We normally don’t talk about on-field stuff on SFM, but given the over-optimistic coverage of the prospects of TRFC (particularly in the ESJ © The Clumpany and DR) it is worth noting that since they beat Celtic on penalties in last year’s Scottish Cup semi final, they have played in four huge games which were real barometers of progress ;
- Hibs in the Scottish Cup Final: 2-3
- Celtic in the Premiership: 1-5
- Aberdeen in the Premiership: 1-2
- Celtic in the League Cup Semi-Final: 0-1
On each occasion, they have failed the test, not only by failing to get a result, but by being second best in most on-field departments.
The point is not one of wider Schadenfreude, or even an in-depth critique of the abilities of the team or manager, but of how the TRFC board and the MSM, in falsely inflating their side’s prospects, do a disservice to TRFC fans. Aided and abetted it seems by the manager who – even allowing for the positive spin managers need to put on things post defeat – is refusing to accept reality.
We often talk about turnover as the yardstick by which performance can be (roughly) measured. If that were the only yardstick, one would expect TRFC to be right up there with Celtic. But it is more complicated than that. For Celtic and TRFC, there are massive overheads (e.g. stadium costs) that have to be dealt with and taken out of the equation before Glasgow apples can be compared with Aberdeen and Edinburgh varieties.
Even allowing for that it seems pretty clear to me that TRFC have more disposable income (for spending on players and contracts) than Hearts or Aberdeen for example, but the gap is now not as great as raw turnover figures would suggest – and the margins are probably slim enough that they can be easily blurred by managers at other clubs who have a good grasp of tactics, an eye for a player, and a proper understanding of football psychology.
To compound the problem for TRFC, there are two rather large eggs in the TRFC transfer basket which are now cracked or broken. A dangerous waste of resources in fact. Whether it was Warburton or King who went to the market for Barton and Kranjčar is irrelevant. More relevant is the reason marquee signings like these were made.
Once a manager is recruited, you stay out of his domain
Yes, Barton’s signature in particular has used a huge chunk of the already scant budget, and that is a real blow to the manager’s planning, but the real problem is that the club has deliberately pushed fan expectations skyward, all of which is counter-intuitive given the rough calculations in the preceding paragraphs. More worryingly for Rangers fans, the board’s own expectations for the playing side are unrealistically high – and given the business expertise contained therein, puzzlingly so.
TRFC is a focal point for tens of thousands of people. The people who run the club are also influential opinion formers and how they set the tone for those thousands is important.
Tub-rattling, dog-whistling, and the WATP mentality have been employed almost exclusively thus far in the ‘journey’. All of which may have rallied the troops and provided a welcome injection of funds, but it also antagonised almost every football fan in the country who wasn’t a Rangers follower. And in view of how those funds (including the £21m IPO) seemingly disappeared into the ether, did it really help the club realise any ambitions going forward?
TRFC are looking up at the north face of a financial Eiger today
I can’t help feeling that had they been replaced with humility, some regret, and gratitude to those who smoothed their path into the leagues, then the view from the club deck would a lot more attractive today than it is.
The journey could have been an expansive one bent on winning friends along the way, clearly differentiating itself from the Murray era, and carrying assurances that the new Rangers would never treat the game in Scotland as shabbily as its predecessor.
Seems intuitively obvious to me that a mission statement like the following would win hearts and minds;
“The latter-day custodians of Rangers have destroyed our club and shamed its traditions of sporting integrity, fair play, and honest endeavour.
“However the ethos and identity of our club will not be allowed to slip into obscurity.
“We will build a club worthy of the traditions of sporting integrity and fair play. It will be open and accessible to people of all colours, creeds and nationalities,
“It will be a long journey, but it is one which we relish, and one which will in time restore Rangers to the upper echelons of the game“
Managing expectations realistically with a ‘we are thankful to keep the Rangers name alive’ would have played better with the bears.
I don’t believe there is a football fan in the world who wouldn’t sign up to that had they found their club in the same circumstances as 2011 Rangers. I don’t believe that Rangers fans are any different either, but the problem is that their moral compass is being calibrated by people whose past records make them least qualified for the task.
Instead of a plan to win Scottish football over, we got boycotts, victim-hood, denial, and that wonderful new oxymoronic idiom, post-liquidation. Really though, it should all have been so different.
Water bills notwithstanding, TRFC are looking up at the north face of a financial Eiger today, but they chose to climb an Eiger instead of a Munro, and they sold false hope and snake oil to the fans on the way.
They have no money with which to recruit players of sufficient quality to challenge at the top. They are facing a massive bill for repairs and maintenance of a stadium that has atrophied under six or seven years of neglect. They have similar infrastructure problems at their training ground. They need to build a scouting infrastructure which currently consists of one man and several local volunteers. Their income from merchandising is non-existent due to a testicles-drawn dispute with Sports Direct. They owe several millions of pounds of soft loans which they cannot convert to equity because of that same dispute, and the people they have gone back to again and again for top-up finance have ever shortening arms and lengthening pockets.
.. we understand the value that Rangers can bring to the to the Scottish game and we want it to be realised.
Miracles of course do happen, perhaps in the shape of a magician manager who can get them access to European cash almost immediately. Unless that comes to pass, there is no way forward for Dave King and his board, other than to make peace immediately with Sports Direct and actually stump up the cash he promised two years ago; cash he promised to bridge the resources gap which is widening by the week.
A widely accepted wisdom in many football boardrooms these days is that the main recruitment priority of any board is an excellent manager. A really good manager can make a team out of ordinary players, but a poor manager will have difficulty sculpting a winning side from even very good players. So in a club with limited resources, it makes sense to spend a major part of your budget on a very good manager.
Another widely accepted wisdom in boardrooms (even if not always followed) is that once a manager is recruited, you stay out of his domain.
The boardroom at Ibrox is not awash with wisdom it seems. First of all they put their faith in a manager with little or no experience in the game. That may well have worked out with a bit of good fortune, but does anyone really believe, after his disappearing act in the wake of the Cup Final defeat and his absence at the Barton signing conference, that Mark Warburton is master of his own domain?
If not, does the ‘come hither’ curled finger of fate attached to Jimmy Traynor’s hand at last week’s press conference convince you?
I would guess that there are at least half a dozen experienced managers with a track record of success who would relish the challenge of putting TRFC on the map at the opportunity cost of a Barton for example. Instead it seems – if the rumours are true – that Warburton’s autonomy was breached so that said Joey could be hired to boost ST sales.
