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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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StevieBC 24th February 2016 at 7:41 pm # tony 24th February 2016 at 6:32 pm #phil’s latest http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/development-story/#more-7336 =========================== Phil stating that CEO Stewart Robertson has given a reasonable, objective assessment to the Board, and cuts are required – but apparently some ‘areas are off limits’.If the CEO doesn’t have free reign to slash & burn costs – even after updating the Board – then shirley his personal choice of action is rather limited ? And if he is as highly regarded as Phil asserts – then again – Robertson wouldn’t want to be the Captain of the Ship drifting into Administration waters ? You would think ?
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You have to wonder why a man so well qualified to spot a sinking ship, even from a distance, could possibly have allowed himself to get involved with RIFC/TRFC. It does make me think that the people ‘in the game’ are all blinded by the aura of what they consider/accept to be ‘Rangers’. I’m sure King and Murray (The Lesser) must have done an excellent job with their sales pitch at his interview, and probably convinced him (and in this they were possibly in a rare honesty moment) that he would become famous throughout Scottish football, more than he could ever hope to be at Motherwell. I suspect a few footballers have been induced to Ibrox in a similar fashion.
He might find himself in an ever deepening quandary, having to decide whether it’s the best career move to leave over his best advice being ignored (if it is), or whether he should be seen to be a ‘stayer’ and prepared to keep bailing away as the boat sinks while the King’s band plays on!
I have been saying, along with others, that Warburton’s pronouncements stink ever more of preparing the fans for some unpalatable truths, Phil’s blog seems to point in the same direction. I suspect a Scottish Cup Final may well be a necessity, but even that might not be enough to keep the lights on.
I wonder if the Warbler, an apparently money savvy man, has worked out the probability of ever seeing a promotion bonus, assuming the rumours of a large bonus (and we know he likes a bonus as an incentive) are well founded!
Well, that’s Infantino toast now that the corrupt guardians of Scottish football have decided to back him . Wonder what they think is in it for them . Also wonder who in “the wider Scottish football family ” were consulted prior to the SFA making there choice. Me neither .
nawlite 24th February 2016 at 8:09 pm # So, if Phil’s right, TRFC* decide they can’t afford to continue competing in the Development league and presumably they, or L5 discuss how they can spin that decision so as not to alert the fans of their increasing skintness. They decide to spin it as questioning its effectiveness in developing players and someone then has to go to Mark Warburton and explain “Right, Mark. This is what we want you to say….”.Is it likely that a football manager would be so willing to go along with that? I hope Phil’s right and money is as tight as he suggests, given that it would prove what we calculate to be the likely situation, but I’m not sure I can see a football manager going along with that sort of duplicity. Maybe I’m as naïve as my old boss said I was!
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He was, we are told (again and again), a very successful City Trader. That doesn’t suggest a man not prepared to divest himself of decency in the interests of a quick buck! He does, after all, like the idea of bonus incentives, and I doubt his previous career points to him allowing anything to come between him and his own bonuses! I wouldn’t be surprised if his own job description includes something that compels him to do his board’s bidding in the area of PR announcements, without question.
John James has taken to ever more short tempered ad hominem comments over the past week his homunculus attack is that of an angry man who believes his own publicity his Richard Gough is deeply unpleasant. These are the kind of things which would reinforce his RRM credentials to my mind. Either that or he is a skilled dissembler.
I was interested to note that one of his things last week was taken almost verbatim from PMcG.
The truly substantial person never resorts to impoliteness or derogatory comments on other folk.
Let me know if he says anything interesting in the future.
bfbpuzzled 24th February 2016 at 9:00 pm #
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I’m intrigued now, what did he say. Not word for word like, just the gist of it.
No need guys, my chum just sent me the text.
“I have never had a problem with anyone disagreeing with my opinion, however I draw the line with corroborated facts, and the little man (homunculus) who bitches about my site on the SFM. If this blowhard had an original thought in his commensurately tiny mind we should mark the occasion with a public holiday. He should acknowledge that no-one, other than my source, was aware that King had funds stashed in Hong Kong. This is not internet speculation little man, homunculus, just well-placed sources. Stop hiding behind the kilt of Big Pink and and face me on this site like a man.”
I did genuinely laugh at that.
paddy malarkey 24th February 2016 at 8:33 pm #Well, that’s Infantino toast now that the corrupt guardians of Scottish football have decided to back him . Wonder what they think is in it for them . Also wonder who in “the wider Scottish football family ” were consulted prior to the SFA making there choice. Me neither .
