix the information outlets to their own agenda. A lot of this of course will not be news to many folk on here.
Regan Doncaster SSB Sportsound SSB they are all exponents of LAMBIAS …now where did I hear that name before …LLambias is immune to it iirc
Wrt
the politician, Carmichael.
from an SMSM source, this morning:
WE always admire folk who can pull two disparate news items into the one story. Thus Steve Letford tells us: “The SFA has just announced that in their opinion, Alistair Carmichael is a fit and proper person to be on The Rangers board.”
James Doleman now tweeting from the Royal Court of Justice.
Dave King has arrived and 2 motions to be heard.
9:00pm here in Aus, so I’m making a cup of strong coffee and looking forward to an entertaining evening ahead.
Can’t see Dave King being given a custodial sentence as predicted by JJ, but I never seem to be able to guess how court cases turn out. Always hated commercial law at University.
Grant Russell is also tweeting coverage from The Royal Courts of Justice.
From the tweets so far it appears that Judge Smith is giving SD’s counsel a hard time. The press are also being asked to sign a confidentiality agreement about the content of documents disclosed to the court.
FFS, Dave King offers to sign the confidentiality agreement that the press/public are being asked to sign.
Is he a complete moron, or just playing “incompetent innocent” for the Judge?
Grant Russell @STVGrant 2m2 minutes ago Sports Direct’s QC says he was unaware the £5m had been repaid.
Grant Russell @STVGrant 3m3 minutes ago Rangers say Mike Ashley was repaid his £5m loan yesterday. Securities will not be released until final working day of this year.
Where’s this money come from then?
Scottish Football needs the smsm to do their job.
The judge has said that he will not send someone to prison, based on inference. That suggests to me, should SD prove their case, Mr King may be heading in that direction.
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 36s36 seconds ago King has given the court an affadavit saying he was unaware of details of confidentiality agreement when he spoke to Sky Sports
Well, he wouldn’t lie about something like that would he?
Scottish Football needs a strong Arbroath.
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 1m1 minute ago Counsel for Sports Direct tells court he disbelieves King’s affadavit.
Quelle surprise!
Call me cautious, but if I was dealing with someone like Ashley, I’d make damn sure I knew exactly what was in each and every agreement before opening my mouth!
Assuming King isn’t telling a court lies (he surely wouldn’t do that would he?), is ignorance and sheer stupidity a legal defence these days?
Grant Russell @STVGrant now The judge says he is aware the press have a tendency to invent things. Asks for proof King said something which breached agreement.
Shocking!
Get the impression that the Judge is doing a fine job as Devil’s Advocate by setting up the grounds of where he expects arguments to go. Last few tweets seem to show a change of tact in terms of calling King out on the issues the Judge has raised.
Lot of “glibness” on show – honest guv I didn’t read it all. No, actually I didn’t even open it to read it.
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 8m8 minutes ago Judge says King may be guilty of contempt but that does not mean Rangers are as no proof board authorised his statement
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 7m7 minutes ago Court now being told details of how last court injunction was served on Rangers. Counsel says was sent to their office
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 4m4 minutes ago Court shown email sent to King from James Blair about the confidentiality order. SD counsel says proves King untruthful in affadavit.
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 3m3 minutes ago In Kings affadavit he says he did not fully read the order and did not believe in banned him discussing “the fact of meetings”
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 2m2 minutes ago Judge notes that email alone is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt although his affadavit may be “difficult to accept”
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 1m1 minute ago In Kings affadavit he states he did not open attachment in email from James Blair
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 36s37 seconds ago Judge notes that King is a “successful businessman” and sending him to prison would have ‘serious consequences’
A bit like the Carmichael case yesterday it looks like this is coming down to the finer points of the law as opposed to the common sense view shown by the CoS re the EBT’s.
The Judge may well be swayed by the common sense approach as his opening remarks seemed to suggest it was perhaps a waste of his time dealing with two parties of dummy throwers!!
Maybe some legal folks can explain to me what difference it makes if you are a successful businessman to the outcome of a court case? Thought we were all the same in the eyes of the law, no?
oineanachantaighe 10th December 2015 at 9:47 am
‘..Came across this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU‘
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That is an instructive link ( once I twigged that she was not talking about 3G or 4G pitches)
We might have to keep what she says in mind when we read this wiki extract:
“Sir Peter Winston Smith (born 1 May 1952), styled The Hon Mr Justice Peter Smith, is a Judge of the High Court of Justice in England and Wales, appointed to that office on 15 April 2002 and assigned to the Chancery Division.[1] His name is correctly abbreviated in English legal writing as “Peter Smith J,” and not as “Smith J,” because there are other senior judges also named Smith……………
….
He was also involved in the early stages of the £100m Chelsea Barracks development, before being replaced at the last minute before the case came to trial.
In 2008 he was reprimanded by the Lord Chief Justice for his misconduct in the “Addleshaw Goddard matter”.
wottpi 10th December 2015 at 11:40 am #
Get the impression that the Judge is doing a fine job as Devil’s Advocate by setting up the grounds of where he expects arguments to go. Last few tweets seem to show a change of tact in terms of calling King out on the issues the Judge has raised.
