Naming the Rose

We spend an inordinate amount of time on this blog arguing about what the re-emergent Rangers should be called. It is a rather circular debate with no way of finding any consensus. The dispute between Rangers (“The Rangerists”) or The Rangers or Sevco (“The Sevconians”) and its claim to be the club that was formed in the 19th century is spurious. Whichever way you look at it, the continuity of the “brand” is undeniable and as long those who wish to keep buying that package are satisfied that the wrapping is authentic – where’s the harm?

The red herring in the argument is that “history” is important. To the average football fan, it is nothing of the kind. As a Celtic fan myself, and a bit of a student of the history of the club, I am constantly dismayed by the Thousand Yard Stare I get from your average Celtic fan who is confronted with the names of people who contributed significantly to the club’s identity. Key figures like Sandy McMahon, Jimmy Delaney, Jimmy McGrory and (God help us) John Thomson rarely elicit recognition.

Modern football fans who live in the instant gratification society of the the WWW and mobile communications may pay lip service to their clubs’ history, but that’s not what gives the modern football fan wears as his badge of honour. That is a commodity often erroneously confused with history – the bragging rights associated with the trophy haul.

The ability to claim that “we have more titles than you” is far more valuable to a supporter than which 19th century attacking centre-back won the Scottish Cup with a last minute header; and the value of said cup wins is heavily weighted in favour of the most recent (save for the honourable exception of the European successes).

The maintenance of that illusion of superiority is crucial if Rangers fans are to believe that their club is still Rangers. Perhaps in time they may even come to fully believe it themselves, but the cataract of column inches devoted to propagating that myth, both from the MSM and from information outlets controlled by Charles Green’s organisation, betrays a lack of total belief by the chief Bear-existentialists. Protesting too much may not be subtle, but that never put off your average fitba’ man either.

The upshot though is this. There is a belief – or at least a hope – amongst Rangerists that the continuity argument holds. They will call the new club Rangers. Fans of other clubs who make up the vast majority of the Sevconian tendency, believe nothing of the kind. They will call it something else.

Many will remind Rangerists that the old club died, and this is factually correct (or at least will be very soon). Rangerists will counter that the Rangers ethos lives on at Ibrox, and despite the worrying overtones (for some) contained in that statement, that is also factually correct.

Rangerists will also point out, as Rangers fans on this blog already have, that the SPL bent over backwards to assist the continuity of the club in order to minimise the financial consequences for Scottish football, and that the SFL too, have agreed that they are the same club.

Why? Simply because Scottish Football thinks it needs to help perpetrate they illusion of continuity to avoid the loss of thousands of paying customers to the game altogether.

So round one has gone to the Rangerists, with the Sevconians pretty much taking an eight-count.

So is the name thing important? I don’t think it is of critical importance. The name in itself doesn’t matter, but to merely agree that everything is as before is to join forces with the MSM, SFA & SPL who have sought to give RFC and their tax theft a pass.

Whatever happens in the future though, the illusion hasn’t worked completely. The Sevconians’ wish to call the new club by a different name was for the purpose of making it synonymous with tax evasion, however the name Rangers now evokes exactly that response. There is now a discernible pause when people mention Rangers. A pause that reflects on the dis-service they did to the country, and to the game of football in Scotland.

Which brings us to the really important point. Throughout this saga rules have been bent. Conflicted individuals, alleged to have been involved in the tax and registration scam and its subsequent cover-up, have remained in positions of authority and power, despite being under a cloud throughout. The media have been complicit, except in rare cases, in allowing the wrong-doing to go unquestioned, actively campaigning for rules not to be applied.

What we have been saying all along is this. Please play the game by the rules, and do not manufacture special cases for the financially powerful.

Call Rangers whatever you wish, but deal with their transgressions appropriately in the spirit of sporting fairness, and within the framework of the existing rules. That is the least – and most – we expect. We don’t ask for much. Just give us back some pride in our sport .

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Tom Byrne

About Trisidium

Trisidium is a Dunblane businessman with a keen interest in Scottish Football. He is a Celtic fan, although the demands of modern-day parenting have seen him less at games and more as a taxi service for his kids.

2,065 thoughts on “Naming the Rose


  1. very funny exchange on twitter between Paul McC and Barcabhoy…apologies in advance to those of you who might not be au fait with the Glesga patter.

    Barcabhoy ‏@Barcabhoy1
    So Green’s brought 30 companies to the stock market. 30 !! Really ! Want to name them Chuckles, because that number seems a tad exaggerated

    Paul McConville ‏@Paulmcc12
    @Barcabhoy1 Maybe he meant the Sock Market – 50p each, 3 for a pound?