No group of fans is entitled to expect success. Rangers fans, and Celtic fans, have historically come to expect that very thing. It is understandable to some extent, but it should never be confused with an actual entitlement to success – and that is what the board at Ibrox are selling to the fans in return for their cash – which as we have seen is not being converted to the promised on-field successes.
the ‘come hither’ curled finger of fate attached to Jimmy Traynor’s hand should convince us that Warburton is not his own master
To a large extent, I think some of the online comments in fan sites in the wake of the Celtic match have been sensible and mature. Reality amongst Rangers fans is at last beginning to bite, and that can only be a good thing for TRFC. Rangers fans are beginning to understand that too many liberties have been taken with their loyalty to and love of the jersey. The problem for the fans is that whilst they come to terms with what may be a realistic timetable and roadmap towards success and parity with the top clubs, the current board and their chums in the press are invested in having them believe the opposite.
Already the cheerleaders in the red tops are proclaiming their ‘gulf-denial’ credentials in the hope that enough fans will be convinced of it. The problem is that the fans know the gulf exists – and not only that does exist, but it is unrealistic to expect it not to.
The Level5 effect is wearing off. In the past five years, £21m quid in investment, £6m in loans, and five years worth of ST sales have all come and gone. Will Rangers fans really do those sums, observe that in each of the four milestone matches mentioned at the beginning of this article there is nothing to show for it, and agree that there is nothing to concern them?
Rangers fans will no doubt call us obsessed to produce an article like this – about them. But football is uniquely interdependent – we all need each other. It is a game where we benefit from the traditions, the colour and the fanaticism of rivals. The fact is that we understand the value that Rangers can bring to the to the Scottish game and we want it to be realised.
Sadly though, the current people in charge at the club are people who revel in making war on fellow clubs and business partners as well as the national broadcaster and BT Sport. They have also failed to deliver on promises of investment and success to their own fans, and escaped press scrutiny of that failure. Whilst they are there, we see only division in Scottish football with no coming together possible for generations.
I believe that the vast majority of fans who love Rangers, like the rest of us, have had enough of a war on too many fronts to count. It’s time to make peace – with everyone. Football in this country can’t be fixed until that happens.
I note the SMSM is full of ‘gaps being closed’ due to a cup defeat by a single goal late on in a game.
Funny, as a Jambo, I can’t recall Neilson and Hearts (promoted from the Championship) being hailed as ‘closing the gap’ when they were knocked out by Celtic in last October’s League Cup quarters a 2-1 game with similar stats to yesterday.
Neither did Hearts receive such adulation when losing to by one late goal (81 mins) to Celtic at the start of this season when the stats show a pretty even game. The focus that day was all on Walkergate.
Yet we are led to believe a team that was played of the park yesterday and had a goalie in fine form in a one-off cup tie are just a step away from being world beaters.
The SMSM’s need to focus and promote the goings on at the two Glasgow clubs with some degree of parity is just laughable.
T’Rangers have a squad of decent honest hard working pros and a number of crocks who were expected to be getting more game time by now. I thought Travernier showed he does have some defensive skills in a few battles with v Forrest and Tierney and again the evergreen Miller put in another shift that shames much younger men.
Other than those two and Gilks being on form it was all pretty average stuff and certainly nothing teams from Tynecastle, Pittodrie and McDairmid have to be overly worried about.
That is where the Ibrox efforts need to be realistically concentrated for the next few season.
WOTTPIOCTOBER 24, 2016 at 14:40
===========================
Even allowing for my pro-Celtic bias I thought Rangers were poor yesterday. Setting out their stall simply to try and stop Celtic but still having to rely on their goalie having a great game does not add up to some of the muted praise I’ve read and heard. From what I’ve seen this season Hearts, Aberdeen and St Jonhstone are better sides than them. In my opinion Alloa gave Celtic a harder game in the quarter finals. I think there will eventually be no hiding place for King, Murray, Warburton etc. You can only put lipstick on a pig so often, but eventually everyone will see it is a pig.
wottpiOctober 24, 2016 at 14:40
‘…Yet we are led to believe a team that was played of the park yesterday and had a goalie in fine form in a one-off cup tie are just a step away from being world beaters.’
______-
I don’t generally make actual ‘football’comments on the blog ( I know my limitations as a ‘pundit’), but watching the semi-final yesterday I was very much put in mind of the late David Coleman, and his mention of hearing a fan describe how his team ‘ had annihilated [the opposition] 1-nil”
ZAM1
OCTOBER 24, 2016 at 09:37
In my opinion , any business/company who has given TRIFC credit since 2012 deserve to be ripped off, if I was a manager with ANY of these companies, whoever signed the contract to supply whatever service would be sacked…
============================
Yes, that aspect has been a bit puzzling.
For the smaller suppliers, maybe they/the owners are emotionally attached, i.e. are bears, and they like to be ‘part of the set up’ as a supplier – albeit one at high risk of not getting their cash – or receiving it very late.
RIFC/TRFC is a business and will gladly take advantage of any available, free working capital.
[And especially when they don’t have any bank credit facilities.]
However, that doesn’t explain the action, or inaction, of larger company suppliers to RIFC/TRFC.
You would think that e.g. utilities suppliers would base their decisions on emotionless, internal procedures.
But maybe e.g. court action for recovery of overdue invoice payments would attract too much negative PR / threats etc. ?
Still doesn’t explain though why larger suppliers decided to even get involved with the new Ibrox set-up in the first place.
Bizarre as it may sound (given the scoreline in both encounters) but I actually thought yesterday’s game was way more one-sided than the 5-1 game last month. In the previous encounter Rangers scored and missed a great chance to equalise right after half-time. They also had a man sent off and another defender went off injured, resulting in Joey Barton playing as a stand-in centre back for the last 25-30 mins.
Yesterday though there were no such mitigating circumstances to console rangers fans and it was only an inspired goalkeeping display, some good defending and a poor refereeing decision that kept the game level for so long.
Cant believe some of the stuff I’ve read and heard about “closing the gap”. I mean yes on a very basic level a 1-0 loss is better than a 5-1 loss but that fails to take in to accout the manner of both defeats.
I’d argue that yesterdays performance (goalkeeper apart) should worry rangers fans way more than the 5-1 performance and it should draw way more criticism from the MSM than the 5-1 performance did.