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I’m just amazed that the SFA didn’t put Ogilvie’s name forward for the vacancy, what with him being the world’s best football administrator, and currently in between jobs, so far as I know. I’m sure Darryl Broadfoot would write him up a lovely reference, a man of integrity, incorruptible, fully on the level, etc. Just the sort that FIFA need, in fact.
Kind of glad about this and annoyed. Why reduce the sanction.
Whole system needs shut down home and abroad.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35655454
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35652391
SFA chief executive Stewart Regan says Infantino “is the best candidate possible to lead the governance reform required at Fifa”. That strikes me as a smidgen ironic, coming as it does from a man who shows a complete lack of aptitude or appetite for governance reform.
Regan, on the other hand, has been a lowly respected CEO of the SFA for many years and has performed that role with a scarcity of skill, a dearth of diplomacy and a paucity of professional integrity. His lack of self-awareness in discussing the professional integrity of others is truly astonishing.
Allyjambo 24th February 2016 at 8:55 pm #
Fair shout, AJ.
On another matter above, surely the fact that the RFFF didn’t have to use its money before the club slipped into liquidation is just further proof that it did indeed slip into liquidation. After all, if they’d spent the money they might just have saved it, no?
nawlite 24th February 2016 at 9:42 pm
They assumed a CVA but realised there might not be enough money to get them through administration to that point.
So they raised money in order to pay bills until the CVA was agreed.
In reality HMRC voted against the administration so it didn’t really matter.
The fund would have to have raised enough money to pay the entire debt in order to avoid liquidation.
I know The Herald’s circulation figs are declining fast, but I’m a bit surprised nobody has commented on this letter from today’s edition:
http://m.heraldscotland.com/opinion/14297044.SPFL_timing_due_to_contract/
highlighting another example of staggering ineptitude by our game’s ruling class …
Dunderheid,
If information I was given recently is correct, the writer of the letter will be even less impressed next season because he may be waiting up quite a long time for Sportscene.
There is I hear I definite possibility of a complete terrestrial TV & Radio blackout of Scottish football. Viewing and listening figures are ridiculously low, and it is no secret that Auntie is currently counting her pennies. The only thing in favour of continuing coverage is the political dimension – the blackout being seen as a gift to the SNP.
Pardon me for giving a public display of emotion.
AW, SHIT!!!!!!!!!!
Let me clartify my position on that last post.
I support Hibernian FC
Congratulations Morton, very well done!
(Sorry Reiver!)
Homunculus 24th February 2016 at 9:53 pm
I know Homunculus. Sorry, I was being a bit facetious and comparing my paradigm with theirs.
nawlite 24th February 2016 at 10:51 pm
No, my apologies, sometimes I don’t pick up on irony.
Ryan
Sorry?
I mean “SORRY”???????
I sincerely hope you are not employed as a counselor. You have just reduced a depressed client to the level of suicidal.
Get out your course notes from your degree in “the support of vulnerable people” and revise!
Now, what have I got in the cupboard here? How many saccharin tablets constitutes a lethal dose?
Dinnae worry Reiver the way were carrying on Ill be seeing you in the playoffs. I didn’t fancy it last time and I don’t this.
I’ve just received a yellow card from matron. She says I am disturbing the tranquility of this old folks home that is currently housing me, I had better back off ‘cos they warned me after I was thrown out of the last one that this was my final chance.
If only my numbers would come up on the Euro-millions I could leave here and locate to the Hotel du Cap. Perhaps I could employ thon bird from the shampoo ads to give me my bed bath. Why? Well, because I’m worth it, of course.
Another piece of information I was given by an Edinburgh businessman yesterday;
This particular guy has a new business on the go and was in London to lay the groundwork for a future IPO and AIM listing. He was chatting to a well known Nomad who was enthusiastic about the venture and very bullish about the prospects for a successful IPO – EXCEPT:
Perhaps we all knew it ourselves, but having it confirmed so unequivocally certainly reinforces – rather starkly – the belief that there was never any prospect of Dave King and his board being acceptable to the markets.
That much is true and factual, but it is not a leap to assume that Dave King may have had knowledge of this likely outcome BEFORE he completed his successful coup at the General Meeting last year.
If so, he knew there was never any possibility of his maintaining a listing for RIFC.
If so, transparency appears to have subsequently taken on a new meaning – quite opposite to the more commonly accepted one – in King’s Rangers.
Opaquely, no listing seems to have been the plan, despite public claims to the contrary. Instead, removal from AIM poured a milky cataract over the running of the company, making it immune to prying City eyes and exempt from the tedious requirement to keep hands on the table whilst dealing cards.
Deliberately un-listing whilst claiming to be trying to achieve a listing?
