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Everyone on this site has football experiences, views, stories and opinions. Everyone also wants things to be better in the future too. These are bonds that make us who we are and this forum what it is.
I’ll share a few experiences with you now.
I will never forget an impromptu and inspirational 60 minute Q. and A. masterclass by Davie MacParland to a group of relative youngsters at Hampden in 1975 after Scottish Unis had played a friendly with his team.
It was “over the moon Brian” time for me on finding a £5 note in my shoe. This was after I played my first game (unexpectedly) as an S form in the Highland League when my club’s Aberdeen-based players had been held up by a road incident.
So happy and corrupted was I that I never questioned the widespread practice of giving money to amateur players thereafter so I’m part of the problem.
I also sat next to a young Jim Leyton who came to Butchart to watch himself on a match video after he had let in two goals when we dumped Deveronvale (where he was on loan) out of the Aberdeenshire Cup. It was the very early days of video and Jim had never seen himself on a tv before.
Every person in the SFM community will have equally diverse and interesting experiences and I’m going to share one more with you now in a little more detail.
In the mid 90s I was given an amazing insight into how Scottish football really worked. In many ways it hasn’t changed much since.
Back then I was part of a small group brought in to help find funding for the upgrade of Tynecastle with the urgent need to construct three new stands. At the time it was a massive requirement for a very financially challenged organisation and at a push there were potentially just about enough pots of monies available from several sources to trigger the investment from the Football Trust and squeak over the line.
The most critical pot was mobilising the fans.
My role was to find a way of getting them to come aboard working with some fine lifetime Hearts fans like the late Alex Kitson so it would all look like a Hearts Community rather than a Mercer initiative.
The then, colourful Hearts majority owner was under constant pressure on other fronts at the time.
The team was not really performing with relatively new manager Jim Jeffries trying to get best out of predecessor Tommy Mclean’s mixed bag of old pros and kids. Making things worse was a growing, highly critical and very vocal consortium of local business people trying to get Mercer out (and themselves in).
I guess you could say in today’s parlance that they were RHM and civil war was very much happening down Gorgie way.
Anyway I can’t now recall all the detail and apologies if my memories have fused a little but a key AGM type meeting for Hearts shareholders at Ingliston was coming up and there was an agenda that looked like it might hurt “The Chairman” as Wallace liked to be called.
Never any flies on him though, he had seen the danger signs and was ready in his own way.
He turned up with his trusted few and simply yet quite brilliantly hijacked the negative agenda and ignored the real issues. He didn’t have a solution for them and couldn’t implement the changes that were in reality needed but quite simply he kicked all the trouble into the long grass.
He did this because he fundamentally understood that most shareholders in the room were just ordinary football fans and wanted nothing more than to be able to talk about football the game, Hearts their club, who they were due to play next and who would be playing.
It was that simple.
Mercer’s message to all that night was “Yes things have been tough but our best possible future is with me”.
He rammed this home by confidently telling the assembled body that Hearts were on the up because we had a new manager who needed time and then blew everyone away by announcing he just signed three amazing new players for them, Giles Rousset, Bruno Pasquale and Hans Eskilsson. After the applause and mayhem died down he had won.
Bruno and Rousset were newsworthy in any Scottish football context one being a French International and the other an ex Juventus tough guy with a EUFA and a couple of Coppa Italia winners medals.
Oh and Eskilsson had amazing hair.
Mercer’s simple bit of insight, showmanship, brinksmanship, call it what you like, led to the survival of his regime.
In a parallel maybe to what the SFA did after their meeting with Craig at the Hotel Du Vin in Glasgow, Mercer had enough time to be ready for the trouble he knew was coming and used his power to ignore the real issues and the detail and move on with a big gamble.
Looking back Wallace got a lot right .
He understood what the majority of ordinary football fans wanted. He’d also learnt that good press was needed and came from feeding the football writers enough tasty exclusives so they’d look after him in a symbiotic relationship, the kind of relationship that remains much the same today.
Even back then in the days when there were less full-colour pages pre-allocated to certain teams to fill and more able journalists to fill them, the sports pages were about game reports and gossip rather than insight.
The packs of hacks all craved being handed tasty semi-exclusive stories.
It was and ever is thus and in those days the Daily Record was a wee gem with circulation nearer 700K than the 200K-ish today and amazingly all its costs were covered by it’s advertising revenue alone. The proud boast of Endell Laird was the purchase price was pure profit.
With hindsight Wallace may only have postponed the inevitable campaign by the RHM rebels that night at Ingliston. History tells us that the Robinson/Deans rebellion eventually forced their chance. They did have to dig much deeper financially than they ever wanted when their time eventually came, and soon fell out too, but that’s another story.
Wallace’s long grass was just never going to be deep enough to hide the issues he wanted to ignore but to his credit on his watch the stadium was upgraded and the first Scottish Cup since 1956 was paraded to the fans.
Mr. Mercer was an operator who like others before and since could see personal and business value in owning a club.
He cultivated friendly football writers.
He learned that the SFA could be difficult to deal with but much less so when you placed people on their various management boards. That was key to the inner power sanctums and brought you at best influence and at worst early warnings.
He may have been autocratic but knew you needed powerful friends at other clubs too and was always close with David Murray in particular.
So what has this little piece of retrospection and a handful of Finloch football stories got to do with a blog on SFM?
Last week I met Big Pink for the first time over a few coffees.
It was like meeting an old friend in the pub because of all the stuff we’ve lived through and shared over the last 5 or so years.
We talked about stuff and traded stories and opinions on life, football and about SFM what it does and what we are.
We got on to the subject of it’s future and with my business background he asked me to consider a piece for the blog about where the SFM, our fledgling business might go from here.
I maybe agreed too hastily because I have found it challenging to gather and spell out my thoughts.
So this is very much a starting couple of steps to bring in the SFM minds and set up future discussions following this blog and when we meet in Perth in April.
My starting point was to first consider what we are today.
It’s a personal view but to me SFM is a valued medium I come to most days. It’s for when I want to find out or to discuss what is happening.
It is populated with a bunch of people with different backgrounds, skills and insights, is always polite and often very funny.
I’d actually like to see more headline blogs because I enjoy them but our biggest value will always be analysis discussion and good humour.
SFM is fundamentally different to the MSM back pages that still offer us all a mono diet of whatever day-to-day gossip they have been spoon-fed by the Level 9’s of this world or made up and maybe embellished with a random phone call for a quote.
Yes their world is declining and will inevitably see fundamental restructure and change but that change has in reality nothing to do with how they cover and will continue to cover Scottish football.
I’d even posit (to use a wee word I’ve learned from the excellent JJ site I visit sometimes) that the red tops currently see their style of football coverage as a way of slowing their inevitable declines because it delivers the difficult to reach male audience their advertisers crave access to.
As a spectator I’d say the MSM in Scotland mostly seem to suffer from a polarised demographic focus/ bias too but that can never excuse their revisionism or the Spiers and Haggerty episodes we’ve just witnessed.
There is one benefit though. One you maybe hadn’t thought about from all the dreadful MSM football reportage.
The stuff they collectively generate enables all of us to have daily conversations with friends and strangers without actually saying anything about anything.
It gives us our daily top-up for the international language of football minutiae we all converse in every day.
I’ve been able to speak it fluently since I was in my teens. You know the kind of thing – the ins and outs, the ups and downs, the comings and goings and the toings and froings.
The good news, the bad news the made-up news – its all part of being involved with a team or indeed just being a football fan and it’s all conversation for the males of our species.
There are plenty of places I can and do get access to that kind of stuff but SFM isn’t and never has been a source.
I quickly found out that most of my pals don’t want to talk about side letters in the pub on a Friday, or the need for asterisked titles because they are more interested in tomorrow’s match and who will be out of contract at the end of the season.
Without being disrespectful in any way I think they are cut from the same wood as the majority of Mr. Mercer’s Hearts shareholders and if I’m honest part of me is too.
That has given our administrators and clubs too easy a ride.
Beyond the gossip it is fair to say in the last 40 or 50 years football has changed beyond all recognition.