It was one way traffic from start to finish in the same way the Celtic-Alloa game was in the previous round and when all is said and done rangers came about as close to causing an upset as Alloa did.
Quality headline form the Evening Shark-Jump, [(c) The Clumpany, 2015]
“Rangers must avoid overspending in effort to catch Celtic, warns Warburton”
========================
…which could be translated as;
“Rangers doesn’t have any cash to spend to catch Celtic, warns Level42”
Good effort Tris.
The opportunity for Peace to break out was in 2011/12, when most fans, IMO, would have been open-minded about aiding a contrite, humble new Rangers.
That opportunity was clearly not an option worth considering by those in the Blue Room – or even for the bears, it seems.
Rather than Peace, it looked like TRFC chose instead to embark on a ‘100 Years War’, [well it’s starting to feel like that !].
Peace will definitely break out eventually…but only when there is no ‘Rangers’.
Unfortunate, but true ?
STEVIEBCOCTOBER 24, 2016 at 15:15 11 Votes
ZAM1OCTOBER 24, 2016 at 09:37 In my opinion , any business/company who has given TRIFC credit since 2012 deserve to be ripped off, if I was a manager with ANY of these companies, whoever signed the contract to supply whatever service would be sacked…============================Yes, that aspect has been a bit puzzling.
For the smaller suppliers, maybe they/the owners are emotionally attached, i.e. are bears, and they like to be ‘part of the set up’ as a supplier – albeit one at high risk of not getting their cash – or receiving it very late.
———————
Many of these emotionally attached fans who were smaller suppliers,and are now creditors could be joined with more emotionally attached fans who are smaller suppliers and become creditors.These fans could be sick to the back teeth if it all goes south again, and they will never return to ibrox whatever club mark lll play’s there, add to that there sickend family and friends who would be angry if someone who signed contracts with an ibrox entity ended up being sacked.
Add to that fans who will now be banned from ibrox after the cup final and any ibrox fan who may be banned if found to have done anything wrong yesterday.
For making friends on the journey.Will they have any fans left to make friends.
As for making friends along the way, I believe that went out the window when Mr Green applauded chants from the dugout
I see where you’re coming from Tris and in large part agree. But a fatal combination of the club’s own board, unhindered by an incompetent authority and cheer led from the sides by those desperately seeking circulation have created the impression of;
WATP + spending lots = success
with success measured simply as doing better than THEM.
There is a complete disconnect between shouting WATP and a presumably educated legal type telling Phil there is brand erosion occurring. Nothing but Timmy spin (laugh), Timmy attack and Timmy jealousy apparently.
Similarly the same disconnect is apparent when expecting someone to bankroll them. It may be a loan that’s requested but everyone knows it’s essentially brogue-buying charity that is being spoken about.
I still don’t believe that the average bear, certainly not one of the Murray era, is seeing a problem with my equation above. Rather they just don’t think King (and for that matter whoever follows him unless they have bottomless pockets) is very good at doing it. They can’t be. They’re not winning 51% of the time ergo the operational aspects are wrong. But the strategy remains unchallengeable in my opinion. Why? Because there is no longer a down side to it and yet the irony is, as you have said, that as long as a CL fuelled Celtic retain the appetite for it there is no readily achievable upside either. Just years of perpetual torment, fomented anger and lots of lashing out.
StevieBCOctober 24, 2016 at 17:29
‘…Rather than Peace, it looked like TRFC chose instead to embark on a ‘100 Years War’, [well it’s starting to feel like that !].Peace will definitely break out eventually…’
_______
Ah, StevieBC,there can really be no peace built on a tissue of lies, I’m afraid.
RFC cheated their way to titles and honours to which they were not ,under sporting rules, entitled
RFC (IL) have played no part in Scottish Football since 2012, and cannot possibly add even to their ‘honestly won’ titles and honours
TRFC are not RFC(IL)- anything they win on the field of play can only have been won from 2012..
and the SFA and the SPFL allowed and continue to allow a lie to lie at the heart of Scottish Football.
Peace will break out only when that lie is acknowledged,and
when unmerited sporting honours and titles are stripped from RFC(IL),and
when TRFC are publicly acknowledged by the Football Authorities as the 4 year old club that they are and therefore not allowed to claim to be RFC(IL)
Pretty straightforward.
When that’s done, Scottish football can accept TRFC as it is- a struggling new club, run not very well by some decidedly unsavoury chancers that no respectable football club would allow near itself.
And the decidedly dodgy men who manufactured the Big Lie and who presently sustain it, can be shown the door by such honest brokers as there may be in the ranks of the SFA membership.
And a new, healthier and less hypocritical era can begin for Scottish Football.
JOHN CLARK
OCTOBER 24, 2016 at 19:10
StevieBC
October 24, 2016 at 17:29
‘…Rather than Peace, it looked like TRFC chose instead to embark on a ‘100 Years War’, [well it’s starting to feel like that !].Peace will definitely break out eventually…’
_______
Ah, StevieBC,there can really be no peace built on a tissue of lies, I’m afraid.
…Peace will break out only when that lie is acknowledged…
==========================================
Mibbees I’m less optimistic than yourself, JC. I don’t think anyone at Ibrox or Hampden will ever acknowledge or even apologise for all the lies and dodgy dealing wrt RFC and now TRFC.
Perhaps we will get to a point where TRFC, [or a later iteration], is widely accepted as being just an ‘average’ SPL team, with very limited resources. Maybe a drop in the viewing and attendance figures will eventually convince the Hampden blazers that it’s just not in their financial interest to assist a Rangers team any more ?
IMO, the probability of any ‘Rangers’ becoming extinct is much higher than anyone acknowledging lying at Hampden or Ibrox – or even the SMSM !
A Scottish game without the ever present threats / demands of a Rangers looming over them might actually help the SFA / SPFL govern competently – or at least just better. In the absence of the other member clubs stepping forward – that might be the best we can hope for ?
“Another widely accepted wisdom in boardrooms (even if not always followed) is that once a manager is recruited, you stay out of his domain.
The boardroom at Ibrox is not awash with wisdom it seems. First of all they put their faith in a manager with little or no experience in the game. That may well have worked out, but does anyone really believe, after his disappearing act in the wake of the Cup Final defeat and his absence at the Barton signing conference, that Warburton is master of his own domain?
If not, does the ‘come hither’ curled finger of fate attached to Jimmy Traynor’s hand at last week’s press conference convince you?”