You can see – despite his faults – why Mike Ashley is a bit tee-ed off 🙂
easyJambo 24th February 2016 at 5:25 pm #@Auldheid – you have an email and PM (urgent)
11 7 i Rate This View Comment
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Cheers. Got it and have replied. See what you can do too.
I see JJ’s latest blog suggests the involvement of money laundering in a recent loan. It made me think of two, totally unrelated, things.
By it’s nature, money laundering can lead to the original launderer receiving a much reduced return on his ‘investment’, depending on how ‘dirty’ his stash is.
There is a saying common in football circles, ‘if you want to turn a large fortune into a small one, buy a football club’!
Big Pink 25th February 2016 at 12:12 am #
Opaquely, no listing seems to have been the plan, despite public claims to the contrary. Instead, removal from AIM poured a milky cataract over the running of the company, making it immune to prying City eyes and exempt from the tedious requirement to keep hands on the table whilst dealing cards.
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Can anyone tell me in the absence of a listing just what governance is in place regarding how this company is being managed? It seems to me right now they can do what they like, tell people what they like, and in the complete absence of a questioning media we will never know if they are complying with everything they should. I am not saying they are not, because I don’t know, but everything has a real hint of ‘under the cover of darkness’ around it.
Allyjambo 24th February 2016 at 8:55 pm
He was, we are told (again and again), a very successful City Trader.
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Some articles in the red-tops this week have given him an upgrade to ‘Investment Banker’.
Perhaps a new bio has been issued, or he’s refreshed his CV?
Jingso.Jimsie
not for a while
Mark Warburton–
United KingdomSportsCurrentSporting Director at Brentford FC, Head of Football at NextGen SeriesPast1st team coach at Brentford fc, Academy Manager at Watford FCEducationLatymer Grammar School
If Phil Mac is correct then no-one should be surprised at the contents of Stewart Robertson’s Powerpoint slides, least of all a Chairman who acknowledges the need for ‘over-investment’ in the team and ‘substantial investment’ for the Ibrox stadium.
As Phil says those who came before Robertson have told the exact same story.
As a directors in previous regimes DCK and Paul Murray will know that, while player costs have reduced since the SDM days, it still costs upwards of £10m per year in ‘non footballing’ costs alone just to keep the show on the road.
The last accounts showed a decrease in non playing staff, which is to be welcomed, as high staff costs can hole a steady ship but since then their have been some recruitment to well paying posts on both the non playing and scouting side of the business
Other than that there has been no obvious cost cutting elsewhere in the operation and indeed the potential is for costs to increase. Warburton’s reported £500k bonus for promotion and possible bonuses also being applied to Weir and some players, especially those on Charlie Green contracts.
The Crumbledome needs investment, talk of 5-6 new players for next season, potential wifi pay-off £300k plus legal costs, revamp of wifi ?? etc etc.
Still despite all that the business will stumble along for a bit longer yet. Hibs defeat last night has perhaps given the board a bit of comfort that automatic promotion can be secured and season tickets can go out early and at a premium price to reflect promotion. That along with raiding the fans piggy banks (the first tranche possibly coming soon to make up the £1m shortfall of the reported £2.5m required) will most likely see them into next season.
I think we all know that season book take up will be very high.
The summer will be the big test to see what happens re who goes and who and how many are brought in and how that effects the overall budget. Will the tradition of continually overspending be brought to an end even despite the euphoria of season ticket money flowing in?
I would expect an attempt to uncover the odd diamond in the rough and the usual attempt at trying to weaken rivals by taking a few good players away from domestic opposition (a la OHalloran) with the offer of terms that while not exorbitant beat the guys current deal.
Everything points to the business being on life support but I believe there is still a bit of life in the new dog yet.
Jingso.Jimsie 25th February 2016 at 11:24 am #
Some articles in the red-tops this week have given him an upgrade to ‘Investment Banker’.
Perhaps a new bio has been issued, or he’s refreshed his CV?
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Could be a case of mistaken identity by the red-tops, given what we know of their research capability. There is indeed a very successful investment banker called Mark Warburton, but he is an Australian and AFAIK has no connection with football.
The current Ibrox manager appears definitely to have been a foreign exchange/currency dealer with AIG, although details of his career seem to come mainly from him rather than other sources.
Interestingly, he often gets linked to RBS, but he seems only to have been with them for a few months as a senior for-ex dealer from September 2003 to early 2004, when he ‘gave up’ his job for the love of footy.
Apologies in advance and I can assure you I won’t make a habit of this.
I have just been reading the sitonfence blog and came across the actual piece where he mentions me. as if to illustrate my point I lift this one paragraph from it.