  2. ngordub says:
    Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 22:26
    Was it just me or did Sally have a very, very haunted look in that interview on SSN. Look at the body language, hunched, shoulders forward, rabbit in the headlights expression?
    ———————————————————-

    Hey! Watchit! 🙂


  3. briggsbhoy says:
    Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 22:42

    Bit of trivia for you but the origins of the expression “getting the wrong end of the stick” …
    ——
    Love it. I was in Ostia Antica recently – they have some excellent Roman public lavvies there, where this arse-wiping method would have been used. There’s a gutter in front of the row of lavvy seats where the described apparatus would presumably have been washed.

    More completely OT Roman stuff: the political term “fascist” was coined by early 20thC Italians, based on the roll of sticks with an axe in that Roman magistrates used as a symbol of power (the “fasces”).

    The Italian Fascists had very little in common with the German regime to which the epithet is usually applied nowadays.

    Mussolini’s widely touted glorious “March on Rome”, whereby he took power, actually involved him travelling first class on a train from Milan. He fancied himself as a Roman emperor type, going as far as to build a wide processional road right through the middle of the ancient Roman Forums, which is still there. Idiot. Almost as bad were the people who built the ridiculous “Il Vittoriano” and destroyed half the Palatine Hill to do it.


  4. “Mr Green floated the idea of a £2-a-minute phone line for questions to be put to the manager.”

    Super Ally doing an 0898 gig. (Hope he keeps his kit on) Jeezo – Is this where it’s come to ?


  5. So the best appraisal of the situation vis a vis the RFC implosion to date comes from an English reporter, who until his engagement in this story ,by his own admission,had little or no knowledge of the Scottish football landscape.

    Says it all really.Alex Thomson is a class act,who ,as a journalist, is just doing his job


  6. The most surprising thing about Alex Thomson’s blog is that, to most of us on here, the actions and responses comes as no surprise.

    For as long as I can remember (and I’m no spring chicken) this has been the prevailing attitude, especially here in the west of Scotland.

    For the good of the country it would have been better to have let the club die and then for it to be resurrected in a more acceptable form, but I guess that would have been too much to hope for. The Pandora’s box that has been created by the mismanagement of this whole situation will, unfortunately, be with us for a long time.

    And if we think this is bad wait until v.2 comes out.


  7. Lord Wobbly says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 07:22

    http://www.cityam.com/latest-news/rangers-shoot-20m-junior-market-offering
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    “But Simon Denham of spread betting firm Capital Spreads, said he had doubts about the float: “With the club looking for £20m in funding, the immediate thought is that this is probably the operating revenue shortfall for this season and that the club will be looking for a similar injection every year until Premier League (or possibly ‘near’ premier) status is regained.”

    Never met a poor bookie!! These guys know what they are talking about.

    Just to ensure the site is balanced has anyone found any publicly announced support for the floatation from the business sector and presumably the institutional investors Mr Charles is supposed to be targeting?

    If so please post .


  8. Andrew Woods says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 09:24

    “Mr Green floated the idea of a £2-a-minute phone line for questions to be put to the manager.”

    Super Ally doing an 0898 gig. (Hope he keeps his kit on) Jeezo – Is this where it’s come to ?
    ————————————————————————————————————————

    It is all very tacky,very tacky indeed.On top of that ,the fact that CG is stating that ,as of now, Rangers Media will lead the propaganda and the manager and players are not to speak to the press.

    Not only tacky, but ,in my view, tellingly sinister


  9. wottpi says:
    Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 22:57

    Rate This
    Just a wee word of warning.

    I am as sceptical as the next poster with regard to how many will take up the share offer and what Mr Charles will do with the money.

    However on RTC many, myself included, predicted that T’Rangers crowds in Div 3 would be a lot less than they are.

    Do not be surprised if there are enough people out there to help make this work.

    Afterall this is backs to the wall stuff. While they may not like to admit it if they don’t cough up the cash there is a good chance that the club will be toast again and this time the zomboe will not rise from the grave.

    Desperate times need desperate measures and thats what Mr Charles is gambling on.
    _______________________

    For the sake of conversation this quiet morning though, I agree with wottpi’s 2nd last point. If the offering doesn’t float in the way intended (I immediately think of Connolly’s boat trip again!) then it will essentially be offered as a backs to the wall, take it or leave it at your peril affair that will no doubt gather up some hard earned cash. Notwithstanding the later point that to do so Green better have the number of a good plastic surgeon is that still a possible end game? Say the cardigan, Douglas Parks, BKs of this world quietly gather up say 10m and then do some deal with Green & Co to control and buy back their 20m in return for a guarantee that at least Ibrox if not MP is included in the deal. That would give them ownership of ‘the club,’ defer Green’s payback over time to when SPL and euro football become reality once more. It seems a cheap and almost above board way for them to get control of what is undoubtedly a potential sleeping giant

    Three issues that I see. 1/ Any deal would be completed once LH and FTTT findings and consquences are known. 2/ that the dog continues to bleed cash at the moment and 3. fundamentally a figure of 20m odd still needs to be raised from somewhere to pay off ticketus.