I wrote a few weeks back that Warburton, employed as manager, had reversed into a head coach role.
I wasn’t sure then who was pulling the strings as de facto Director of Football (privately, I leaned towards Gilligan, for reasons/information I couldn’t verify), but it appears that it could well be Spinny McSpinface from Level Sinko who has the ear of the board on football matters.
STEVIEBC
OCTOBER 24, 2016 at 17:29
Peace will definitely break out eventually…but only when there is no ‘Rangers’.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Agreed
There will be no peace as long as there is a “Rangers”
This WATP culture is too deep rooted
It now appears to be official Board Policy
Godwins Law springs to mind— Germany after WW1
Financial mismanagement
Blamed everybody but themselves
Growth of extremism
False supremacy culture
Persecuted minorities
Broke agreements
Preferred war to peace
Took WW2 to sort them out
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
IMO
Failure won`t be blamed on the Board
It will be blamed on everyone else
But eventually they will go bust
Forever
Tris, that’s a good opening post and I agree with the sentiment behind it of how unhelpful the board and SMSM’s approach has been to TRFC*.
That said, however, I can’t agree with the implication that the TRFC* fanbase is a ‘victim’ of that deluded and divisive approach.
While I believe there are sensible TRFC* fans like Ryan G, there are far, FAR more only too willing to believe any old b***ox they are fed either by the board or by the SMSM. Unfortunately, it all goes back to C Green’s big lie that it’s the same club. That mobilised the majority of fans to rally around ‘the world’s most successful club’ because that is something they hold dear so they can lord it over Celtic-supporting neighbours and co-workers. Never mind the fact that no-one other than themselves gives any credence to the world’s most successful club delusion. To keep those fans buying season tickets and newspapers, EVERYTHING has to reinforce the ridiculous notion that TRFC* is the same club.
Remember the first season transfers in – it had to be Premier league players (Black, Templeton, McGowan hounded for not signing), because that’s what the same club buys!
Later, Daly, Sandaza, Cammy Bell, even Kris Boyd to spin as a ‘return’ to the same club! Duds all, but it mattered not because they were PL players that the same club was expected to sign. Never mind that Andy Robertson kid we played against – “we don’t sign kids from Queens Park – we’re Rangers”.
The first sign that the same club wasn’t strolling back to its rightful place was the 6-1 from Motherwell. This had to be dressed up as McCoist’s/McCall’s fault, because, well, the same club would have won promotion had it not been for that shit manager. So, if that’s what the fans know, the board and SMSM just give them what they need to keep their heads in the sand.
Preparing for the PL this season, it was all about ‘real’ Premier League players to remind the fans of how it works. For Butcher, Gough and Hateley, read Barton, Hill and Krancjaer. Okay we have no money and they’re not actually CURRENT Premier League players, but you know how good these guys are/can be, so we are still the same big team!! After all, do you see Joey Barton even thinking about signing for St Johnstone or Ross County?
Now back in the PL, the performances are further proof that it simply can’t be the same team, but 4 decent league games in a row plus a cup semi is spun as proof that “the gap is closing” despite all stats etc proving otherwise.
I don’t think you can blame the SMSM, the TRFC* board or MW for spouting such p*sh and leading the fans astray. The fans are to blame for refusing to accept their new world and are simply being fed what they wish to consume. Without the addict, there’s no need for the drug dealer!
The war can’t be laid at the door of the messengers – there can be no peace until the ‘same club’ lie is outed completely…..or the ‘same club’s’ cash is outed completely.
NAWLITEOCTOBER 24, 2016 at 21:02
The first sign that the same club wasn’t strolling back to its rightful place was the 6-1 from Motherwell. This had to be dressed up as McCoist’s/McCall’s fault, because, well, the same club would have won promotion had it not been for that shit manager.
The next sign will be they had a manager who could not do it in the SPFL. they will then go for a real rangers man for manager and the circle will be complete, It’s what the fans know, and what the board and the SMSM will feed them to keep their heads in the sand.
Can’t help thinking this SMSM stuff on TRFC’s supposed improvement….no doubt in all aspects of its activities…. is more akin to Young Mr Grace’s endorsement of ‘your all doing very well’ to the staff of Grace Brothers, when, in fact, the reality is chasing control of chaos.
Most contributors to this blog are obviously not intellectually challenged. Neither are most fans of football about the nuances of the game. Some of the media judgements and, dare I say it, some of the TRFC player judgements on yesterday’s game are from Cloud Cuckoo land. Psychologists and psychiatrists do say one has to work very hard to be achieve sanity in this day and age. Some TRFC folk are going to have to put in a lot more work to first encounter football reality, before they reach football sanity.
The other things, of course, are that the triumphalism and entitlement never seem to be on the wane. That is why I, too, am of the opinion that things will only ever be right once the charlatans are gone and the TRFC support + SMSM friends undergo mass conversion to sporting integrity. They had better realise quickly that their former football tyranny in Scotland will no longer be tolerated by fans of other clubs.
I had a few swallies courtesy of the youngest’s TRFC-supporting boyfriend (a misguided bet on his behalf) , but found him to be a decent sort who has basically been misled by Scottish media . He was happy to admit that the TRFC fans are in thrall to the PUL brigade , whom none want to upset for fear of repercussions . So you have the RIFC board using these people to keep the other , and in my decent fans.in their place and compliant, constantly reminded about how privileged they were to be allowed to be in the support . The boy only wants to support his chosen team, but the whole thing has been hi-jacked by these charlatans . He also never realised how much auld guys can drink, especially if it’s free .
PUL brigade? – I guess I know what you mean but do not know that acronym- please expand it for me, I have led a very sheltered life.
The great magic word favoured by the RRM in the SMSM and in fora seems to be “investment”. It sounds like a fine upstanding doing the right thing kind of word and it is when signifying spending now for profitable return later. But it seems that it is merely being used as a synonym for spend with no prospect of return except maybe the prospect of getting shares in a loss making business with no credit line from a bank which has many of the characteristics of a Ponzi scheme.
As Denis Healey said “when in a hole the first thing to do is to stop digging” otherwise your strikers will have the savagery of a dead sheep….
I doubt we will ever find out what Sevco’s fate is to be, until we find out how DCK intends to extract filthy lucre from a loss making enterprise. That, IMO, will be the crucial factor.
The same factor of all who have gone before him.