“This is a blatant contempt of court by The Crown. Some might argue that should Her Majesty’s Advocate Depute continue to flaunt reporting restrictions, the anticipated trial will not ensue. Counsel for all six defendants might well keep their powder dry and petition for a mistrial at a later date due to a prosecutor who has cut a swathe through reporting restrictions.”
Two points to make here, as i understand it the description “defendant” is not used in Scots law. We use the word “accused”, which is in my opinion more accurate. The person stands accused of something and it is up to the Crown to prove it, beyond reasonable doubt. Defendant has more of a feel of them having to defend their innocence.
I think when you say “…flaunt reporting restrictions” you probably mean “…flout reporting restrictions”. I doubt you mean they are showing off those reporting restrictions and are actually suggesting they are breaching them.
Pretty basic stuff.
Again my apologies, I won’t make a habit of this, and the blog really is worth reading, but with a pinch of salt where what is clearly opinion is being written as fact.
Kopweb 25th February 2016 at 12:57 pm
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These would be the same redtops who would have us believe that Kieron Pryor, who I’m sure is a charming, intelligent, engaging individual, possesses the highest IQ of any person alive today.
Crumbledome appears to be sewn tighter than a drum at the moment, and only the occasional snippet escaping the stitching. All we really know is that to date, they don’t have the money to see out the season, AND the magic hat has a lot to say for himself.
Idle speculation on my part, but maybe, like the previous Sevco manager, he has learned that his SMSM kudos gives him a certain amount of clout, and the ability to strengthen his position.
It would seem feasible to me that his recent comments were being directed inwards, rather than outwards. His performance related bonus scheme seems rather at odds with his “long term building” warblings. We have already been shown, via “Dual contracts”, that football players are not interested in merely “the promise” of riches at a later date. They want solid evidence of it………Has he heard something about his own performance related remuneration?……A wee hint now at this critical juncture that his performance may be affected, pro rata to his related bonus may have been a timely reminder to some.
He has also previously iterated that he does not have much of a problem with plastic grass. Yet recently he makes a big issue of it.
If serious cost cutting measures are being discussed in the bloo room, could it be that one of the measures considered, may have been the laying of some plastic fantastic over the top of the less than adequate under-soil heating?
As I said, speculation, but we have seen many examples in the past from the previous manager, how easy it can be to negotiate a better feathering of the nest for oneself, and also to force a board to over-spend in areas they would rather not.
I hope the Wearer of the Magic Hat has had a good word with his lad and told him steer clear of all this Development Team nonsense!!!
From Wiki
Warburton is married to Liz and his son,Jack, was a youth player at Watford and Leicester City, before moving to Canada to play for USL Premier Development League side K-W United. (Mainly for U23s). He signed a six-month deal with Brentford’s Development Squad in January 2015 and also represented Northern Ireland at U16 and U17 level.
I’m rather puzzled at the John James site and the accusations it is making regarding how Dave King financed the loans to pay Mike Ashley. If a newspaper made such claims would the law of the land take an interest? Of course, none of us know whether what is written is true, but it’s being stated.
Had to laugh at the latest musings from Mark Warburton. He really is in danger of becoming a parody of himself. Today he’s railed against Ronny Deila for daring to suggest a very good artificial pitch can be as efficient as a good grass one – especially in climate like Scotland. Deila emphasised that this was on the premise that the 3G surface was very well managed.
The response from his Ibrox counterpart, as quoted by the Record ( oh, I know!!) is as follows.However, Warburton today hit back, saying: “If Ronny did say that then I think that’s disrespectful because you are entitled to your own opinion.”
Yep, it appears it’s disrespectful ( a welcome return there, Mark – we’ve not heard “respect” for a while) to have an opinion that differs from the city trader/investment banker/football manger/physician/ inventor.
So, Ronny, on the one hand you are entitled to your opinion but also you should shut up if you disagree with me! Seriously, is this guy pulling all our legs or does he speak without thinking?
A disappointing response from someone who I actually thought might, just might have been good for Rangers. I’m much less sure now.
If Kieron Pryor had the IQ reported by the red tops (which is impossible) his would be the highest IQ ever recorded. A case of Einstein, Da Vinci, Aquinas, Aristotle and Andy Ritchie your brains took a hell of a beating as the famed Norwegian commentator might have said…
I hadn’t heard about the alleged GBP 500K bonus for Warburton if he achieves promotion.
If that amount is correct, then it’s just mental !
For a relative ‘rookie’ manager, with far superior resources at his disposal than the other Championship teams.
But for him, it must have been an easy decision to take the TRFC job.