  10. Could the AIM be informed of any potential conflict of interests and if so, what might they do?


  11. From Rangers Rumours:

    All the Sceptics, please look at the Guys football record before condeming him. The guy turned around Sheff Untd. You may not like the way he did it but he left them on a good financial footing.

    (Not how I read it). :blink:


  12. Green will not underwrite this coming share issue as such, but said: “My personal view is that the figure is low.

    “But if we don’t raise £20m then I will buy whatever the shortfall is.

    “I’ve listed or floated maybe 30 companies and done fundraising as well.

    “There’s not been anything underwritten in London in the past seven or eight years to my knowledge. Whenever it occurs someone takes a fee for it.

    “I’d be happy to underwrite it but what will happen is in three weeks’ time you lot (media) will have my trousers around my ankles saying ‘Charles Green underwrit Rangers’ and took a three per cent fee when it didn’t need doing.

    “The reality is we don’t need to underwrite it as there will be no shares left over.

    “But if they’re not (taken up) of course we’ll take them.

    “Why wouldn’t we take them? We did it in May when there was nothing to buy. There was no guarantee we would ever play football again.”
    ________________
    the serial liar is at it again (But if we don’t raise £20m then I will buy whatever the shortfall is)

    does he have any shares in the company as it stands i thought he was a CEO who is going to get 10% after the share offer


  13. Here’s a list of questions the MSM might like to ask CG.they are from a poster on Rangers Rumours.Maybe some RFC fans are starting to use their heads,not their hearts.

    11 Oct 2012 16:24:16
    Charles Green has stated:

    “The funds raised (£20m) will be used for strengthening the player squad, improving and developing the club’s properties and facilities, as well as providing additional working capital.”

    “Rangers is debt-free and a huge club”

    Okay Mr Green, will you do the following:

    1.Confirm how much of the £20m will be spent on players.

    2.When will this be spent as there is presently a transfer embargo.

    3. Will this money be ring fenced and protected so it can’t be spent on anything else until the transfer embargo is lifted.

    4. What exactly do you mean by “improving and developing the club’s properties and facilities”. What properties and facilities are you talking about.

    5. You recently met with David Murray and agreed to purchase property from him that is situated (I think) behind the Copland Road. Do you intend to put any money into this and if so what.

    6. Will you or current directors / investors benefit personally or through a company you are involved with from any investment in the properties.

    7. How much is to be spent on the properties and facilities.

    8. What exactly do you mean by working capital and how much will be attributed to this.

    9. Why can current income not cover working capital requirements.

    10. You say there is no debt. How is the money put in by “investors” to date shown in the companys accounts. Is it loans, because if it is, then that is debt and how much interest is repayable.

    11. Will you provide an independently audited set of accounts covering the period from when you took over the club to the date one month before the share offering.

    12. Will you provide evidence that Ibrox, Murray Park, The Albion and other property assets are 100% owned by The Rangers Football Club Ltd and there are no agreements that entitle you or other “investors” to any ownership now or in the future of the properties or to proceed from any sales of the properties.

    There are many more questions, but based on Green’s current statement, he above questions need to be asked and more importantly answered, but with evidence to back the answers up.


  14. A good piece by AT.

    Unfortunately there will be a limited audience for it, being an online blog, and his opinions will not be more widely publicised for exactly the reasons he discusses!

    The fear of media organisations (quite justified) is exactly what allows the despicable part of Rangers to survive – and that is a part which Mr Charles needs to have onside, so he will do nothing about it.

    Mr Charles, I think, either does not fully comprehend the beast he’s attempting to tame, or just doesn’t care.

    The “SPL stole our money” comment, an open invitation for another disrepute charge, seems designed to ramp up the “us and them” mentality when the SFA come calling again.

    Perhaps he’s actually aiming for a ban from being involved in Scottish fitba – that would be an excellent out for him if timed correctly.

    He’d depart as a martyr, taking the swag with him.


  15. I know others have mentioned the Dragon’s Den, as I have previously, but the principles of the show are perfect for the laymen on this site looking for a steer on how the institutional investors will look at it.

    What the Dragons don’t like

    1) Over valuing your company
    2) Using any investment money for running costs
    3) Claims about potential orders and deals without paperwork to back them up
    4) Lack of clarity on ownership and revenues from licensed products
    5) Lack of disclosure or hiding of other business interests and assets including who owns what.
    6) Lack of or hiding information on other investors and what there cut is in relation to returns
    7) People not investing their own money in the business they are supposidly passionate about
    8) Over ambitious plans that draw attention and monies away from the core business
    9) Lack of consideration of legislative frameworks, possible future conditions that may hamper developments along with a lack of understaning of the wider market.
    10) Smooth talking spivs

    More than likely this floatation would be an I’m out from all five.
    At best it would be a ‘punt’ but I would want 50% of the company.