Attached is a document Tweeted by Aberdeen fans. I think their formula is arrived at by empirical methods, but even if their conclusions (which concur with mine) are flawed, it is high time that ‘ownership’ of any part of a neutral venue came to an end.
I’m sure I’m giving JimT a level of credit than it doesn’t deserve but that’s an interesting layout to the Herald website this morning with Wharby (hoorahh) on the one hand saying we can’t spend money we don’t have and his highness of the scouting EBT (Booooo) saying Rangers just have to spend money regardless.
To be fair to Mr Traynor I myself added the panto cheers for effect. I feel he missed a trick there.
Just revisiting the ‘Club Statement’ of November 2015.
Full of bitterness,lies and threats. Nothing changes but it stays the same.
By Dave King
“It is disappointing that a debate has re-emerged around the subject of Rangers’ history in Scottish football. It must be especially frustrating for the Club’s supporters who again find individuals within the structures of Scottish football unfairly targeting the Club.
As the one individual who was a major shareholder and director throughout the period that gave rise to the HMRC dispute, and again find myself in a similar capacity, I believe that I am uniquely positioned to make three important observations.First, irrespective of the final outcome of the tax appeal (which might take several more years) the football team had no advantage from any tax savings from the scheme put in place by the Murray Group. Throughout the period in question the shareholders were committed to providing funding to the Club. The tax scheme may have reduced the need for shareholders to provide higher levels of funding so, as I have tried to make clear in the past, any advantage gained would have been to the company and its shareholders, not the team. Certain players may not have signed for the Club without the perceived benefit of personal tax savings but there was no general advantage for the player squad, or the performance on the pitch. We would still have signed players of equal abilities if one or two had decided they didn’t want to sign under different financial circumstances.Secondly, Lord Nimmo Smith has fully and finally dealt with the legitimacy of the continuity of the Club’s history. There is no more to be debated on that issue.Finally, it is extraordinary that representatives of other Scottish clubs – who admit the damage done to Scottish football by Rangers’ removal from the Premier League – should even wish to re-engage with this issue. It is time those individuals, who represent other clubs, recognise their legal and fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and shareholders rather than submit to the uninformed ramblings of a few outspoken fans to whom attacking Rangers is more important than the wellbeing of their own clubs.This is a misguided attempt (that will ultimately fail) to rewrite history and defeat Rangers off the park when their teams could not do so on the park at the time. The history of many other clubs would have to be rewritten if this illogical argument was to be consistently applied.Having reviewed documentation that has become available to me I believe that Rangers was harshly and, in some instances, unfairly treated in the period leading up to demotion from the Premier League. However, that is now history and I have publicly stated, with the full support of the recently installed board, that we wish to put the past behind us and move on in partnership with all clubs throughout Scotland to improve and restore the image and quality of Scottish football as a whole. This will be to the benefit of all clubs.For the avoidance of doubt, however, I wish to make one point clear. If the history of our Club comes under attack we will deal with it in the strongest manner possible and will hold to account those persons who have acted against their fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and to Scottish football”.
Tris,
In fairness I’m also seeing a lot of slightly different comment on the ‘ends’ issue of Hampden which more importantly* focusses in on why, particularly when two east coast sides face each other we still go to Glasgow and why, if we have to go to Glasgow, do we have to go to a stadium with the worst transport links (crucial when its two ‘travelling’ supports), parking and facilities of the three options available.
In terms of the former question I think there is an acceptance (begrudging but then we are aberdonian) that the odds are (at least were
) that one of the old firm should be contesting a final and that even regardless of that point, the national side would need somewhere to play, and on the basis we’re pretty terrible but would prefer to be terrible in front of full houses, it makes most sense to have the national stadium close to the main population centres. So, whilst a 60,000 seater in Perth would be great a 60,000 seater in Glasgow is probably still the more realistic and viable option.
In terms of the latter question I think you’d struggle in all honesty to go from three to two large stadiums. Its a bit like merging Hearts and Hibs, Dundee and Dundee Utd, Killie and Hamilton etc. The answer is obvious but its not going to happen. So once again you’re back to our old friends at Park Gardens that have the responsibility to build something to meet the needs of all of Scotland – not just on the park (enough said), not just around the park (ditto) but also around the stadium.
It will come as no surprise whatsoever that the answer to that is strike 3 and apparently you’re still not out!
* I only say “more importantly” in that the sectarian policy that the article you link clearly infers, with no mention of any other factors, is simply not seen as the be-all and end-all to the debate. Not in my corner of the world.
BFBPUZZLEDOCTOBER 25, 2016 at 09:38
Protestant, Unionist, Loyalist, I believe .
PADDY MALARKEY
OCTOBER 25, 2016 at 11:16
================================
Agnostic, Pro-Independence Republicans need not apply one supposes.
It’s really quite sad, do you think they know it’s actually just a football team. Not a rallying point for people of a very specific religious / political persuasion.
Maybe it is a rallying point for such people. One does wonder though, how many of them are regular church goers who are politically active. I suspect it’s not a particularly large proportion.
PUL ok thanks.
I wonder if they know what they are protesting about
bfbpuzzledOctober 25, 2016 at 12:41
PUL ok thanks. I wonder if they know what they are protesting about
++++++++++++++++
The world as it is and everything in it, apart from themselves, of course.
As we all , including the glib and shameless one, know, RFC 2012 plc ( company number SC 004276: the original Rangers of my grandfather’s time) went belly up in October 2012.
In respect of the Training Centre Youth Academy belonging to that club, sportscotland had a Standard Security, registered in the Land Register of Scotland under title DMB65871.
Now, as far as I can see, that Standard Security obligation was not transferred to The Rangers Football Club Ltd ( company number SC 425159) , and registered at Companies House until June 2015.
This suggests to me that sportscotland were perhaps a shade too relaxed and casual in their aproach to looking after public money. The simple fact that they eventually thought it necessary to get the new club to sign a new contract accepting liability under the original standard security, shows that there was some doubt in their minds about the enforceability of the contract with the dead club and that they had better get it removed!
It also, to my mind, shows that they may have shared the mindset of a former First Minister (and some MSPs whose constituencies were well furth of Glasgow!) in which the saving of a tax-evading club became more important than looking after public funds.