Raise his profile massively, and have a realistically high probability of earning a “senior banker’s” type bonus !
And in good old business jargon BS: a win/win for Warbs !
But a potential downside for TRFC ?
If they achieve promotion, they will have – I assume – a heck of a lot of other promotion bonuses to pay out as well – and that will put some additional strain on cashflow…
[I am also assuming that promotion bonuses are paid in a lump sum, and at the start of the new season – unless anyone can clarify ?]
jimmci 25th February 2016 at 3:49 pm
I have long said that I am sure that many decent man has walked up the Marble Staircase only to be grabbed at the top and injected with some magical blue serum that turns them into die hard RRM with a No Surrender, gob open-mind shut , we can do no wrong approach to the game.
Warburton, despite a good start is beginning to look like getting himself dragged into all kinds of nonsense if he is not careful
For once a bit of dignified silence may be the best approach.
bfbpuzzled 25th February 2016 at 3:49 pm
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To be fair there is always the late William Siddis, whose IQ was estimated at over 250.
Having said that his brain did explode so he probably doesn’t count. (Do you see what I did there)
StevieBC 25th February 2016 at 3:57 pm
The £500k bonus is just ‘the word on the street’ as far as I know, so it may not be true but given all that goes on, who knows!!
Kopweb 25th February 2016 at 12:57 pm
Jingso.Jimsie 25th February 2016 at 11:24 am
Some articles in the red-tops this week have given him an upgrade to ‘Investment Banker’.Perhaps a new bio has been issued, or he’s refreshed his CV?
==============================
Could be a case of mistaken identity by the red-tops, given what we know of their research capability. There is indeed a very successful investment banker called Mark Warburton, but he is an Australian and AFAIK has no connection with football.
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The red-tops are probably just confusing Mark Warburton with Mark WarrenBuffett
jimmci 25th February 2016 at 3:49 pm
Jimmci, I appreciate this Warburton/Deila stuff is in the Record, so it might ALL be bollocks, but after reading your post, I quickly googled to see what the story was. The bit you miss out from the reports I’ve seen is that RD apparently said it was old-fashioned to hold the view on plastic pitches that MW does. MW seems to be saying RD calling him old-fashioned is disrespectful, rather than him being disrespectful by having a different opinion.
Btw, I had to laugh at the Record’s headline for the online article – “Warburton vs Deila”. They really can’t wait to turn it into a fight. If the new club goes up, I can’t imagine how they will portray any football matches with Celtic next season. They’ll ratchet the hatred and potential for violence up massively, I fear.
upthehoops 25th February 2016 at 3:44 pm #I’m rather puzzled at the John James site and the accusations it is making regarding how Dave King financed the loans to pay Mike Ashley. If a newspaper made such claims would the law of the land take an interest? Of course, none of us know whether what is written is true, but it’s being stated.
Good morning(at least it is here in sunny California) I too follow JJ’s site and in my humble opinion you have probably hit the nail on the head.I’d lay good money(not laundered or dirty money!!)that JJ is spot on and the fact that there is no response from the politburo over Ibrox way nor the SMSM nor the legal beagles is a good indication. A lot of JJ’s stuff flies a wee bit near the knuckle(no pun intended) and despite some rumblings if they were to respond to probable truthful statements they would have to agree that the truth hurts and indeed that can of worms would be supersized faster than my Big Mac orders on a Friday night!!
yours in sport
Gaun the Killie
The Warblings are certainly an effective deflection tool…
So what’s going on behind the scenes at Ibrox ?
It’s unusually very, very quiet – and us Bampots need to get our teeth into something new !
killie1962 25th February 2016 at 4:50 pm
It does seem incredible the amount of published claims about wrongdoing around the Ibrox entities that have gone unchallenged. I’m sure the stock answer would be that they don’t want to dignify the assertions with a response, but there must come a time when things are said that are damaging, not just to the club, but to the reputations of the people involved with the club. What’s more, there is nothing more damaging to the purveyors of gossip than to hit them with the truth. Just like PMGB, it would have been so easy to silence him over the past 4 or 5 years by issuing truthful statements that would have shown him to be a fanciful liar! They chose, instead, to try to discredit him with a sop to the bears by calling him ‘an Irish Blogger’. Ouch, that must have hurt Phil
, I mean, he must hate being Irish and a blogger.
Now there is a man who writes as a Rangers Supporter, JohnJames. He is saying even more inflammatory things than Phil ever did, or does. He has some credibility with some of the more intellectually unchallenged bears. His credibility seems to be growing amongst their number and he provides a platform for some if them who appear to be from influential positions within one or more of their organisations, and one, at least, is prepared to write in his own name.