  16. torrejohnbhoy says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 10:06
    0 0 Rate This
    Here’s a list of questions the MSM might like to ask CG.they are from a poster on Rangers Rumours.Maybe some RFC fans are starting to use their heads,not their hearts.
    ________________
    why dont the rangers fans associations ask him when they are having their cosy chats with him

    he will do what he done when they were questioning blue pitch holdings and who was behind it

    he still hasnt told them

    do you want an orange top ?


  17. Andrew Woods says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 09:24

    “Mr Green floated the idea of a £2-a-minute phone line for questions to be put to the manager.”

    Super Ally doing an 0898 gig. (Hope he keeps his kit on) Jeezo – Is this where it’s come to ?

    No wonder Ally is looking disillusioned. I wonder if he had any idea, years ago when he took over from Walter, that this is where he would be today. He’s realised he has tied himself to Green’s coat tails and will sink or swim accordingly. I wonder if he, himself, was sucked into the mess with naive promises? Too late for him now. If it goes belly up, Green can run south, but can Ally? The bears will only see treason by one of there own. I am almost beginning to feel sorry for him. I wonder if he fondly reminisces about his “cheeky chappie” Question of Sport days?


  18. They can have an IPO if they want, they can sell shares privately if they want, it doesn’t change the basic issue, it is not a viable business.

    UNtil that is addressed anything else is pointless

    The Rangers fans will not buy season tickets in the long term if the club does not have even moderate success, by that I mean something like a trophy every year or maybe two every three years. With the SPL (of course they want back in, that’s just nonsense) being won every 2 or 3 years.

    They are not addressing the basic issues of spending more than they earn.

    On a good day in the SPL, all else being equal, Rangers earn substantially less than Celtic. From memory in the region of £8m – £9m per year. They have to adjust spending to allow for that as and when they get back to the top division. Just cutting players wages is only part of it. The whole infrastructure needs looked at.


  19. Thommo

    Far be it from me to correct your blog, but there are a few not insignificant omissions in your piece:

    A respected QC being sent a parcel bomb.
    An MSP being sent a parcel bomb.
    A Glasgow based Irish group being sent a parcel bomb.
    A football manager being sent a parcel bomb.
    A Cardinal being sent a bullet.
    A football manager and two of his players being sent bullets.
    A football manager being assaulted twice in the streets of Glasgow.
    A football manager being assaulted during a televised match.
    And so far, at least twelve individuals found guilty of violence or threats against a football manager.

    However, Alex, Scottish football supporters, and indeed Scottish society in general are owe you a debt of gratitude. It is clear that very few in Scotland can, or will, do anything about this cancer. And when you have our First Minister referring to this cancer as, “the fabric of Scottish society”, what chance do you think we will ever have in attempting to make Scotland a modern, decent, fair and just society?


  20. McCoist, who is now a shareholder in Rangers as well as manager, is desperate for the shares’ flotation to be a success.

    He said: “I want this to be successful. It has to be said that success on the park will result in success for the club’s investors.

    “That is very important because we have to have success on both fronts. They feed off each other.

    “I know the money that comes in will be reinvested in the club and fingers crossed the club can do well to make for good investment.”
    ________________
    looks like hes a shareholder again according to the Daily Record

    wonder if he paid for them


  21. Charles Green’s comment that there are two rounds of season tickets in one financial year: how can that possibly be right? He’s got a long first ‘year’ for his accounts, but it’s still the same period of real time with the same cash flow to cover it – one set of season books per football season. So surely that’s meaningless for cash flow or working capital purposes?

    Am I missing something really obvious here?


  22. scottyjimbo says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 10:15

    Andrew Woods says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 09:24

    “Mr Green floated the idea of a £2-a-minute phone line for questions to be put to the manager.”

    Super Ally doing an 0898 gig. (Hope he keeps his kit on) Jeezo – Is this where it’s come to ?

    No wonder Ally is looking disillusioned. I wonder if he had any idea, years ago when he took over from Walter, that this is where he would be today. He’s realised he has tied himself to Green’s coat tails and will sink or swim accordingly. I wonder if he, himself, was sucked into the mess with naive promises? Too late for him now. If it goes belly up, Green can run south, but can Ally? The bears will only see treason by one of there own. I am almost beginning to feel sorry for him. I wonder if he fondly reminisces about his “cheeky chappie” Question of Sport days?
    ________________________________________________________________________
    Just imagining sometime in the future and Sue pipes up,

    “OK,Ally.
    What happened next” 😆


  23. Green

    ‘There will be a European league because big teams can’t keep subsidising small teams like Southampton for the next 10 years because they will go stale,’ he said.

    ‘Arsenal don’t want to play Southampton or Swansea, but ask them if they want to play Celtic or Rangers. It’s what the fans want to see.

    If I recall rightly, earlier this year in pre-season Arsenal were more than happy to play Southampton and also RSC Anderlecht.

    Presumably the St Mary’s club are being singled out because they took the financially estute decision not to entertain FC Basketcase.