(As an aside, if you look at the wording of the ‘charge’ contract [on the companies house page relating to The Rangers Football Club Ltd, click on the word ‘charges’ , and scroll through until you see the text of the contract]. You’ll see there the same kind of generalised use of RFC to try to pretend that it’s all about the same club])
HOMUNCULUSOCTOBER 25, 2016 at 11:37
The boy (let’s call him John) only wants to watch and support his team . Like most Christians in Scotland, he doesn’t do attendance at religious services,bar weddings, funerals and the occasional christening . There is quite a large minority of TRFC fans ,imo, wedded to the way things were in the olden days, particularly the way minorities were treated in Ulster, attitudes(baggage) which were imported with the Harland and Wolff workers. There is pressure to be as staunch as those supporters are . Most TRFC fans that I know are just football supporters, but I am friendly with a few of the PUL persuasion who tolerate me but wouldn’t allow me into their gang as I don’t have the correct mindset . Some think discrimination is as acceptable in the here and now as it was in the past . They also tend to be liquidation deniers .
John Clark
October 25, 2016 at 13:12
You might find this interesting.
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07380537/filing-history
THE RANGERS FC GROUP LIMITED
Company number 07380537
*30 Sep 2016 Confirmation statement made on 17 September 2016 with updates*
TRISIDIUMOCTOBER 25, 2016 at 10:47…
Attached is a document Tweeted by Aberdeen fans. I think their formula is arrived at by empirical methods, but even if their conclusions (which concur with mine) are flawed, it is high time that ‘ownership’ of any part of a neutral venue came to an end.
=========================
Here are a few stadium related comments / suggestions ;
1) We have lost out significantly on the financial benefits – and Scottish kids’ interest – wrt failing to qualify for the WC & Euros over the last 20 years or so. We cannot assume that qualification is going to happen any time soon – if ever again.
2) Drop Hampden altogether: for a multitude of reasons, but also because it is simply a crap stadium !
3) To encourage more interest and possibly higher attendances – and to maximise revenue for the clubs – rotate the Scotland games and cup semi/finals around the country.
4) And whilst we’re at it…
If a ‘Rangers’ is still in existence: they could ground share with Celtic !
Crazy, but Inter Milan and AC Milan have shared a stadium since 1947, [although it is local authority owned IIRC].
From Celtic business perspective: they keep their rivals ‘alive/in a zombie state’, and get a new revenue stream via rent.
For Scottish football: TRFC fans are not likely to trash their ‘own’ stadium, and it might help to reduce / remove the more extreme, intransigent elements from both fan bases.
For TRFC: they get a decent stadium to play in, and could maybe achieve break-even ?
Fans on both sides would certainly not like a shared stadium – but since when have the SFA or the clubs listened to the fans…?
woodsteinOctober 25, 2016 at 14:10
John ClarkOctober 25, 2016 at 13:12 You might find this interesting. https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07380537/filing-history THE RANGERS FC GROUP LIMITEDCompany number 07380537 *30 Sep 2016 Confirmation statement made on 17 September 2016 with updates*
________________________________
Without any real knowledge on such matters, but, that appears to be a new company related to ‘The Rangers’ and might suggest some kind of restructuring is in the offing! If it is, and with a man with King’s known business practices at the helm…
Oops, just realised there was more than one page to the Confirmation Statement and it’s Law Financial (remember them) who own the only share in the new company. Interesting times we live in!
Phil’s latest suggesting that Warburton might not have made the decision on the team formation on Sunday !
And that if he left, Weir might stay on.
If true: looks like Warburton is now being isolated, and could do walking away: constructive dismissal ?
ALLYJAMBOOCTOBER 25, 2016 at 16:07 6 Votes
Previously called Wavetower .
@ STEVIEBC:
At least they filled their bench this time, unlike in the Scottish Cup Final.
Obviously no big bonuses on offer/to be paid for semi-final success
Law Financial now appears to own TRFCG (formerly Wavetower) which was the company that Whyte used to buy RFC in 2011. It also owned Sevco 5088, so it’s no surprise that it also has ownership of its holding company.
Whyte sold out his interest in Law Financial to Worthington Group in 2013 (£1M in unsecured loan notes).
Worthington Group used to be listed on AIM but was suspended for failing to publish its accounts.
It then sought a reverse take over with Nuna Minerals, a Greenland based company. That fell through after Nuna was declared bankrupt.
Worthington itself was due to face a winding up order in court today, but the action has been delayed for 28 days.
It is Worthington that is clinging on to a claim against BDO re RFC assets (now down to £3M according to the last BDO report). That claim was sisted (kicked down the road a bit) until the criminal case is over, by a judge in March.
Sorry if this has been commented on already, i’m running a bit behind and still to catch up.
Livingston have been ordered to replay their IRN-BRU cup clash with Northern Ireland outfit crusaders after fielding an ineligible player.
SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said afterwards “In the interests of sporting Integrity and fairness to both sides, the game will be replayed”.
I don’t even know where to start with his statement on interests of sporting Integrity and fairness
Not exactly the same situation but …
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36265268
The SFA seem a bit more consistent, you’d think both bodies would have similar rules:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/spartans-thrown-out-of-scottish-cup-1086502
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1351100/SFA-throw-East-Stirling-Scottish-Cup-fielding-ineligible-player-Buckie-Thistle.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_cups/7215487.stm
My guess is that Livingston are benefiting from the Bryson Dividend ( Claiming © on that one!) and didn’t get chucked out for fear of some embarrassing comparisons being drawn. But our Neil can’t leave it at that can he? He is compelled to put his size fourteens among the molars to cite sporting integrity. So here goes …
In other words then, the fielding of one player who did not meet the registration requirements in order to play in one match lawfully is a breach of that sporting integrity which required a sporting sanction?
See where I’m going here?
BTW, Tris giving away the provenance of his nickname with new avatar 🙂
The Bryson dividend, I like it.
To be fair to Livingston though, they’ve have been smacked in the face with the rulebook so many times over the years that maybe they’re due a wee break.
BadgerbhoyOctober 25, 2016 at 22:31
‘…To be fair to Livingston though..’
________
Yes indeed, to be fair to Livingston.
Livingston pled guilty to breach of the Regulations of the SPFL Challenge Cup Competition.
They did not lie, or try to hide evidence, or indulge, like that detestable jobsworth, in fits of lunatic linguistic ‘interpretation’ to mislead, nay, positively deceive, their judges !