It has become a source of power and money and as we know proverbially and in real life power can corrupt and money can be the root of all-evil.
The stuff happening at FIFA now can be no surprise to any fair-minded fan and I’d be inclined to think that there have been finagled decisions at the top for longer than the current stewardship of Mr. Blatter.
Way longer.
Football-land is a dirty world. A world where all the transparency is for show and real stuff has always been controlled and rewarding for those in the right places.
Closer to home football in Scotland is no different. Power and money have been the origins of our own North of the Border soap opera saga.
Its sometimes been very funny, often been entertaining too but is ultimately tragic and a sad indictment on our country.
Being Scotland nothing is ever as simple as it should be.
We started from a unique kind of place where for over a century we have had to live with an unhealthy, quasi-tribal, two-club duopolistic domination of all things football including the fans, the trophies, the money, the media attention and the administrators controlling our game.
The stark reality of 2016 is our biggest club/economy now finds its real ambitions thwarted, potentially forever, by its location in our restrictive league structure. It has nowhere currently to go and annoyingly the biggest league in the world is just over the border and part of the same country in political terms.
This is a destabilising influence on our game that won’t go away until change allows the next evolution.
Our second biggest economy as we now know had to cheat a little to keep up, post Fergus, and is now making its way back to the top end but with some truly nuclear baggage that I guess we still really only know the half of. Nothing will be simple in its return to what we’re told everyday is its rightful place. It too is a latent destabilising influence awaiting like a grumbling volcano.
What depresses me is the fact that the much-vaunted return of our dysfunctional duopoly is not a formula to recreate the European success we all took for granted for so long. Those days will never return.
The decline of the Scottish giant that was and is Rangers has dominated our thoughts because it encapsulates so much more than what is wrong with our game.
It is a huge business and establishment fall from grace. A shocking story that has become an elephant in the room to our politicians, our media and many of our fellow fans and is still playing out to deafening silence in some quarters.
In the manic run up to the decline of David Murray’s club we benefitted from insights from the seminal RTC and were bombarded with mass denials from almost everywhere else.
We witnessed the £1 sale to Craig Whyte, the subsequent McCoist European failure, the eventual slide into messy liquidation with tax issues etc.
Our administrators failed us all the way through because they had a different agenda.
Our MSM didn’t want to know partly because it involved more than regurgitating press releases and partly because it was real news for real reporters and not back pages gossip.
Their editors failed us there too, big time.
Now the revisionism and invention of the post-liquidation ephemeral club and company scenarios has been creative to say the least.
I remember Mr. Traynor’s initial headline and smile how he and others are now wading in a contradictory swamp of their own making. It’s all confusion when it needn’t be.
I only know the kind of stuff that really happened because of this site and its RTC predecessor.
Four or five years on and I think these guys (SFA, SPFL) acted like Wallace Mercer did at Ingliston and ran roughshod over process to “win”.
These well paid admin staff were never off-piste though and our clubs share complicity for their actions to varying degrees.
If I was Regan’s or Doncaster’s devil’s advocate I could just about comprehend that they acted because they feared for their TV revenues. The prospect of being without half of their duopoly ace card and the blue fans scared them and they were mandated by the clubs to maintain the status quo.
I don’t mean all the clubs but if we look at the key committee structures we’ll easily see who were in that inner sanctum at the time. They collectively decided to throw their rulebook out the window and there is no grass long enough to bury their collective actions because truth always outs.
Cast yourself back a few years not long before the St Valentine’s day 2012 news when the push was all for a 10 club league.
I remember Stewart Milne aggressively trying to sell us all a 10-club league because of the TV revenue it delivered (to the few).
At that time there seemed to be a collective “TV Gold Fever” prevailing in the cabal of top club chairmen that makes the real decisions and tells our administrators what to do.
Luckily they failed.
They nearly failed again too in 2012 with their tawdry 5 way agreement and we all owe a debt of gratitude to the late Turnbull Hutton whose personal integrity, bloody-mindedness and leadership meant a significant change to the premeditated 5 way plan that our top clubs had all signed off.
Since then we’ve all suffered from Armageddon and long may it stay.
SFM has been at the forefront of the last five years. A place where fans from all the clubs come together to question, analyse, give insight, balance, consciousness on all aspects of the meandering road that has been this story so far.
It’s all recorded on our archives somewhere too. We’ve noted and discussed the following and more –
- Two different signatures from the same club on the 5-way agreement
- Two different and concurrent memberships of the SFA
- Players TUPE-ing for free and no lawyers getting rich in trying to get them back
- Pre-season games being cancelled because of registration and insurance issues
- The Brechin game coming too soon for the paperwork
- The entry-round in The Ramsdens Cup for the old club or is it the new club?
- Record crowds, an even more aggressive songbook
- Ian Black getting a surprise call-up and a bit of a game to legitimise The New Rangers with their first cap
- Millions raised from a gullible city and desperate fans but still several last gasp saves needed to avoid new financial stramashes
- A charity that pays for holidays in America
- Quasi-legal stuff with dodgy parameters for questionable enquiries like Nimmo Smith
- Bryson and his logic that Spartans could and should have used to stay in the cup
- A “Hopelessly Conflicted Chairman” re-elected and a new one who has fitted in seamlessly
- Real legal stuff like HMRC appeals, and phrases like side-letters
- Charlotte Fakes and maybe even Fake Charlotte Fakes
- Fit and proper persons running our clubs
- Recorded conversations
- Onerous contracts
- Metaphysical concepts of what football clubs in our courts with big bucks being spent on our behalf by our administrators
There is and has been a whole lot more and more to come on the schedules too.
How much of this would I have found on our MSM?
Very little – so thanks to those who go the extra mile for us including John Clark, EasyJambo and others at the courts, Phil who will never go away, James Doleman and others too including JJ – all playing blinders where the hacks don’t dare.
Finally fast-forward to today.
Most Scottish fans probably know a little about the stuff I’ve touched upon and we’ve debated in depth. Not enough though.
But we have Darryl Broadfoot who is the SFA so we can all sleep rest assured each night.
Going forward we must address how we communicate as a medium to spread the word.
Ask yourself – Is what we do more important than knowing Rangers signed Dean Windass’s son from Accrington Stanley on a free because he’s going to play for England one day and stuff like that?
I’d say it is different although both have a place.
Our challenge is to create more impact with ours.
In finishing I have one serious starting proposal to make as a community but first a thank you.
Thank you to all the blog writers and posters because we have collectively created a site where real stuff can be dissected and discussed politely and in a non-partisan way.
Well done to the mods in particular and to our community In general
My simple proposal as our first step forward is to start a Wikipedia style library of the facts and keep it on our site.
Dates, happenings, people and all the stuff that will not allow any of it to stay buried forever in the long grass. The kind of detail that is in Auldheid’s amazing and resolute Resolution 12.
Chapter and verse whys and wherefores with dates and names.
This will achieve three things.
- It will create bedrock for us as a trusted media channel whatever we decide to become.
- It will put stuff factually into the public domain forever.
- It will contradict any highly paid revisionists trying to change what really happened for their own agendas into the future.
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Homunculus 6th March 2016 at 8:00 pm #upthehoops 6th March 2016 at 7:50 pm ===========================
That is one heck of a lot of meaningless, irrelevant statistics to try to make people believe a lie.
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Statistics can be used to back up anything, but those statistics are a bit like one of those adverts where they state something that is true and then move onto something completely unrelated whilst one’s mind is still holding the true statement. For example, there are no wild tigers in Africa; I saw a lion in my garden yesterday.
Level 5 at work. A low level PR operation but aiming at a demographic renowned for its lack of independent thought. The sheep icon is sometimes more appropriate for them rather than the succulent lamb recipients.
There can be no denying the direct correlation between football(or any sport), and business. I have no problem with that, and anyone who adheres to the same principles is ok in my book.
Failure to do so will result in liquidation.