While Phil’s revelations might have been written off by the board to the satisfaction of their customers, surely the things JJ is saying, if untrue, would be actionable as directly influencing the company’s (or club’s) customer base, and losing the company money! Surely, if any of what he says is untrue, it would be a relatively simple thing to discredit him, and even to take him to court, assuming they can identify him, of course. But any company allowing someone to discredit, unchecked, leading members of it’s board to this level, must, at the very least, have something to hide that would be almost as damaging as the claims being made.
There are so many questions that should be answered, with documentary evidence provided, before any supporter’s organisation puts one brass farthing into the club’s coffers. But then, they should have been insisting on such answers from successive boards and owners, of both clubs, for a number of years before now.
Allyjambo 25th February 2016 at 6:21 pm #
I agree 100%, there is definitely something, or somethings being covered up and as a genuine lover of Scottish fitba (still get a wee tinge of excitement over not just my own team but watching the goals and YouTube highlights from all the lower leagues and the junior scene-Go Talbot) it really does hurt to see that the credibility of our game is going down the drain at an alarming rate. I talk to some of my English friends over here and they also are astounded at the depths of the cover up and the absolute garbage(and lack of)from the SMSM, this would not happen with the FA and the EMSM. To play on peoples loyalty and hard earned monies after the disgrace of the previous Rangers club is bad enough but to do it so blatantly is like rubbing someone’s nose in the gutter. I hope it does get sorted out and that the genuine Bears take back the direction of the RIFC but I fear it may be way too late for that. I also sincerely hope that the chancers over at the SFA and the other players in this farce get their comeuppance. A lot of damage has been done and it still astounds me that all those years of watching the game I loved is unraveling in to a rigged set up by people who walk in a lot of different circles than I ever did and who have access to incomes that I could never dream of. All I ever wanted and still do is to watch my beloved Killie (and the Scottish National team and any Scottish team playing in Europe) play well and challenge a wee bit and to see some honest decent fitba. To be able to talk about the actual game and the banter between rival fans rather than the criminals in charge at the top who are involved in the running of our beautiful game. Unfortunately my naivety has been blown out the window over the last few years. That boyish part of me still hopes for a happy ending but the older battle scarred side of me sees an ending with a lot more tears.
yours in sport
Gaun the Killie
Just a thought!! In one of The Clumpany blogs today it was mentioned that the man they call “The Wizard” thought it best for his development squad to be playing against the teams in the lower leagues – as his 1st team is doing just now – rather than in the under 20’s so is it being fanciful to think that maybe the board would like to see the development team playing at home every week the BIG team are away maximising revenue eg 10,000 @ £10 a head – the pitch would take a hammering so they may need to install one of those plastic pitches some people are complaining about
Allyjambo 25th February 2016 at 6:21 pm #
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I once read the autobiography of a well known Glasgow bank robber, who did several years in prison for his crimes. In the book he pointed out through his experience of the legal system, large scale financial crimes attracted longer sentences in some cases than crimes people might generally find worse, such as murder. What John James is alleging, if true, would surely be of significant interest to law enforcement agencies. Likewise if it is untrue, what company would want such accusations being made against one of its Directors.
JJ site has pulled the newest blog post
one lump or 3 Mr Reagan just as i was about to click on it to read it
anyone know what it was about ?
Almost choked on my lunch whilst reading this WSJ article about the upcoming FIFA election.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/fifa-urges-presidential-candidates-to-avoid-specifics-on-scandal-1456331982
There is a paywall, but gist of it regards FIFA Communications Department actions;
– each of the 5 Presidential candidates have been sent memos about avoiding ‘specifics’ on the FIFA scandal(s)
– they have also been sent a list of 40 possible media questions – and answers have been thoughtfully provided
– each candidate has to submit a DRAFT acceptance speech to the dept before 5pm Wednesday for vetting.
If you were a serious reformist, you would just laugh and then shout at the Comms staff to behave themselves !
But the fact that these actions were deemed ‘OK’ inside FIFA in the first place suggests that they also fully expected compliant responses from the 5 candidates.
Any interest the “authorities” take is unlikely to emanate from the UK or Scotland but in HK China or most likely S.A. which I think is where JJ is trying to stir some interest.
It is in S.A. that the proscribed locations that DCK is banned moving any monies corralled offshore from and too . Then again if the S.A. authorities missed a location off their injunctions who knows ?
I did try to point out to him that HONG KONG PHOOEY was the name of an animated dog detective based in HK who specialised in righting wrongs on behalf of the oppressed. But maybe he’s too young or too old or knew that anyhow.