And what kind of hypocritical sods are they ( “a sub-committee of the SPFL Board charged Livingston Football Club for playing Alan Lithgow in an IRN-BRU Cup match whilst he was ineligible as he was under a Scottish FA suspension at the time”),who let others let RFC(IL) get away witha decade’s worth of fielding ineligible players?
And as for Doncaster? Him? daring to use words like “In the interests of sporting integrity and fairness ” without fearing that his very tongue would rise up in disbelieving disgust and choke him.
I fear there is little hope of a way back for such as he, entrenched as he is in wrongful ways as deeply as his SFA counterpart.
StevieBCOctober 25, 2016 at 17:58
‘….. looks like Warburton is now being isolated, ..’
_____________
It would not have been difficult for our bully boy James to play to the Ibrox Board gallery and drop little hints and suggestions that Warburton might not entirely be on message; that his decency as an honest man doing his best in a poisonous, toxic, basically skint and fundamentally directionless football club is possibly more of a handicap than a help, and that perhaps someone with good,bred in the bone, dog-whistling skills might be preferable, even if he didn’t have gardening skills.
Our James, who told us all that ‘Rangers’ were no more, seems now to be trying to make sure that the new club will die the death as well!
There will not be a PR agency anywhere in the world that will not use the Warburton/Traynor ‘press conference’ clip as a teaching aid, in how NOT to do PR.
I do still hope that Warburton lamped him one! And spoke up for himself to the Board to tell them that he will not be treated in such a manner by such a boorish, conflicted, intemperate clown as our Jabba.
(But I still wonder why Warburton chose to go to such a toxic environment. That choice doesn’t say much for his capacity to read and think!)
And him a former City trader!
JOHN CLARKOCTOBER 26, 2016 at 00:18
There will not be a PR agency anywhere in the world that will not use the Warburton/Traynor ‘press conference’ clip as a teaching aid, in how NOT to do PR.
===============================
I saw a clip yesterday of Barrie McKay being interviewed after the semi final at the weekend. As he (ridiculously in my view) claimed Rangers had been a match for Celtic, he even went as far to falsely claim Rangers had many chances in the game. All the while Traynor could be seen pacing in the background. Given this and the post match comments from Warburton and Gilks, plus the nonsense from Windass in today’s media, you could almost believe Traynor gave them a planned approach to defeat before the game. I have no proof of that of course, but thinking of this blog, and the peace not war aspect, then surely Rangers will never be at peace with anyone while this aggressive, bullying PR style is allowed to prevail. It would of course help if the media were willing to challenge it, but pigs might fly.
UPTHEHOOPS,
I think this is the video you refer to. The interview shows the terrified player reading from a pre-written script behind the camera, with the forever lurking Traynor in the background.
https://twitter.com/notlr/status/791029921552498688
PortbhoyOctober 26, 2016 at 09:47
‘…I think this is the video you refer to.’
__________
Nice one, Portbhoy.
Morning all.
I believe Phil mentioned last night that Traynor did indeed have various statements etc lined up depending on the score.
If 2-0 or lower then the “gap closing,were were just as good”etc line was brought into play.This is,of course what is happening now.
Windass surely does not believe a word being credited to him yesterday.
The Record now reporting that Mr Barton will find out his fate tomorrow.He’ll be hauled,not asked to attend a meeting after TRFC get the small matter of tonights game against a good St Johnstone side out of the way.The record report also states that Joey will be represented by a team of top class lawyers & it’s unclear whether TRFC have enough evidence to sack him outright.
I hope he asks for his settlement up front!.
Sorry if I’m picking you up wrong EJ but would Worthington’s claim against TRFCG not seek to give them a priority invite to the Creditors party where the residual of the £24m insurance sits once BDO net their fees off? Yes its to the expense of the other creditors but since when did they get a say? And also the insurance payout was made essentially for the malpractise of Whyte at the 2011 takeover. He’d obviously need to remain at least at arms length from any Worthington pay off.
Can I ask a question,guys?.
Christmas day is a Saturday so Monday 27th & possibly Tuesday 28th December will be public holidays in Scotland.Although I suppose it would be legally OK to hold an AGM any day from the Wednesday to Friday,it would not,I think be very practical due to Holiday arrangements etc.Surely the last acceptable(by the majority of shareholders,the wee guys) would be Wednesday 23rd,and if so Results will need to be out no later than Wednesday 30th November.
I think it’s fair to assume that the rumoured problems,everything from being sued by Puma to the roof etc, is making it hard for the Auditors to sign off the accounts.I suppose what I’m asking is,If we don’t see the accounts by the 30th of November,what are the chances of seeing them at all.
FWIW Phil yesterday hinted that his sources suggest that the RIFC/TRFC board have until mid November to raise additional funding.I suppose in my warped mind I put this date alongside a potential timetable for release of results,AGM etc,supposed reports of insufficient cash to meet Novembers payroll notwithstanding.
Re. the interview with Traynor lurking in the background, …
He’s got them in early this morning for a wee bit practice.
https://i.imgflip.com/1czzwb.jpg
https://goo.gl/images/2hcH9K
The sight of Traynor ‘lurking’ in the background made me think of Frankie Howerd’s character, Lurkio, in Up Pompeii. Sadly, it wasn’t possible to resurect Frankie, in the way ‘Rangers’ were, to produce a ‘Sevcio’ character for him in the BBC comedy, ‘Up Govonia’
yesterday , I received the following reply from Companies House:
“25 Oct at 5:47 PM Dear Sir THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED – SC425159
Thank you for your email of 20 October.
I note your comments and have examined the financial statements of the company for the year ended 30 June 2015. The section you refer to, the “strategic report” makes it quite clear that the company “The Rangers Football Club Limited” and the actual club “Rangers Football Club” are separate entities. Although the company which currently runs the club was only incorporated on 29 May 2012, the club itself has been in existence since 1872. There is nothing untoward in a newer company running an older business. As a correlation consider the idea of a well-established shop being bought over by new owners, who may have their own company which they use to run the shop whilst retaining the original name, to keep the goodwill of the shop brand.
Having said that, I am not professionally qualified, as Companies House exists simply as a registry. The role of the Registrar is to incorporate new companies, to remove obsolete ones from the register, to receive statutory documents from live companies, and to make information on companies available to the public. The Registrar does not carry out investigations into possible irregularities in the running of companies. It is up to individuals who have a problem with these to seek professional legal advice to try to find a solution. As a registry, we do not, and can not, become involved in disputes or issues between members of the public, past or present shareholders, members, officers, other parties and limited companies which are registered at Companies House. There is certainly nothing in the accounts submitted by The Rangers Football Club Limited which is in breach of the Companies Act, and as such there is nothing more that Companies House can do to assist you at this time.