Homunculus 6th March 2016 at 7:40 pm #jimbo 6th March 2016 at 7:17 pm =======================
That’s exactly the point. If the results should have been changed and if appropriate the titles removed from the club now being liquidated then that is exactly what should have happened.
It has absolutely nothing to do with the new club and as you say should not have been a discussion point with regards where that new club started in Scottish football.
The two things are and always have been totally separate issues.
They are men who would do deals with integrity and honesty and use them as bargaining chips.
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And again we return to the five way agreement.
Green, Doncaster, Regan, Longmuir, Ogilvie, Clark, Whitehouse.
It sounds like that famous Bjorge Lillellien list after Norway beat England in 1981.
We will have to wait at least until after the court cases before we can say “your boys took a hell of a beating”, but patience is a virtue and the persistence and courage of the Hillsborough families shows that the truth will out eventually.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11787/10195190/murdo-macleod-excited-by-celtics-scottish-cup-tie-with-rangers
“Former Celtic midfielder Murdo MacLeod believes their Scottish Cup semi-final tie with Rangers will be more like an Old Firm clash than last season’s contest.”
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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s Superman.
Well, actually it’s not Superman but a bloke with his pants outside his trousers. But he’s better than the bloke we saw last time.
Sky spent all evening after the draw at 1645 hyping it up, and then we get Murdo the balloon deflator telling it the way it is. Will TRFC issue a statement saying that the League Cup semi was exactly like an OF game as it had all the honest mistakes and naughty songs and one of the clubs called itself Rangers? Will they demand that we all stand to attention and salute and respect the return of the OF?
As Murdo says, it can be more like the OF, but at the same time that means that it will never actually be the non-lamented OF.
TRFC can have the OF as part of their bought history, as I don’t think that fans of any of the other 41 clubs in Scotland want any part of it. Time to move on (are we allowed to say that?).
The Cat NR1 6th March 2016 at 9:27 pm
‘…We will have to wait at least until after the court cases ..’
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Heaven knows how long any trial might last! But I imagine that at some quite early point in trial proceedings, the Crown has to advance evidence.
The sources and nature of that evidence, whatever it may be, would of course have to be disclosed, testified to and therefore put fully in the public domain.
Matters that do not bear, even indirectly, on the charges facing the accused but which emerge from the legitimising of the source of evidence, might then fall under the public gaze.
As far as we know, factual reporting of what those sources are would not in itself be subject to reporting restrictions, so the Press would be free to say what evidence was led, on day one.
So we, whose interests go beyond the narrow question of whether these particular accused are guilty of the charges they face ( who cares ?) might not have to wait much beyond the early days of any trial before we can be confirmed in our position vis-a-vis the ‘non-statutorily-criminal’ but nevertheless exceedingly repugnant and dirty football business done by people in the upper reaches of Football Administration.
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Talking about Football Administration, and given that Mr McRae has been supervising ‘draws’ and jetting off to Europe to cast a vote and such like, should I be prepared to give him a few more days grace to behave like a gentleman and competent administrator and acknowledge my letter to him, before sending a gentlemanly reminder?
John Clark 6th March 2016 at 10:26 pm #The Cat NR1 6th March 2016 at 9:27 pm ‘…We will have to wait at least until after the court cases ..’ __________ Heaven knows how long any trial might last!
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I’m here for the long haul JC.
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I was at the other FA Cup semi-final in 1989, so we were oblivious to what was happening that day at Hillsborough whilst we were watching Everton v NCFC, other than fuzzy radio reports, as that predated mobile phones and instant information transfer. When Shanks said football was more important than life and death, he didn’t realise how prophetic that statement would be. The battle for truth about what happened that day has taken its toll on many of those involved, but it looks like we are finally now there. That’s over 25 years struggle for justice, and nearly half my lifetime waiting for the truth to emerge.
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The scandal of the 5WA and the entirely separate (but lazily conflated) behaviour the defunct RFC will come out. The Hillsborough scandal was linked inextricably to Margaret Thatcher, and it was only when the edifice that contained her political reputation collapsed that the truth started to emerge. The key to the Scottish football scandal lies in removing the keystone to the edifice that supports the institutions that allow the situation to continue. Not living in Scotland, I know not what that keystone is.
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Showing my age again, one of the first films I saw at the cinema was All the Presidents Men, and it’s still one of my favourites. That film wouldn’t be made these days, as the audience attention span precludes it, but that is what we’re looking it with the resolution of these issues. The “time to move on” mantra is a function of that short attention span, but Nixon/Watergate and Hillsborough show that the truth will out. Eventually.
The Cat NR1 6th March 2016 at 10:11 pm
‘TRFC can have the OF as part of their bought history, as I don’t think that fans of any of the other 41 clubs in Scotland want any part of it..’
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The term ‘Old Firm’ was coined in the days when football correspondents and cartoonists were honest.
I think we all should remember their cynically objective comments about games apparently being ‘drawn’ so as to occasion money-spinning replays.
Would that we had such sports hacks today, men and women who can tell it as it is, and who are quite ready to shove succulent lamb (or any equivalent) up the posterior orifices of those who try to subvert them!
There is now no ‘old’ firm. Why? Because one of the two ‘partners’ in that ‘old firm’ died, legally, commercially, and in football terms.
If Murdo, unlike the utterly unworthy ‘descendants’ of those cynical, truth-telling football reporters [ and I have to say, The Cat NR1, that I haven’t quite understood your post] is saying that TRFC can in no way be considered ‘the continuity Rangers half of Old Firm’, then more power to his elbow.
The semi-final is NOT an ‘old firm’ game. It is a match between one fairly long established club and a what?.. a 4 year old construct?
TRFC is not entitled even to claim to be one half of an ‘Old Firm’.
The Cat NR1 6th March 2016 at 11:35 pm #
Not living in Scotland, I know not what that keystone is.
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Sorry, I don’t think that was a particularly well constructed statement.
I neither meant to imply that those living in Scotland are more likely to be aware of the keystone than anyone else or that those living outwith are precluded from having such knowledge. It was purely a statement of my current personal knowledge of the situation.
Big Pink 6th March 2016 at 11:48 pm #
We will be refunding all ticket purchases over the next couple of days, and re-arranging in due course.
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BP
Please retain my non-attendee ticket fee as a donation to SFM.
John Clark 6th March 2016 at 11:44 pm #The Cat NR1 6th March 2016 at 10:11 pm ‘TRFC can have the OF as part of their bought history, as I don’t think that fans of any of the other 41 clubs in Scotland want any part of it..’ _______ The term ‘Old Firm’ was coined in the days when football correspondents and cartoonists were honest. I think we all should remember their cynically objective comments about games apparently being ‘drawn’ so as to occasion money-spinning replays. Would that we had such sports hacks today, men and women who can tell it as it is, and who are quite ready to shove succulent lamb (or any equivalent) up the posterior orifices of those who try to subvert them! There is now no ‘old’ firm. Why? Because one of the two ‘partners’ in that ‘old firm’ died, legally, commercially, and in football terms. If Murdo, unlike the utterly unworthy ‘descendants’ of those cynical, truth-telling football reporters [ and I have to say, The Cat NR1, that I haven’t quite understood your post] is saying that TRFC can in no way be considered ‘the continuity Rangers half of Old Firm’, then more power to his elbow. The semi-final is NOT an ‘old firm’ game. It is a match between one fairly long established club and a what?.. a 4 year old construct? TRFC is not entitled even to claim to be one half of an ‘Old Firm’.
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JC
I was trying to bring attention to the tortuous snakes and ladders use of language with which we and folk like Murdo are forced to deal.
‘
To me “Old Firm” is a lazy journalistic term to avoid researching anything outwith Glasgow. Going back to the 80s and the creation of the somewhat lacking in originality “New Firm” that shows the compartmalisation that journalists will create to try and simplify things. The use of “Old Firm” in a pre-internet era may have been excusable as shorthand, but surely in an era that someone in Norwich can communicate with someone in Glasgow or anywhere else instantly that should preclude the use of such lazy terminology.