    For some reason in the Daily Mail article AstonVilla are also in his sites. Of all the ‘completely useless’ EPL teams he could pick, he had to choose the one whose recent history includes being managed by an ex-Celtic manager, sacking an ex-Rangers manager for making them ‘useless’ and are currently managed by an ex-Celtic Captain tryingm to pick up the pieces. (Even without green tinted specs I can see that one).

    The man is truly dispicable in his attempts to add people into the Bears Big Book of Bugots to Be Boycotted.


  24. Lest we all get too sceptical of Charles’s IPO, let’s not forget his recent startling stock market success:

    ‘Panceltica was floated in March 2008 with a placing of 10m shares at 100p, providing a market capitalisation of £230m. It was touting a new technology using lightweight, steel-framed buildings to build houses and apartments. “It’s like putting together a Meccano kit,” Green told the Daily Telegraph. Clearly there were some missing pieces.

    By June 2009 problems with its main contract for low-cost housing in Qatar – which was on behalf of its major local shareholder, the government-linked Barwa Real Estate – had delayed the accounts and threatened the survival of Panceltica. A month later Barwa terminated the contract. In August, the Qatar subsidiary went into liquidation and Panceltica shareholders were told there would be nothing for them. The shares were delisted. Panceltica and two Jersey subsidiaries were wound up in 2010.’
    (from Private Eye)

    I’m in.


  25. wottpi says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 10:31
    1 0 i
    Rate This

    Green still making friends whenever he opens his mouth!!

    Some cracking comments after this article. The English get it 🙂


  26. What’s to stop an investment manager chancing a small, say 2%, piece of his £150m fund in the “Share Issue” adventure? A couple of these would probably send CG home reasonably content.

    How can pensioners make sure that their bits of any fund are not being transferred to CG’s pension fund?


  27. Agrajag says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 10:18

    Rangers are a perfectly viable business, they get 40K+ crowds for home matches and can sell a decent amount of merchandise, hospitality & catering & sponsorship etc and they can trade football players

    What they have singularly refused to do except for a very brief period under Lloyds Bank stewardship circa 2010 is contain their costs and spending within their income levels.

    Lloyds Bank proved to them that it can be done and due to Celtic’s Mowbray brain fart they even managed to win the title that year and yet the Bears hated them for it, they deserved better!


  28. john clarke says:

    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 11:17

    From Green: “‘If there are two divisions of 18 clubs, how could Rangers not be a part of that?

    Answers on a postcard to – what will the FTTT tribunal, the Dual Contract investigation and a likely UEFA enquiry into illegal registration of players in European competitions decide competition.


  29. Aston Villa may be currently pretty average (and I’m no fan as they nicked our manager and don’t want to pay comp), but I’m fairly sure they are a big club who have won the European Cup.
    So by my reckoning they are a long way ahead of his mob in the queue for the Super League.


  30. John clarke says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 11:17
    From Green: “‘If there are two divisions of 18 clubs, how could Rangers not be a part of that?

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2216624/Rangers-join-European-super-league-says-Charles-Green.html#ixzz294v61FaT
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook”
    __

    And a certain CO will be straining every feckin nerve in his despicable body to make sure that there will be some such suitable ‘re-construction’.

    ==================================================================
    John I think he means European League 1 & 2 – unfortunately for Charlie Super-Admin Campbell will have no influence on that.


  31. I have applied to become a T’Rangers investor – am using an email address I have not used for ages just to monitor the spam I will now receive – am sure CG is selling the personal details being registered………

    Where there’s brass………..


  32. Graham Spiers ‏@GrahamSpiers

    Attempted intimidation by hardcore Rangers fans? Some of this in Alex Thomson’s blog is highly familiar to me… http://bit.ly/R2YY18

    1h Tom English Tom English ‏@TomEnglishSport

    @GrahamSpiers True, Graham. Some of it is familiar. And some of it is hysterical, attention-seeking nonsense.

    16 Retweets
    Colin Armstrong Garry Carmody Ian Paterson The Fat Controller Ricky Mac Blair Hamilton Michael Johnston

    21m TheGlassCutter TheGlassCutter ‏@TheGlassCutter

    @TomEnglishSport @grahamspiers having read the article, can you tell us which is which Tom?

    9m Tom English Tom English ‏@TomEnglishSport

    @TheGlassCutter Sorry, this is going to sound terrible, but I really can’t be arsed going through it again. Thought it unfair on Glasgow


  33. wottpi – beat me to it on all counts there. 🙂

    As the “CEO” of a well know FC, Mr Green appears to be going out of his way to attract disrepute charges, whilst ensuring the home fires remain well stoked – in case anyone forgives or forgets how diddy teams like Southampton kicked them while they were down.

    I imagine that French team that cancelled the pre-season game will be next.


  34. Regarding the AT blog…ask yourself one question:

    If this was Iran or Iraq or Afghanistan or Russia or China, what would our media say and do?