HK is a place also the Americans keep close eyes on. So we will see.
andy 25th February 2016 at 7:30 pm # JJ site has pulled the newest blog post one lump or 3 Mr Reagan just as i was about to click on it to read it
anyone know what it was about ?
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Merely about why all 3 need to go to vote in Zurich on a freebie.
Probably re jiggiing it does it often.
andy 25th February 2016 at 7:30 pm #
Hi Andy, he was having a wee dig at the SFA sending 3 delegates (all expenses paid) for the vote on the next FIFA guru. He actually made a really good point but it must have ruffled some feathers. Why are there three wise monkeys travelling when only one has the vote, maybe a few baw’bees could have been saved. Jumping off from this he stated the factual farce when the players were left overnight at an airport en-route home to face another tough Euro tie. I think this was a Stewart Regan cost cutting exercise that backfired. In my opinion the piece was about more money wasting on all expense paid jaunts for the three wise monkeys. Maybe they are paying their own fares and that’s why the piece was lifted, but then again there’s as much chance of that as hell freezing over as pink pigs do a fly-over ‘!!!!
yours in sport
Gaun the Killie
upthehoops 25th February 2016 at 7:22 pm
Under POCA 2002 legislation anyone who has a suspicion that someone has commited a financial crime (fraud, money laundering etc) is legally obliged to report it. If I remember correctly, it is a crime if they do not report it.
The NCA has a website where SARs (Suspicous Activity Reports) can be sent to the authorities, and the NCA will send the report onto the appropriate authorities (Police Scotland, PSNI, HMRC etc).
Andy,
It was about the fact that the SFA are sending three delegates to the junkit in order to cast the vote. Only Macrae, the SFA president will cast the vote. Why does Regan and his pal need to attend? They will be travelling business class, 5 star hotel etc. They could even have voted by post.
But money is no problem especially with the much anticipated return of the blue pound to the coffers next season.
jimbo 25th February 2016 at 7:53 pm #
… Only Macrae, the SFA president will cast the vote. Why does Regan and his pal need to attend?…
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Judging by the President’s recent cup draw debacle, he’ll probably need a couple of helpers to cast his vote !
upthehoops 25th February 2016 at 3:44 pm #
I’m rather puzzled at the John James site and the accusations it is making regarding how Dave King financed the loans to pay Mike Ashley. If a newspaper made such claims would the law of the land take an interest? Of course, none of us know whether what is written is true, but it’s being stated.
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“…King had to use his money-laundered funds in Hong Kong as there were no takers for his equity in South Africa…”
Yes, you would think that King would have his legal people onto this immediately, as it could harm his business and banking relationships – amongst other negative reactions.
If the post stays up, then you have to wonder if it is indeed true…
Stevie, I know what you meant. I’ve given you a TU on trust.
TheGamesABogey 25th February 2016 at 7:50 pm
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Only if the person is within the regulated sector.
The knowledge or suspicion offences under POCA have conditions, those include the information coming to the person “…in the course of a business in the regulated sector.”
Good Evening.
If anyone is in need of some light relief, my blog site and Twitter feed are running an entirely tongue-in-cheek poll to determine The World’s Favourite Liquidation Lie. Any angst caused to liquidation-deniers in the MSM and elsewhere will occasion absolutely no regret from me!
Cheers!
TC
TheGamesABogey 25th February 2016 at 7:50 pm #upthehoops 25th February 2016 at 7:22 pm
Under POCA 2002 legislation anyone who has a suspicion that someone has commited a financial crime (fraud, money laundering etc) is legally obliged to report it. If I remember correctly, it is a crime if they do not report it.
Not only that but there is a specific offence “Tipping Off” , which can also carry jail time, if you advise someone that you suspect them of money laundering.
Those people broadcasting allegations should take great care – or indeed make their suspicions known to the relevant authorities.
StevieBC 25th February 2016 at 8:06 pm # upthehoops 25th February 2016 at 3:44 pm # I’m rather puzzled at the John James site and the accusations it is making regarding how Dave King financed the loans to pay Mike Ashley. If a newspaper made such claims would the law of the land take an interest? Of course, none of us know whether what is written is true, but it’s being stated. ========================“…King had to use his money-laundered funds in Hong Kong as there were no takers for his equity in South Africa…”
Yes, you would think that King would have his legal people onto this immediately, as it could harm his business and banking relationships – amongst other negative reactions.
If the post stays up, then you have to wonder if it is indeed true…
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Legal people ! business and banking relationships !
He has none. Just some very soured ones. Oh and the ones Sevco pay for.
That will stay up. No need to wonder.