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The use of OF was laziness in the 80s, but surely we have moved on? I always thought of OF as a description from those looking in on a Glasgow derby from the outside, and we have recently had our local derby in East Anglia coined as the old farm derby, which I regard as a patronising insult.
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We’re actually looking at the Old Perm match, where we have to work out which version of Rangers will be in action, but I’m sure the authorities will confirm the answer before April 17.
John Clark 6th March 2016 at 10:26 pm # ——- Talking about Football Administration, and given that Mr McRae has been supervising ‘draws’ and jetting off to Europe to cast a vote and such like, should I be prepared to give him a few more days grace to behave like a gentleman and competent administrator and acknowledge my letter to him, before sending a gentlemanly reminder?
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Blimey JC.
The poor chap has just escaped into the daylight from the bunker for a few hours, and you expect him to behave like an executive of a partially publicly funded body?
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He must be relieved that Stewart Regan didn’t set him up again with the comedy exploding draw capsule after last time, when he would have made Scottish football the laughing stock of world football had world football not already have been suffering from a laughing fit at the continual employment of Neil Doncaster.
The Cat NR1 7th March 2016 at 12:00 am #Big Pink 6th March 2016 at 11:48 pm # We will be refunding all ticket purchases over the next couple of days, and re-arranging in due course. ============================= BP Please retain my non-attendee ticket fee as a donation to SFM.
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Ditto re refunding my ticket fee. The money’s already gone from my account so I won’t miss it.
Same here, BP. That money is spent.
For those of you who are interested the 2nd Sportsound phone in show is tonight at 6:30PM. The only difference tonight is that everyone in the studio, including the host, has an association with Rangers. Last week it was only three out of the four! Is it really too much to ask that the national broadcaster has some balance in this type of show and no I’m not meaning two Celtic and two Rangers men. The pro-Rangers make up of the panels on Sportsound has been going on too long to be a co-incidence. Yet Rangers won’t even tolerate BBC journalists reporting facts regarding fan arrests without issuing bans. I have the choice not to listen and most certainly will not. What a pity I have no choice but to pay for this complete lack of balance.
Dear All. I posted a comment about referees on Friday night, then Mrs Tayred called me away and never allowed me back to a keyboard long enough to reply to the various messages. I thought it was called mothers day?? So why do fathers have to give up Sunday too!??? Anyway I don’t want to revisit the topic as such, it seems my partial aim of provoking discussion was successful however I was somewhat taken aback by some of the reponses. I just want to clear up one point as my message seems to have been taken by some as something it wasn’t.
It didn’t even occur to me that it was a penalty. It def wasn’t, Shinnie passed the ball off to the side and then there was a collision. The type of collision that happens every 5 minutes during every game. There was no offence by either team. The ref blew up for simulation, goal disallowed. Collisions happen all the time, they are unavoidable, or at least unavoidable if you want to continue to have a sport worth watching. They are not fouls, they will cause players to fall down, perhaps in an ungainly fashion as they undoubtedly will attempt to lessen the impact. Or perhaps Maddens reading of the rules is that a player should just continue to run full tilt into the opposition player and risk injury to both. Interestingly, I read somewhere that Aberdeen are challenging the decision. Apparently you can appeal a yellow for simulation? Anyone know if that is true?
Whatever, I didn’t want to revisit it and look at me rambling on again! Hey ho. Still at least we have the cup semi we all wanted to look forward to eh!? Bang goes any chance of any team outside Glasgow getting any media coverage for a while while they whip everyone up to a soapy lather to convince us how exciting it will be. I wonder if either team will be instructed not to take it further than 2-0 like they obviously were at the last meeting? Celtic ripped TRFC apart for ~20 minutes then stopped playing clearly to avoid enciting trouble. If I had paid for a ticket I would have asked for my money back! Match fixing wasn’t it?
After drawing TRFC in the Scottish Cup, will Celtic take the opportunity to point out the elephant in the room and say that TRFC is not the same club ( I won’t hold my breath I’m afraid). If they don’t , then any fan who buys a ticket will be condoning the corrupt narrative that’s been fed to us for almost four years. If Celtic sell all their available tickets the SMSM will be all over it saying ” just like old times, the OLD FIRM is back! If however, the CFC fans boycotted the match stating their reason, ie the media and governing bodies failure to acknowledge that TRFC are a new club, then it would send out a powerful message to the SFA/SPFL and CFC!
upthehoops 7th March 2016 at 7:03 am #For those of you who are interested the 2nd Sportsound phone in show is tonight at 6:30PM. The only difference tonight is that everyone in the studio, including the host, has an association with Rangers. Last week it was only three out of the four! Is it really too much to ask that the national broadcaster has some balance in this type of show and no I’m not meaning two Celtic and two Rangers men. The pro-Rangers make up of the panels on Sportsound has been going on too long to be a co-incidence. Yet Rangers won’t even tolerate BBC journalists reporting facts regarding fan arrests without issuing bans. I have the choice not to listen and most certainly will not. What a pity I have no choice but to pay for this complete lack of balance.
=========================================
At least that prewarns everyone of the agenda, so no-one other than insecure myth adherents seeking reassurance need tune in.
What a wasted opportunity.
Could we also see it please. Ta.
Yours sincerely,
BDO
The Cat NR1
I’m with you as per your comments at 1135 last night. I’m here for the long haul as well.
Re the TRFC saga, whilst we all want it resolved sooner rather than later, the reality is it’s going to be a question of ‘que serà, serà’, as Doris Day would say.
The truth will out but hopefully, unlike Hillsborough, not after 25 years.
Both scenarios are Establishment cover ups, albeit the loss 96 lives being vastly more important than anything Govan related.
Spookily, I was also at Villa Park that day in 1989 but I was in the blue end. Word quickly spread that there was fighting at the Liverpool game but we knew nothing till we came out of the gates at full time to find paper boys selling The Birmingham Mail with headlines about deaths at Hillsborough. A horrible, silent drive back to Liverpool thinking that but for the luck of the draw, it could have been us.
We’ll all get there in the end. We can be virtuous in our patience.
Oh, and by the way, wouldn’t it be great if CFC fans refused to buy tickets for the semi final?
Genuine question to the ref officienados following Tayred’s comment above.
When a player dives following a challenge, usually outside but towards your own box as the opposition attacks, and the ref waves play on (there were several instances yesterday in the Hibs ICT match) is he waving play on to highlight that it wasn’t the foul that the diver is looking for (as I always assumed) or is he waving play on to signify that it is technically a foul (the simulation) but that the diver, having dived, has therefore lost the ball to the opposition, they therefore have the advantage and he is remonstrating the point to keep the game moving?
Easily 5 or 6 examples yesterday and its a scenario I’ve never contemplated before?
@Smugas
Unless there is a shout to accompany the gesticulation I think only the individual Ref would be able to answer that, remembering that a player hitting the deck does not automatically mean a foul or simulation. He is waving play on either because he has seen no infringement at all or because he believes that the team the infringement was against have sufficient advantage from playing on rather than pulling back for the free kick.
What he should do if he is playing advantage is at the next break in play speak to the diver and possibly yellow card or at least warn that a repeat would result in the yellow.
I didn’t see yesterday’s 2nd QF so I can’t really comment but if as you say there was repeated simulation failure to stamp it out initially was he cause.
phils latest
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/the-essential-value-of-heresy/#more-7354
The Cat NR1 6th March 2016 at 11:35 pm #
John Clark 6th March 2016 at 10:26 pm #
The Cat NR1 6th March 2016 at 9:27 pm
‘…We will have to wait at least until after the court cases ..’
__________
Heaven knows how long any trial might last!
==========
I’m here for the long haul JC.
==============================
One bonus from the number of charges reducing and some of the accused being freed is that the trial itself may now be significantly shorter than previously envisaged, as will the preparation time required by the Crown and the accused’s legal teams.
Certainly, the number of witnesses to be called will be less and the amount of evidence to be disclosed, agreed, disputed or whatever, will similarly fall.
It is also possible that some of the previously accused persons, or indeed a journalist, may seek a relaxation of the contempt order, in order that they can tell (sell) their stories. The contempt order could be dropped fully, or relating to certain periods of time where no charges are now being proffered.