    One of corsica’s favourite analogies for this fiasco was Nazi Germany – appeasement, bullying, intimidation, supremacism, racism, mass hysteria, propaganda, rewriting history and truth, and anonymous resistance.

    Now we have Säuberung – the burning of the books.

    What is next? Kristallnacht?


  35. corsicacharity says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 11:27

    Regarding the AT blog…ask yourself one question:

    If this was Iran or Iraq or Afghanistan or Russia or China, what would our media say and do?

    One of corsica’s favourite analogies for this fiasco was Nazi Germany – appeasement, bullying, intimidation, supremacism, racism, mass hysteria, propaganda, rewriting history and truth, and anonymous resistance.

    Now we have Säuberung – the burning of the books.

    What is next? Kristallnacht?

    ================================

    If history is to repeat itself then the good guys will fight back and win.


  36. What’s happened to the TRFC official site?
    Nothing work!
    Trying to register.


  37. I like the tweet response to Graham Spiers. To continue your nazi theme its like hitler making it to Nuremberg and being charged with the holocaust, the largest conflict, human casualties and property destruction in known history. His defence. “Aye, I recognise half of that but the rest is just hysterical nonsense.”


  38. “These days Arsenal are struggling to sell out their game against West Ham.”

    Hey Charles – if you meant last week’s game then it was at Upton Park – so Arsenal may well have struggled!


  39. Livia Burlando says:

    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 10:37

    Charles Green’s comment that there are two rounds of season tickets in one financial year: how can that possibly be right? He’s got a long first ‘year’ for his accounts, but it’s still the same period of real time with the same cash flow to cover it – one set of season books per football season. So surely that’s meaningless for cash flow or working capital purposes?

    Am I missing something really obvious here?
    =====================================

    Did T’Rangers not change their financial reporting year recently.
    They added a month or two on. Would this not mean there would be two ST rounds in one years financials initialy at least untill the stagger unwinds round the bend to use an athletics analaogy!

    Perhaps someone more financially literate could attest to this an dhow it would affect his future balance sheet?


  40. corsicacharity says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 11:27

    One does not even have to go that far back to see what can happen if people just turn a blind eye to things that they know are wrong.

    The recent allegations involving a well known marathon running fundraiser comes to mind as an example of what can go wrong if people in positions of responsibility do not maintain the highest levels of integrity and common sense, no matter how big or powerful certain people or organisations appear to be. Sometimes the apparent benefits just aren’t worth it.

    The fear is that Scottish Football will just be back in the same place it was in the summer in a short space of time and bno lessons will have been learned.

    At least this site and some people within the game are making an effort to tell it how it is.

    Keep your eyes peeled.


  41. smugas says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 11:41

    … the largest conflict, human casualties and property destruction in known history.
    ——

    Actually, although largely forgotten now, the Mongols probably did a more thorough job than Adolf on the casualties and destruction front. Ask Persia, or China. 😉


  42. Application reference: 00000046597

    Just spent two grand….


  43. Firstly, we may see some (belated) justice for the Hillsbourgh families following the DPP statement

    Secondly, RTC is twisting tails this morning

    “Rangers Tax-Case ‏@rangerstaxcase
    I expect crowds of Scottish hacks are busy researching Charlie Green’s ability to personally underwrite a £20m issue… There is no way that they would allow the Internet bampots do their jobs for them yet again.

    Green’s reconstruction talk- great way to agitate fans (‘they threw us out’ lie) for share sale & seems like Sevco needs SPL cash ASAP.”


  44. Appears there was more to the earlier milkman article….careful wording from Charliebhoy again, this time freely admitting his play on words.

    So, will Gers never again feature in the Champions League because Green cannot envisage the day his club will work again with the SPL and boss Neil Doncaster? Hinting at major league reconstruction, Green said: “You are assuming the top league is always going to be the SPL.
    “I didn’t say I wouldn’t play in the top league. I want to play in the top league.”
    Green, Gers boss Ally McCoist and the club’s finance director Brian Stockbridge met AIM representatives in London yesterday.
    After months of preparation Green believes he has at last won the trust of Rangers fans.
    That is why, even with Christmas just around the corner and inspite of these austere times, the 59-year-old is convinced his share issue will be a success.
    Rangers hope to raise £20million when they float next month.
    The money generated would be used to strengthen the playing squad, improve and develop the club’s properties and facilities, as well as providing additional working capital. And Green — who values the Third Division club at £30m — said: “Elephants and Yorkshiremen never forget. Everything I say I do.
    “And barring some international disaster, this club will be listed before Christmas in London with the money raised.
    “Consistent with what I said from the first day at Murray Park I intend to put the club back on AIM.
    “We intended to give Rangers supporters the chance to buy shares and, of course, we want to bring institutional investors back into the club so that we have a very, very solid shareholder base and I want that base to be as broad as possible.
    “We will start institutional presentations in about 10 days and we’ll see the demand from private investors.
    “Over the past two weeks I have been to the States, we’ve been to Ireland and we’ve given presentations in Glasgow to supporters’ groups.
    “We feel that the fans are now ready to engage. The concerns they had in the past of who we were and what our intentions were are well behind us now and the board feel this is the right time to gear up and move forward.
    “It’s important that people understand that, of all the money raised in the next few weeks, none will go to any existing shareholders.
    “Those shareholders will either put more cash in or be diluted down. But every penny raised will be put in the bank account.
    “It’s very, very clear what we want to do with those funds and there will be provisions for Ally.”
    McCoist himself is backing the share issue.
    He confessed: “The last six months has been without doubt the most traumatic in the club’s history.
    “We must move forward. This is a big, big step in the club moving forward again. It’s vitally important supporters get an opportunity to invest.
    Fans can register their interest at either http://www.rangersshareoffer.com, http://www.rangers.co.uk. or by phoning 0871 6649 271.