Another blow.
Nae wonder their all away to Switzerland !
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35664117
justbecauseyoureparanoid 25th February 2016 at 8:24 pm
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“Tipping off” relates to telling someone that a disclosure has been made to the relevant authorities.
So if for example a bank make a disclosure about their suspicions, and they then tell the customer they have made it, that is “tipping off”.
The person blogging as John James is alleging that Dave King and Paul Murray created a situation where Rangers International Football Club PLC were de-listed from the London Stock Exchange.
He is also alleging that recent funds provided as a loan to Rangers from people based in Hong Kong is money which Dave King has removed from South Africa and hidden in Hong Kong. That the money is actually his and that those people are basically fronting for him. It is difficult to see how they could do that without at the very least knowing it wasn’t their money.
Having read his blogs I have seen very little to actually substantiate this. There are nebulous references to unidentified well placed sources peppered throughout his blogs but nothing of any substance to substantiate these allegations, which are very serious and relate to several people.
I would advise caution with regards people taking this too seriously, or spreading what is currently little more than unsubstantiated rumour mongering.
I’m not saying it’s not true, I really don’t know. However as I said these are very serious allegations to believe based on no proof. No matter how much people may want to believe them.
Man Utd 1-1 FC Midjtylland (agg 2-3)
Danish ?
Man Utd 3-1 FC Midjtylland (agg 4-3)
Meanwhile the Preliminary Hearing chunters on.
I think I may safely say, without breaching the reporting restrictions, that there seems to be a view that most of the ‘preliminary’, ‘procedural’ points about which there has been some to-ing and fro-ing have crytallised ,and things are taking shape.
The Judge is anxious to make up some lost time time and get as quickly as possible to setting date for trial proper, and Counsel for the accused, while variously reserving their positions in this or that particular, are also keen to get moving to trial.
________
( And d’ye think I could get a job as a hack? 80-odd words written that say precisely not very much, if anything, that couldn’t be said of any court proceedings!)
Man Utd 4-1 FC Midjtylland (agg 5-3)
Man Utd 5-1 FC Midjtylland (agg 6-3)
For the love of the wee man a lot of man u haters here lol.
John Clark 25th February 2016 at 9:50 pm # Meanwhile the Preliminary Hearing chunters on. I think I may safely say, without breaching the reporting restrictions, that there seems to be a view that most of the ‘preliminary’, ‘procedural’ points about which there has been some to-ing and fro-ing have crytallised ,and things are taking shape. The Judge is anxious to make up some lost time time and get as quickly as possible to setting date for trial proper, and Counsel for the accused, while variously reserving their positions in this or that particular, are also keen to get moving to trial. ________
and not one disrespectful word used, in fact, you didn’t even use the word ‘disrespectful’!
( And d’ye think I could get a job as a hack? 80-odd words written that say precisely not very much, if anything, that couldn’t be said of any court proceedings!)
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Ah, but John, it’s the way you say it that makes the difference
shug 25th February 2016 at 10:31 pm #
For the love of the wee man a lot of man u haters here lol.
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I don’t think that its got anything to do with Man Utd haters.
If I want score updates, I will either watch the game, listen to the game, or visit any number of live score update web sites. I don’t think that it helps the image that SFM is trying to get across if the blog content resembles little more than a club message board.
I don’t mind if on a quiet new day there are only 10 posts about the football authorities, governance, finances or the SMSM, but I’d rather that the content was limited to those and related areas. However, that is up to the admins to decide.
nawlite 25th February 2016 at 4:32 pm
‘…“Warburton vs Deila”. They really can’t wait to turn it into a fight…
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I agree that the SMSM in general, and the DR in particular, are salivating over the prospect of what they will lyingly call ‘old firm’ games.
But behind that, is the desperate desire of TRFC to be seen to be ‘legit’. Warburton’s latest piece of nonsense is not just ‘nonsense’ but pernicious nonsense designed to bolster the pretence that the new club is the old club, and must be the old club, because, of course, everyone ‘needs’ the ‘Old Firm’ and if the Celtic support in particular buy into that myth for tribal reasons so much the better.
Personally, I would be happy to see the general run of supporters of all the top division teams, and particularly the supporters of Celtic, show their contempt for the 5-way agreement by simply staying away from any game where their club is playing TRFC, unless and until the authorities admit the truth.
Financial gain at the expense of prostituting one’s Integrity as any kind of sportsman is absolutely no gain worth having.
In my opinion.
easyJambo 25th February 2016 at 10:49 pm #-
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True regarding livescoreupdates EJ, but unless I am wrong the original post expressed more concern for the abscence of DP of late.