Good Afternoon
It seems that the people think they have arrived.
The fix is well and truly in.
Like last year I will not spend a single penny on this game nor shall I waste a single minute of my time watching it, although I must confess that I hope the metaphysical cheaters do not prevail.
In my opinion this once again gives them the credibility and the respect which they crave and feel is their right.
Their hubris combined with the media hype makes them think that the cup is already in the bag.
Once again I think that there will be utter carnage in the streets of Glasgow, particularly if the team now ploughing out of Govan get beaten. I hope that I am wrong.
As I have said before the sheer hypocrisy of the SFA/SPFL has sickened me.
I was disgusted to see Doncaster in the photograph at Ibrox. He must have heard the singing and yet nothing was done.
Like others I think the site is quiet because of reporting restrictions and contempt of Court.
Soon there will be judicial pronouncements which will end the argument about oldco/newco for ever.
By Law no one is entitled to benefit from crime and if the switcheroo is established then this present version of “The Rangers” must come to an end.
If what is out in the public domain is evidenced in Court there can only be one outcome and that is that TRFC, formerly known as Sevco will be deemed to be the proceeds of crime and the company who have only ever played Celtic once will be liquidated.
When that happens there will be an even bigger fix as they won’t want to start the journey all over again.
For the avoidance of doubt I am not anti Rangers but I am anti cheating.
If a new club had been started and acknowledged as such and the fans wanted to believe in their hearts and minds that it is one and the same, I would have had no problem.
What disgusts me is the assertion that this is indeed the same club whilst sticking two fingers up at the creditors, and blaming everyone except SDM who is the real culprit.
This man not only sold Scottish football and Rangers short but he also wasted a billion pounds of taxpayers’ money. The sooner he is stripped of his unworthy knighthood and made to repay the money, the better.
This entity is not and will never be Rangers.
When I think of Rangers of old I think of Jim Baxter, Davie Cooper and John Greig.
The present incumbents wearing the blue jersey could not even lace the boots of those former players.
The Cat NR1 7th March 2016 at 12:00 am #Big Pink 6th March 2016 at 11:48 pm # We will be refunding all ticket purchases over the next couple of days, and re-arranging in due course.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Put mine into the coffers, too, BP.
TSFM will make better use of it than I would, I’m sure.
mungoboy 7th March 2016 at 11:00 am #The Cat NR1 I’m with you as per your comments at 1135 last night. I’m here for the long haul as well. Re the TRFC saga, whilst we all want it resolved sooner rather than later, the reality is it’s going to be a question of ‘que serà, serà’, as Doris Day would say. The truth will out but hopefully, unlike Hillsborough, not after 25 years. Both scenarios are Establishment cover ups, albeit the loss 96 lives being vastly more important than anything Govan related. Spookily, I was also at Villa Park that day in 1989 but I was in the blue end. Word quickly spread that there was fighting at the Liverpool game but we knew nothing till we came out of the gates at full time to find paper boys selling The Birmingham Mail with headlines about deaths at Hillsborough. A horrible, silent drive back to Liverpool thinking that but for the luck of the draw, it could have been us. We’ll all get there in the end. We can be virtuous in our patience. Oh, and by the way, wouldn’t it be great if CFC fans refused to buy tickets for the semi final?
==============
I’d have put money on being the only one on here that was at Villa Park that day.
It was a strange trip back home on the minibus that day, although it must have been much worse for the Everton fans as they were desperate for news of friends and family. It was only when we got in the van and put the radio on that the full horror of what had happened began to be revealed.
Having attended the 1987 semi at Hillsborough and been in the same pens, I was aware of how unsafe it was. That day was one of the few in my life that I was really scared at a football match.
.
Looking ahead to the Scottish Cup semi, I’m ambivalent about the attendance of CFC fans. A full Celtic end pointing out the true status of their opponents for 90 minutes would be a statement on behalf of all Scottish fans. However, the sound effects mikes controller will be on alert for any naughty songs at the other end, and equally likely will be instructed to stop anything off message from the Celtic fans getting through to tv viewers.
Perhaps, a visual display would be more appropriate, like refusing to wear the hoops in the ground, and wearing a black t-shirt or top instead? A 90 minute Poznan?
On the other side of the discussion, the sight of 20,000 plus empty seats would send out a message and maybe Celtic could arrange for the match to be shown at Celtic Park on large screens with 40,000 there.
Top marks to the ‘Scotsman’ reader who signed his e-mailed comment to the paper(about the radiation leak at Faslane) as ” The herds follow follow the Gnu club”.
The Cat NR1 7th March 2016 at 12:00 am #Big Pink 6th March 2016 at 11:48 pm #We will be refunding all ticket purchases over the next couple of days, and re-arranging in due course.=============================BPPlease retain my non-attendee ticket fee as a donation to SFM.
Same here BP thanks
The Cat NR1 7th March 2016 at 12:45 pm # Why would 40,000 Celtic fans pay to watch a match against Scotland’s newest club on the big screens at Parkhead. ? Do they think it’s an Old Firm game ? If the Celtic Fans buy tickets en masse for this match then this good fight will be over, the EBTs, newco/oldco, res 12 all eradicated because deep down inside too many Celtic fans wanted the bilefest to return!
Ungrateful Dead,
You are ignoring precisely the conundrum that Doncaster has sought to create. He is essentially now calling their bluff. That CFC fans will not want to support the illusion by attending the match, but equally, will not wish to see their club fall at this hurdle (anyway, not least given league form) and in particular not to a club that is wholly at the centre of the very thing they are protesting about.
The only difference with that possible outcome is (I assume being no expert in the matter) that CFC would retain all funds generated at Celtic Park? Presumably they would still pay a royalty to the SFA for screening rights?
Interestingly, should RFC do likewise – and I suspect there would be a sizeable number who would – then the actual game would be played unchanged, the result would stand, sponsors would be queuing up to sue and the Scottish game proven to be the laughing stock everyone believes it to be. If the Old Firm really wanted to, in fact, they could bring it down over night by supporting just such an action.
Expect therefore, an even more active media set to, to make sure there’s no chance of that mutually beneficial outcome ever happening. Doncasters dream is built on mutual hatred and distrust. Enjoy!
The game will be a sellout. It was last time round, why would it be any different this time. The numbers in terms of proportion of the respective supports I couldn’t guess at, but lets not kid ourselves there are more than enough followers of both Celtic and Rangers that will not want to miss this game.
There are those that will follow their team through thick and thin, with whom I can sympathise. Then there are those that will be salivating at the very thought of the festival of hate that is an “old firm” (forgive me for using that term) match.
Rangers have just announced their interims with a minimum of information
http://rangers.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Financial_Review_070316.pdf
Operating loss at 532K, but after income from Retail etc, the losses for the period are down to £288K.
Much talk recently about a lack of transparency down Govan way, so fair play for putting the unaudited 6 monthly results on the club web-site.
On for easyjambo and essexbeancounter to get their teeth into??
http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/financial-review/
http://rangers.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Financial_Review_070316.pdf
It’s a decent set of results considering where they were and a significant improvement on the same period last year. They might even break even as early as next season, depending on ST prices and league position.
Of the £6.5M raised to pay off the SD loan, and provide working capital, they have only used £5.5M thus far, i.e. just £500k towards working capital.
Their indebtedness currently stands at £9.25M.
The Ungrateful Dead 7th March 2016 at 1:25 pm #The Cat NR1 7th March 2016 at 12:45 pm # Why would 40,000 Celtic fans pay to watch a match against Scotland’s newest club on the big screens at Parkhead. ? Do they think it’s an Old Firm game ? If the Celtic Fans buy tickets en masse for this match then this good fight will be over, the EBTs, newco/oldco, res 12 all eradicated because deep down inside too many Celtic fans wanted the bilefest to return!
==================
Pay?
It wouldn’t be much of a protest statement if the club charged for it, would it?