  45. chris shields (@chrisshields10) says:

    Livia Burlando says:

    Charles Green’s comment that there are two rounds of season tickets in one financial year: how can that possibly be right? He’s got a long first ‘year’ for his accounts, but it’s still the same period of real time with the same cash flow to cover it – one set of season books per football season. So surely that’s meaningless for cash flow or working capital purposes?

    Am I missing something really obvious here?
    =====================================

    Did T’Rangers not change their financial reporting year recently.
    They added a month or two on. Would this not mean there would be two ST rounds in one years financials initialy at least untill the stagger unwinds round the bend to use an athletics analaogy!

    Perhaps someone more financially literate could attest to this an dhow it would affect his future balance sheet?
    ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
    Yes. if I recall it correctly they changed the year end from May to June 30th which is fair enough as it fits with season and is I think what most clubs do.

    But, if I’m following him, this means 2012/13 books income are in YE 30/6/13.
    And 2013/14 books will also be in YE 30/6/13, as they will sell them in May 2013.
    But I would have thought he would have had to show the 2014 book as deferred income, which would be equivalent to a creditor on the balance sheet.

    Or maybe not. Even if they are just a cash reserve at that point the income has to fund the 2013/14 season right? What is said isn’t untrue, exactly, but it is *highly* misleading.

    Again standard disclaimer: I may well be missing something.


  46. After months of preparation Green believes he has at last won the trust of Rangers fans.


  47. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t play in the top league. I want to play in the top league.”

    Expect a lot more of this….”I didn’t say that, I said………..”


  48. angus1983 says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 12:00

    … the Mongols …
    ——

    OK, seeing as I got a swift TD for that one, I’ll also mention a chap called Attila, leader of a people whose name escapes me now ;), who did a fine job of laying waste to much of Europe, bringing down the Roman empire while he was at it. More recently, Chairman Mao offed a few folk.

    History goes back further than 100 years. Except where certain fitba “Clubs” are concerned.


  49. Ok bampots Andy Coyle appears to be questioning another of Mr Green’s gems

    “Charles Green yesterday: “If you look at the last eight years [Rangers] have spent £100m on players and received £5m back from sales.” Eh?”

    can anyone help him out?


  50. And still not one Scottish MSM hack dares to challenge Green on his litany of paranoid rants and outright lies.

    Guaranteed that when Green runs off with the money the likes of the Record will proudly boast about how they exposed Green.

    Charlatans and frauds, every single last one of them.


  51. Now I wonder what would happen if 30,000 readers of this blog all expressed an interest in buying shares in Rangers, received a prospectus (at TRFC’s expense), then declined to take up the offer.

    🙂


  52. “We feel that the fans are now ready to engage. The concerns they had in the past of who we were and what our intentions were are well behind us now …”
    —-
    I think exactly the opposite. After a period of CG being the messiah, the bears are now starting to come up with pertinent questions!

    Stating otherwise doesn’t make it true.


  53. Aye it’s all lies RFC fans always behave…..

    “Graham Spiers ‏@GrahamSpiers
    Various: I’m past caring about ‘nutjobs’ threatening you over an article. But when police come to check your security, it’s a weird world.”

    “Jam ‏@yosoyeljam
    @STV_Andy You’re only questioning Mr. Green cos you’re obviously a tarrier with that name, Declan! #WATP
    Retweeted by Andy Coyle”


  54. Potential investor number – 47426.

    That’s nearly a thousand up on bawsbustedanatha’s from half an hour ago!


  55. Quote from Scotsman, square brackets their inserts

    ““I want to play in the top league [but don’t assume that] will always be the SPL,” he said. “The SPL threw us out the league. They then stole our money that was due for last year [in prize pot and centralised revenues that were due to oldco Rangers] and are pursuing us to strip titles.”

    I think I’ve mentioned before that that the Authorities should just diary a monthly appearance for Mr Green, surely accusing the Authorities of theft merits a charge??????


  56. blu says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 11:22

    Thanks for that correction,blu.I clearly was locked-in to Scottish re-construction!