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Is that what he’s doing?
To my untrained eye it seemed that he was less devil’s advocate, and more King’s advocate.
I hope you’re correct, though.
Grant Russell @STVGrant 1m1 minute ago Judge: How much are the costs? It’s nearly £200,000 each side isn’t it? SD: It probably is. Rangers: It is £300,000 for this aspect.
Grant Russell @STVGrant 2m2 minutes ago Judge: What’s the cost of this exercise so far? It’s nigh on £400,000 for both sides isn’t it? Nods from King and co.
I have had experience of Peter Smith – I was a pursuer in front of him in 2007 seeking an ex-partie order to freeze bank accounts….
This is very much his way of fleshing out the arguments ….
I would have sworn we were going to get nowhere and was about to loose it with my Lawyer 😉 he just winked at me and 10 minutes later we had in our possession a global freezing order….. (try enforcing one of those !!!)
Not saying SD will win – but don’t be misled by Smiths questioning and probing
The Rangers nil? Who missed the penalty? 10th December 2015 at 12:12 pm
I think it will go too and fro and hopefully we will see the Judge have a go at King when the time comes.
At present it seems he is having a good go at the SD side as it is they who are trying to prove the case.
The way it is going if Rangers counsel as smart they will keep their mouths shut but if they do have to open their gob then I would expect the Judge and SD to go a bit deeper on their side of the sides.
Citibhoy 10th December 2015 at 12:13 pm #
I have had experience of Peter Smith – I was a pursuer in front of him in 2007 seeking an ex-partie order to freeze bank accounts….
This is very much his way of fleshing out the arguments ….
I would have sworn we were going to get nowhere and was about to loose it with my Lawyer he just winked at me and 10 minutes later we had in our possession a global freezing order….. (try enforcing one of those !!!) Not saying SD will win – but don’t be misled by Smiths questioning and probing
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wottpi 10th December 2015 at 12:20 pm #
The Rangers nil? Who missed the penalty? 10th December 2015 at 12:12 pm
I think it will go too and fro and hopefully we will see the Judge have a go at King when the time comes.
At present it seems he is having a good go at the SD side as it is they who are trying to prove the case.
The way it is going if Rangers counsel as smart they will keep their mouths shut but if they do have to open their gob then I would expect the Judge and SD to go a bit deeper on their side of the sides.
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Thanks guys. I await the counterbalance to the current SD onslaught.
As much distaste as I have for Dave King, I confess that I’m still puzzled as to what was revealed of any importance in the anodyne interview with Jim White, and it sounds like the judge thinks that too. The suspicion is that MA simply wants to attack King on every front possible.
Still, I believe King’s affidavit is an amazing own goal: He just can’t stop himself lying. It would have been far more plausible to claim he’d merely misunderstood the terms of the agreement and it was an, ahem, honest mistake. There is clearly a great deal more he could have revealed about the retail agreement.
Loving the way the Judge is coming across in the Ruseell / Doleman tweets.
He seems a right Scamp.
Between the judge and the Guardian, the establishment is giving Mike Ashley a right spanking today it seems.
According to Wikipedia, BCC News (in London alone) employs 2,000 (two thousand) journalists.
On top of that, there are news teams throughout the BBC ‘Regions’.
I would (conservatively) imagine that BBC Scotland employs around 150 journalists.
I wonder if anyone from the BBC (in particular from its Scottish ‘Region’) has been sent to cover this event of undoubted public interest and potential significance.
I note that off the back of shocking revelations about exploitation of their workers the Sports Direct share price has nose dived. I wonder if Ashley will come under pressure to focus on his main business and perhaps call a truce in the War of the King
SD case against King dismissed.
Looks like the famous SD ‘tanks on the lawn’ were ill prepared on this one.
Judge may have given more leeway if King had been on the stand.
Incredible that a written affidavit was presented saying King didn’t have his Rangers Hat on for the Sky Sports interview!!
If loan is being repaid as mentioned in court and securities being resolved by the end of the year then, along with getting a spanking today, they will have lost a bit of leverage.
However Russell / Doleman saying another issue re King is down for January!!
Having just said SD were ill prepared maybe this one was just testing the water and setting something up for later??
We live in hope
Application dismissed? Looks like Ashley’s mob have made a right farce ofthe matter. Can they really be such incompetent lawyers/QCs that they went to court with bugger all?
Incredible.
Case dismissed
Judge want another day in court with King in January on another issue,interesting.
Big Mike having a very bad day
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/10/sports-direct-share-price-falls-following-guardian-working-practices-revelations
Might MA retire from the battlefield after this and just let Rangers/SFA/Scottish Football just get on with it? Or will it just make him more determined to extract revenge on DCK and his fellow travellers?
If the former then it is down to the Res 12 battle group and fan pressure on their own clubs as the only hope to sort this mess out once and for all.