If Celtic refused to take an allocation and 40,000 turned up at Celtic Park for a cup semi-final instead, would that be endorsing the return of the “OF” or showing that they want no part of it? Mind you, it wouldn’t be a goer as they would need approval from the safety authorities for such a large event, and that would be extremely unlikely to be forthcoming.
The club are already in the match, so there will have to be some on-field engagement with the opposition on the day, whatever our view of the legitimacy of that opposition. I would rather that the draw had turned out differently, but now it has happened I just want it over as soon as possible. What I never want to see, but unfortunately now seems inevitable is that Celtic will used by others to legitimise the opposition. If Celtic FC voluntarily take part in that legitimisation process, then the game is effectively up for all of us, and we might as well call it a day.
Statement o’clock has been replaced by anniversary statement
http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/dave-king-statement-one-year/
Dave King speaks. The following bits jumped out from a quick scan through.
.
“We have, for the first time in a number of years, a solid, stable Board and we are more financially secure following years of reckless decisions and spending. The pursuit of personal interest and greed is now a thing of the past”
So, it’s official then, the warchest and overinvestment are no longer on the agenda. Is the second bit a reference to curtailing his travel expenses?
.
“Many of the clubs in the Premiership will also be hoping Rangers is promoted because Scottish football has suffered on many levels since our Club went down to the bottom division.”
I’m not sure where to start with that.
Level 5 with another puff piece for the ET today.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/rangers/14326225.Dave_King_hopes_Rangers_can_avoid_further_legal_battles_with_Sports_Direct/
It’s clear that the Club is looking to do a deal with SD outside court.
Celtic against NewGers was going happen again at some point, am disappointed it’s at Hampden – Celtic don’t have a good semi-final record there of late…
As regards the reception: I do hope the Celtic fans get creative & humorous and come up with songs such as that sung at the last ever OF game, the pre-liquidation Celtic Park party, which I was in attendance at, in response to “I am Rangers til I die…” Celtic fans sang back “You are Rangers til July…”. A mock coffin was passed around the stadium, the Four Horsemen banner (again) etc etc…
Would expect there to be a zombie theme this time around… maybe just sing the tune to Thriller.
http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/archive/01499/game_1499272a.jpg
Without a balance sheet, I hesitate to call these accounts. I note that these results are unaudited. So who produced them?
easyJambo 7th March 2016 at 2:09 pm
Looking at the previous full year (2014/2015) and taking the six monthly figure the end December 2014 the club had gotten circa 55% of its income by end of December 2014 and spent circa 52% of its overall operating expenses.
If the new six monthlies are projected at that percentage then income for this year could be circa £20m and Operating Expenses £23m.
The full 2014-2105 accounts makes mention of player costs being the significant expenditure at £6.2m for 2014/2015 and £6.4m the year before that.
Given the likes of McCulloch and others went at the end of last season then one can assume the wage bill has been reduced.
My guess is that is where the bulk of savings has come from as opposed to some wonderful business acumen within the blue room.
Therefore the increased income and some savings on the overall operations side help give a better balance sheet.
Get rid of Shiels, Templeton etc who are on Green type contracts at the end of this season and you may have some leeway to have a half decent dip into the transfer market in the summer.
However my long term argument still stands that running the operation (minus the players) is a considerable expense. As soon as the player wages start to increase then the overall operating expenses will start to creep up again and potentially exceed the income.
I fully accept that the income will increase with premiership football on offer but the wage bill may well rise as well in an attempt to make a decent go of it.
My guess is that extra cash will still be needed from somewhere soon to keep things just above the waterline with the RF-CIC being the next target.
I don’t think we will see any of DCK’s millions so a slow and measured rebuild, while sailing close to the wind (with a few potential issues that could hole the ship) is in progress as far as I am concerned.
Grant Russell @STVGrant 41 mins41 minutes agoGrant Russell Retweeted STV News
They wait until now to ask such questions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A good chunk will have been to the gardeners??
easyJambo 7th March 2016 at 2:09 pm #It’s a decent set of results considering where they were and a significant improvement on the same period last year. They might even break even as early as next season, depending on ST prices and league position. Of the £6.5M raised to pay off the SD loan, and provide working capital, they have only used £5.5M thus far, i.e. just £500k towards working capital.
Their indebtedness currently stands at £9.25M.
==========================
That P&L account looks much better than the last set of accounts.
However, it would have been nice to see a balance sheet, as well as cash flow forecasts.
The recent news seemed to indicate that debt was being moved around on the balance sheet, and rather than repaying debt as it became due, it was being replaced by soft loans from PLC shareholders. As long as there no onerous terms attached to those loans, all is well. However, if a soft lender demands repayment, is there likely to be another to replace it? There was speculation about the terms attached to the funding from the Hong Kong chaps, and that may affect the second half figures, if significant interest is due on that loan. However, season ticket revenue should be available by then, if the loan was negotiated properly.
The TRFC Ltd accounts for 30 June 2015 are due for filing by the end of the month, although the PLC accounts with group consolidated figures were filed on 31 December, so there won’t be much that we haven’t seen already.
neepheid 7th March 2016 at 2:46 pm #Without a balance sheet, I hesitate to call these accounts. I note that these results are unaudited. So who produced them?
=========================
The group accountants, acting on the instructions of the directors.
The audit is a separate engagement from accounts preparation.
easyJambo 7th March 2016 at 2:40 pm #Level 5 with another puff piece for the ET today.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/rangers/14326225.Dave_King_hopes_Rangers_can_avoid_further_legal_battles_with_Sports_Direct/
It’s clear that the Club is looking to do a deal with SD outside court.
========================
Would that be the “club” that is unable to enter into contracts, employ people or incur debts?
Or do they mean the holding company vehicle or engine room subsidiary?
It’s all too confusing.
tayred 7th March 2016 at 1:55 pm # The Ungrateful Dead 7th March 2016 at 1:25 pm #The Cat NR1 7th March 2016 at 12:45 pm # Why would 40,000 Celtic fans pay to watch a match against Scotland’s newest club on the big screens at Parkhead. ? Do they think it’s an Old Firm game ? If the Celtic Fans buy tickets en masse for this match then this good fight will be over, the EBTs, newco/oldco, res 12 all eradicated because deep down inside too many Celtic fans wanted the bilefest to return! ================== Pay? It wouldn’t be much of a protest statement if the club charged for it, would it? If Celtic refused to take an allocation and 40,000 turned up at Celtic Park for a cup semi-final instead, would that be endorsing the return of the “OF” or showing that they want no part of it? Mind you, it wouldn’t be a goer as they would need approval from the safety authorities for such a large event, and that would be extremely unlikely to be forthcoming. The club are already in the match, so there will have to be some on-field engagement with the opposition on the day, whatever our view of the legitimacy of that opposition. I would rather that the draw had turned out differently, but now it has happened I just want it over as soon as possible. What I never want to see, but unfortunately now seems inevitable is that Celtic will used by others to legitimise the opposition. If Celtic FC voluntarily take part in that legitimisation process, then the game is effectively up for all of us, and we might as well call it a day. If Celtic fail to publicly acknowledge the new club status of TRFC then they themselves legitimise the opposition. They don’t need others.
neepheid 7th March 2016 at 2:46 pm #…
I note that these results are unaudited. So who produced them?
===========================
Absolutely !
To be prudent: I would respectfully take these numbers with a bucketful of salt. 😉
easyJambo 7th March 2016 at 2:40 pm #Level 5 with another puff piece for the ET today.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/rangers/14326225.Dave_King_hopes_Rangers_can_avoid_further_legal_battles_with_Sports_Direct/It’s clear that the Club is looking to do a deal with SD outside court.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Interesting little snippet from the above
So how much interest was there over the £5m and clearly if repayment was made in full (after phaffing here there and everywhere) then are we to assume the agreement was watertight.
Does DCK realise that when you are in dire straights and don’t have a line of credit from the bank you sometimes have to rely on ‘free money’ from RRM or take up loan arrangements that may have high interest rates and eye watering penalty clauses.
Given the bloody nose the judge gave SD and Ashley down in London I’d say good luck to DCK trying to renegotiate with SD out of court.