  57. wottpi says: Friday, October 12, 2012 at 09:44
    Just to ensure the site is balanced has anyone found any publicly announced support for the floatation from the business sector and presumably the institutional investors Mr Charles is supposed to be targeting?
    If so please post .
    ————————-
    Over on Paul McC there’s a good post from Violet Carson pointing out that fund raising for working capital is not always a bad thing.


  58. Today’s Big News

    Sometime after noon today, we’re told, an application will be lodged with the CoS to present a winding up petition and the immediate appointment of liquidators.

    LH will thereafter consider the application for winding up. An historic juncture in the annals of Scottish Football

    Least I thought it was big news

    Instead the big news people can apply to register to apply for shares, there’s a bad milkman from Aston Villa and “demands” for a European Super League of 2 x 18 clubs, fetching untold future rewards playing in the North Sea.

    How wrong could I be?

    I`ll get my lifejacket……


  59. angus1983 says: Friday, October 12, 2012 at 12:31

    Potential investor number – 47426.

    That’s nearly a thousand up on bawsbustedanatha’s from half an hour ago!
    ===============================
    Doubt it. The first two digits will be the actual counter and the last three from a random number generator. 🙂


  60. “Consistent with what I said from the first day at Murray Park I intend to put the club back on AIM.”

    Sorry but when exactly were Rangers on AIM? I know they used to be traded on OFEX, which then became PLUSmarkets but I don’t recall them being on AIM. Can anyone tell me when thier previous AIM listing was?

    I also see from previous comments there are now over 46,500 registrations. At £500 a pop minimum that’s their £20m covered. Might as well issue the prospectus now cos I’m sure every one of those registrants will be coughing up their dough (well except me, my £1,000 is staying in the bank to pay my tax bill in January)


  61. Just a wee thought about what Mr Charles is saying re Euro Leagues.

    I have for a long time thought that as some point there will be a US franchise style European Football League.
    I have also thought that clubs would be invited on the strength of what they can bring to the party financially as opposed to what is currently on the pitch. (The football side of things would take care of themselves once the cash flowed in to the chosen clubs) On that basis then I believe both Celtic and Rangers have, previously, always been in with a shout for an invite.

    However FIFA and UEFA will always want to promote a belief in a pyramid system as a basic ethos of the game they administer.

    For the EFL to happen either clubs will have to break away from FIFA/UEFA completely (and stop their players playing international football) or some form of promotion system would have to be created and maintained.

    So what is Mr Charles saying to Scottish Football.

    We don’t like many of the top clubs that exist at present.
    We don’t like the top league in its current structure
    If the top league is restructured we will happily join but will still bear grudges against our enemies.
    Once in that restructured top league we will try and dominate and walk all over aforementioned enemies.
    Our end game being that, as soon as we have regained our rightful position, destroyed you all and there is an opportunity to move on to bigger and better things, we will be offsky. (At the same time hoping you all drown in the cess pit we have left behind).

    Therefore what have our top teams (or indeed any team) got to loose by helping Rangers climb back to the top of Scottish Football?

    If there was a EFL breakway from FIFA/UEFA then given their supposed fanbase then regardless of what league they are in they could be invited to a EFL, so why help now?

    If there was a promotion system to the EPL then why help Rangers in their weakend state to leap frog your own club?

    Like many I was all for Div 3 and start again. At a push I could even had accepted a healthy slap on the wrist and a few years of punitive restictions. However the longer this has gone on, the more things that are being revealed and now add in this Bluff Yorkshireman, it just makes me want to see them die once and for all.

    Stuff the lot of them.


  62. Charliebhoy lovefest on RM.
    This blinkered outlook is crippling them….again.


  63. Can we expect any developments re the appointment of BDO this afternoon? Is the creditors meeting with Duff and Duffer (copyright acknowledged) that is penciled in the diary actually going ahead? Do Duff and Duffer have to retrun to Court after the final creditors meeting?


  64. Aplication number 00000047904
    10k Donation from Mrs Liqui. Dation.
    This share issue might just work….


  65. twopanda says:

    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 12:43

    Today’s Big News

    Sometime after noon today, we’re told, an application will be lodged with the CoS to present a winding up petition and the immediate appointment of liquidators.
    =================================
    I’m guessing sometime around 2 O’Clock!

    As for the media barage about share offers and European league construction. Are you really suprised. In fact it would appear to be an attempt to kill two birds with one stone!


  66. Long Time Lurker says:
    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 11:22

    john clarke says:

    Friday, October 12, 2012 at 11:17

    From Green: “‘If there are two divisions of 18 clubs, how could Rangers not be a part of that?
    —————
    Answers on a postcard to – what will the FTTT tribunal, the Dual Contract investigation and a likely UEFA enquiry into illegal registration of players in European competitions decide competition.
    ——————–
    “How could Rangers not be a part of that?”. Just in the same way Lance Armstrong can’t be part of whatever he wants to be part of.

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