Remember that while the loan deal was made when LLambias and Leech were at Ibrox and potential conflicts of interest could be alleged, the overall retail deal was negotiated by those who were running the continuous metaphysical entity and SD will more than likely have everything nailed down.
Funny how the RRM want to be the same club but can dump and dissociate from historical debt and previous boards when it suits them!!
PS
The £6.5m that was borrowed and pay off the SD loan after 31 December 2015 wouldn’t be £5m repayment and £1.5m interest and penalties- would it?
Reports mentioned that the ‘bulk’ of the £6.5m went to the loan repayment but didn’t clarify the exact amount.
We have all assumed that £1.5m was therefore going towards the Leccy meter but it may be much less!!
Guess we will have to wait for the full year’s audited accounts to sort that one out.
The Ungrateful Dead 7th March 2016 at 3:51 pm #
If Celtic fail to publicly acknowledge the new club status of TRFC then they themselves legitimise the opposition. They don’t need others.
================================
If Celtic don’t specifically state that TRFC are a new club then they are automatically “legitimising the opposition”.
Sorry but I don’t even begin to follow that logic. Does the same go for every other club that Rangers have played in their short history (bearing in mind Celtic have actually already played them). Does it include every club that they may play in the future if they manage to survive.
I haven’t seen the programmes or read the official statements however have Hearts, Hibs, Falkirk, St Johnstone etc all specifically stated that Rangers are a new club.
The Cat NR1 7th March 2016 at 12:00 am #Big Pink 6th March 2016 at 11:48 pm #We will be refunding all ticket purchases over the next couple of days, and re-arranging in due course.=============================BPPlease retain my non-attendee ticket fee as a donation to SFM.
__________
same here BP
So unaudited accounts….
About as much use to anyone as all the items in the link below…maybe it should be added to it?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahjewell/the-most-pointless-things-of-all-time.
Paulmac2 7th March 2016 at 5:27 pm
=========================
Well they do give a rough idea what losses are likely to be in the full years audited accounts. Based on their three previous years trading losses should be in the region of £7m pounds or so.
Basically a load of the season ticket money will be spent between now and say the end of June just to continue trading. Before the new season even starts. So they will be looking for a share issue or loans again next season.
Bearing in mind if there’s an issue a load of the money is already spent (it is currently sitting as loans).
There has been speculation, primarily from PMGB and JJ, that there was more than the £5M to be repaid to SD, and also that the money from the Hong Kong investors attracted high rates of interest. There has been no evidence to support that speculation from any official source or document. Indeed that accounts again today state “The total interest free funds provided by shareholders at 31 December 2015 is £9.25m.”
No matter how it is dressed up, the accounts suggest that the Club is in a much improved financial state. When compared to the same period in the previous accounts, the last of the excessively high wage earners have almost all left the scene, including McCulloch, Boyd, Zaliukas, McGregor and Peralta as have the “gardening” squad and the salaried directors.
The only caveat I would have at this point is how ST revenues are accounted for. It is normal to account for them as games are played in each half of the accounting period. Rangers had 10 home league games before the end of December so their income will most likely include 10/18 of the ST cash, with only 8/18 remaining for the second half of the year. However, the difference between the two halves will be more than covered by revenues from the Scottish Cup and Petrofac Cup matches to come.
The Retail income (25% share during the period) most likely was the bulk of the “income from associates” of £127K, suggesting that the dividend paid by RRL during the period was £608K. Rangers will be back to a 51% share for the second half of the year. There is nothing to indicate when this dividend was made or whether any future profits and dividends will be higher or lower.
Please also retain my non attendance fee as a donation.
Homunculus 7th March 2016 at 5:00 pm # I haven’t seen the programmes or read the official statements however have Hearts, Hibs, Falkirk, St Johnstone etc all specifically stated that Rangers are a new club. No Humunculus they haven’t but as Scotlands biggest club Celtic should be taking on the SFA/SPFL and SMSM regarding this same club pish!. Unfortunarely I’ve seen nothing to suggest that they will. So if they won’t take the lead then it’s up to the fans and as I said earlier if they don’t boycott and instead buy all the tickets then they will have shown that there is very little appetite for transparency or sporting integrity! At that point TSFM, PMcG, JJ, THE CLUMPANY et al are rendered irrelevant and all their good work for nought.
easyJambo 7th March 2016 at 5:40 pm
As per the Evening Times article DCK appears to state that the SD loan was ‘expensive’ and not apparently “interest free”.
If it was just a £5m repayment with no interest then it would have been money owed paid pack ‘on time and on budget’.
No need to say anything else. It shows a club moving forward in the right direction and paying off its external debtors.
So is DCK lying or spinning by implying there were strings attached to the loan?
The Ungrateful Dead 7th March 2016 at 6:06 pm
=================================
I totally disagree.
Celtic are no different from any other club in Scotland and should not act as if they are.
If Hearts, Hibs, St Johnstone, Morton, QoS, Raith Rovers etc have chosen not to make an official club statement declaring that the club called Rangers currently playing in the SPFL is not the same as the club currently being liquidated then I see no reason why Celtic would.
With regards your other point “… if they don’t boycott and instead buy all the tickets then they will have shown that there is very little appetite for transparency or sporting integrity!”
Again is this only Celtic fans, or have all the Hearts, Hibs, Falkirk etc fans also demonstrated their lack of a desire for transparency or sporting integrity. Because as far as I am aware Rangers have not been playing in grounds (including Ibrox) devoid of opposition support.
In my opinion Celtic supporters, and supporters of any other club do not give up their right to transparency and sporting integrity by going to see their team play football.
“Rangers is a great football club, it has a great history and it’s unfortunate that they have been relegated.”
– Dermot Desmond, October2012 (source: BBC)
As far as I can google, this was the last statement on the situation by the Celtic powers that be.
A lot of folks seem to be in denial about this.
Homunculus 7th March 2016 at 5:00 pm #
================================
If Celtic don’t specifically state that TRFC are a new club then they are automatically “legitimising the opposition”.
Sorry but I don’t even begin to follow that logic. Does the same go for every other club that Rangers have played in their short history (bearing in mind Celtic have actually already played them). Does it include every club that they may play in the future if they manage to survive.
I haven’t seen the programmes or read the official statements however have Hearts, Hibs, Falkirk, St Johnstone etc all specifically stated that Rangers are a new club.
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Anybody got any info on this? Or have they just skated round the edges? I suspect so. Ignore it for long enough and it will go away!!!
Jockybhoy7th March 2016 at 2:41 pm
It would be good to see a load of Celtic fans in Elvis Suits singing “Your Just Sevco in Disguise” now that would be seriously funny. See You Tube and type Sevco in Disguise in the search. Oddly enough I know they two fellas in the Elvis suits lol
bordersdon,
The only one that I’m aware of that told the truth about the new club was Montrose and of course the fella who put together the programme was forced to quit with the usual apologies to the poor lambs offended by it.
As we’ve heard no complaints from Sevco apologists since then, I can only assume that the rest have been too afraid to do likewise.
Sergio Biscuits 7th March 2016 at 7:38 pm #
.
bordersdon, The only one that I’m aware of that told the truth about the new club was Montrose and of course the fella who put together the programme was forced to quit with the usual apologies to the poor lambs offended by it. As we’ve heard no complaints from Sevco apologists since then, I can only assume that the rest have been too afraid to do likewise.
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Our clubs are complicit I tell you! ALL of them. I know it’s my hobby horse but there is no evidence to the contrary! Follow the money is a phrase much used on this site but I will “posit” it for a different reason
wottpi 7th March 2016 at 6:16 pm #
easyJambo 7th March 2016 at 5:40 pm
As per the Evening Times article DCK appears to state that the SD loan was ‘expensive’ and not apparently “interest free”.
If it was just a £5m repayment with no interest then it would have been money owed paid pack ‘on time and on budget’.
No need to say anything else. It shows a club moving forward in the right direction and paying off its external debtors.
So is DCK lying or spinning by implying there were strings attached to the loan?
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The reality is that we don’t know, and we might never know, even when the full year accounts are published. If they have paid a significant amount in interest then it should be fairly obvious from the accounts, given that they have no bank borrowings.
There is an argument that the loan was “expensive”.
Immediately before the loan was put in place in January 2015 RRL declared a dividend of £1.6M, which at the time would have been divvied up on a 51%/49% basis. For ease of calculations let’s say that Rangers received £800k (we know that some of this was used to pay off the unprofitable store leases) from that dividend. A condition of the loan was that Rangers shareholding in RRL would drop to 25%.
If a similar dividend had been declared immediately before the loan was repaid, then Rangers would only have been entitled to receive £400K (25%), effectively meaning that the loan had cost the club £400K in revenue. £400K over a year represents an interest rate of 8% on the £5M loan. So while the loan was specified as being “interest free” the Club could be viewed as paying the equivalent of an 8% interest rate on the loan as a result of the temporary loss of their share of the RRL business.
Does anybody know who has the SPFL public relations gig?
It seems to have been the BIG Partnership, but the SPFL isn’t currently listed on their client list.
Was it President Mcrae who c*cked up the draw again : TRFC and CFC were supposed to meet in the final, were they not ?!
Yes, get ready for an ‘OF’ PR blitz in the rags: OF games of yesteryear, ‘legneds’ wheeled out to pass on their memories, current TRFC and CFC players in assorted stoopid poses whilst promoting the ‘Old Firm’ game !
It’s ain’t going to be pretty !
The SMSM objective will be to bludgeon / brainwash the non-believers into submission to “the same club” boll*x.
…and that’s before the risk of an unpleasant match / trouble off the pitch…
“In my opinion Celtic supporters, and supporters of any other club do not give up their right to transparency and sporting integrity by going to see their team play football”. Homunculus they do if they pay to attend a match where one of the clubs aided and abetted by the SFA/SPFL is masquerading as a dead club who are in the process of being liquidated having owed well over £100m to approx. 270 creditors! A question for you: What is the best outcome for us on here : a deserted Celtic end at Hampden or a full one?
The Ungrateful Dead 7th March 2016 at 8:02 pm #
… they do if they pay to attend a match where one of the clubs aided and abetted by the SFA/SPFL is masquerading as a dead club who are in the process of being liquidated having owed well over £100m to approx. 270 creditors!
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So in your opinion any supporters of the majority of football clubs in Scotland, who went to a game against Rangers, have given up their right to transparency and sporting integrity.
That’s the Celtic fans, Hibs fans, Hearts fans, Alloa fans, Brechin fans, Forres Mechanics fans who attended those games. No longer have the right to expect sporting integrity.
Sorry, you are entitled to your opinion but I could not disagree more. They went to a football match, you think they shouldn’t have, and that removes their right to integrity in the game in you opinion.
With regards your other question, I only speak for myself. I have never seen Rangers play live, the old club or the new. I always considered them an anachronism and would not go to a game they were playing in.
Circular argument time again, you have made your opinion clear and I hopefully have made mine. I’ll leave it at that.
Just heard a few minutes of SSB
The persecution of Ronny Deila continues unabated with Keevins as the cheer leader in chief.
Never have I seen the vilification of any manager reach this level. Absolutely disgusting.
In my opinion it is an attempt to destabilise Celtic.
Yes Celtic haven’t been playing well but I believe that the overall plan for the future will work and that is what the SMSM are afraid of.
Warburton has hardly been in Glasgow a wet weekend and is hailed as the Messiah.
In the meantime another victory for HMRC.
http://www.financeandtaxtribunals.gov.uk/judgmentfiles/j8863/TC04866.pdf
Whatever will the media do when the EBT recipients are called to account.
What’s the chance of a Judge at the Court of Session confirming tomorrow that TRFC are what we know them to be- a new club.
wottpi 7th March 2016 at 2:00 pm #Much talk recently about a lack of transparency down Govan way, so fair play for putting the unaudited 6 monthly results on the club web-site.
On for easyjambo and essexbeancounter to get their teeth into??
http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/financial-review/
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Wottpi…I am flattered (almost!) by your inclusion of my minimal talents in this area.
However, as stated on here before, I simply attach little credence to such interim reports since they are invariably sanitised to preclude any real analysis, so I will leave the forensics to the blog’s forensic “accountant” Easyjambo…
I would also suggest that you include our own The Cat NR1 in such discussions…from his posts I garner he has forgotten more than I ever knew or learnt…!
neepheid 7th March 2016 at 2:46 pm #Without a balance sheet, I hesitate to call these accounts. I note that these results are unaudited. So who produced them?
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David Cunningham King ?
Me bad?
SouthernExile 7th March 2016 at 6:37 pm
I think you may have forgotten Peter Lawwell getting reported to the SFA by T’Rangers a year later than Desmond’s statement, in November 2013, for responding to a question at the Celtic AGM re Rangers ‘history’ that “Rory Bremner can pretend to be Tony Blair.”
As usual there was a fudge as Campbell (£90k EBT) Ogilvie announced that no footballing rules had been breached.
Note that the original comments AND the subsequent complaint were viewed as wholly unnecessary.
Therefore take it as read that any club, player or official within the game can, without fear of punishment, make comment re T’Rangers not being who they say they are and there is not a thing T’Rangers or the SFA can do about it as the precedent has been set. All you have to do, like Harkins did the other week, is just say you were having a wee joke.
Scottish Football needs strong and vocal comedians.
wottpi
i would rather they didn’t say it was a wee joke,i would rather they said “so sue me”,argument would be dead in the water
Homunculus 7th March 2016 at 6:17 pm
‘…..In my opinion Celtic supporters, and supporters of any other club do not give up their right to transparency and sporting integrity by going to see their team play football.’
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I agree.
No business owner can be expected to punish his own business because some sodding b.stard of a knight killed his own corrupted business, or because even worse people ( like the Boards of the SFA, the SPL, and the SFL ) helped and allowed a charlatan to pass off a new body as being the dead one, when they signed the 5-Way Agreement.
The suppurating sore on the body of Scottish Football is for the SFA and SPFL, not any individual club, to deal with.
Every day that the charade persists is a day that confirms our football authorities as being run by hollow men, men who have betrayed themselves, their office and the tens of thousands of ordinary football supporters. Worse than that, they betrayed the very essence of Sport, the very idea of open and fair competition for sporting honours and titles.
As far as we know, none of the members of either of those boards has the brazen neck of a convicted criminal, who knows no shame. It is almost certain that each one knows that he is morally bankrupt, and constantly feels the shame of weak men who know they deserve the scorn and contempt of others.
The exposure of these men of dishonour has been held up by perhaps even more dishonourable men: those of the SMSM who so signally failed and continue to fail to ask sharp questions. Too many to name individually, but we all know who they are, to borrow a phrase from the gardener.
But, of course, whether it’s in their lifetimes or post mortem, the truth will out.
Hoopy 7 7th March 2016 at 8:22 pm
‘…..In my opinion it is an attempt to destabilise Celtic..’
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I wonder what you would have made of the insinuating ( that word always makes me think of reptiles) Jackson, who had the last words on Sportsound tonight.
He ‘has reason to believe’ that Peter Lawwell regrets not having done what Jackson claims ( note: needs independent verification, like all such claims) to have said on air in January: that Lawwell should sack Deila in January, and give a new manager two transfer windows to get ready for the CL.
StevieBC 7th March 2016 at 7:59 pm #
Yes, get ready for an ‘OF’ PR blitz in the rags: OF games of yesteryear, ‘legneds’ wheeled out to pass on their memories, current TRFC and CFC players in assorted stoopid poses whilst promoting the ‘Old Firm’ game !It’s ain’t going to be pretty !The SMSM objective will be to bludgeon / brainwash the non-believers into submission to “the same club” boll*x.
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Michael Mols £260,000 Peter Lovenkrands £902,000 Kris Boyd £215,000 ….all had EBT’s all had puff piece in papers the last few days, wonder if they will be so vocal after tomorrow?