Yours faithfully
S. Lihou
for Registrar of Companies ”
I have replied as follows:
“Dear S. Lihou,I am extremely grateful for your reply, and I thank you for it.
I should like, however, to point out that your analogy of an old shop being bought by a new owner does not hold.
The Rangers FC of 1872 was liquidated and automatically lost its entitlement to membership of a the Scottish FA.
Charles Green’s consortium bought the assets, and founded a new football club entirely.This new club, originally by name SevcoScotland had to apply to join a professional league as a new club, and changed its name to “The Rangers Football Club” ( no doubt as a deceitful device to try to pretend to continuity in the run-up to going public)
It was accepted into the lowest division of the then Scottish Football league-and only then was it admitted to membership, as a new club to the Scottish Football Association.
It is manifestly not the case that the old Rangers were bought out of Administration and simply changed hands , as has happened in the case of many football clubs.
No, the old Rangers died as a football playing entity.
It is therefore quite, quite wrong of “The Rangers Football Club Ltd” to claim to be the historic Rangers of 1872 and to use in their advertising and annual reports the false claim that that now Liquidated club’s sporting achievements are the past achievements of “The Rangers Football Club Ltd”
Thank you again for your reply, but not even Companies House can bring a dead football club to life!
And I think “The Rangers Football Club Ltd” they should be reprimanded for trying to trade on the misleading claim that they are somehow the same successful, historic club that the liquidated Rangers Football Club had been.
Yours most sincerely,JC”
—
As I think many of us have already worked out, Companies House is not any kind of serious checking body, but scarcely more than a depository for any kind of bumf a busines sends them.
In fact, it sounds a bit like the SFA: a club will get done for not putting the date on a form, while another club fills in the forms properly, but tells whopping great lies on them, and , with perhaps a nod and a wink, gets away with it.
No wonder guys like the kind of guys we refer to are encouraged to try to work scams, whether in football or other business.
@John Clark October 26, 2016 at 12:23 Nice riposte
Smugas October 26, 2016 at 10:36 Sorry if I’m picking you up wrong EJ but would Worthington’s claim against TRFCG not seek to give them a priority invite to the Creditors party where the residual of the £24m insurance sits once BDO net their fees off? Yes its to the expense of the other creditors but since when did they get a say? And also the insurance payout was made essentially for the malpractise of Whyte at the 2011 takeover. He’d obviously need to remain at least at arms length from any Worthington pay off.
=======================
If a court accepted that TRFCG’s (Wavetower’s) Floating Charge was valid, and agreed that there was some element of debt attached to the FC, then yes, it would have a first ranking claim over the creditors pot. As TRFCG now appears to be a subsidiary of Worthington it will be the latter who seeks to progress the claim.
Here is an update from the last BDO Creditors Report dated 7 June 2016.
Personally, I would doubt very much if the £3M claim will ever be paid out.
easyJamboOctober 26, 2016 at 12:38
‘…Here is an update from the last BDO Creditors Report dated 7 June 2016.’
_____
I knew I had seen a reference to the withdrawal of Wavetower , but couldn’t remember when and where, and was hunting in vain to see whether Liberty Corporate had in some way actually abandoned or torn up the debenture under which it has the fixed and floating charge over TRFCGroup.
So your posting of that extract was very timely-although if you had posted it last night I might have saved myself some fruitless searching!!
JOHN CLARKOCTOBER 26, 2016 at 12:23
John, another fine effort on your part. It might, however, have been a good idea to point out to this josworth (his reply suggests a knowledge of the subject matter comensurate with that of an Ibrox season ticket holder) that the idea he put forward, that an incorporated club continues to exist as, also, an unincorporated ‘club’, was, literally, laughed out of court by a High Court judge. In truth, it could have been lifted straight from a ‘Rangers’ blog, or be the result of a telephone conversation with a nice man at Ibrox!
What must be remembered is that bodies like Companies House do not welcome enquiries like yours, regardless of it’s merits, and they will do their damnest to discourage what they will, no doubt, describe as time wasting or spurious. Your enquiry has resulted in them pointing out, in a public forum, just how little value to society they are as any kind of watchdog in an area rife with fraud!
Just checking this evenings fixtures and TRFC v St Johnstone hasn’t been postponed yet so I think it is safe to assume that Ibrox still has running water.
TORREJOHNBHOY(@JOHNBHOY1958)OCTOBER 26, 2016 at 10:38 Can I ask a question,guys?.Christmas day is a Saturday so Monday 27th & possibly Tuesday 28th December will be public holidays in Scotland.Although I suppose it would be legally OK to hold an AGM any day from the Wednesday to Friday,it would not,I think be very practical due to Holiday arrangements etc.Surely the last acceptable(by the majority of shareholders,the wee guys) would be Wednesday 23rd…
========================
Technically, TJB, I believe they can schedule the AGM on any day, and at any location within reason.
It’s a common wheeze that if a plc wanted to avoid a boisterous AGM, and to minimise the opportunity for shareholders to attend, [especially activist shareholders], then they could book a location not too easy to get to via public transport – e.g. well outside of London – and even better, on a Friday afternoon of a holiday weekend.
Obviously, I don’t think RIFC could consider holding its AGM on Hogmanay in Thurso, but mibbees the AGM will just get kicked further down the road, like the final AGM of Rangers which never actually happened…?
I’ve just been reading Livingston FC’s statement regarding the playing of an illegible player in their 2-1 victory over Crusaders.
http://livingstonfc.co.uk/club-statement-irn-bru-challenge-cup/
I note that they’ve been fined £4k (which, I’m sure, will require to be paid lickety-split, unlike some others), but it must be more difficult to thole that they’ve got to go back to Belfast, on a Tuesday night, to replay the game. That will surely cost them at least the same again (more, probably?) in transport, hotels, players’ time off work etc.
I wonder if they’d had the option to be thrown out of the competition, would they have taken it?
An interesting tweet from @Barcabhoy this afternoon.
Barcabhoy @Barcabhoy1 4h4 hours ago Barcabhoy Retweeted Barcabhoy
Now been seen by 130,000 people. The reason why the @Record_Sport rushed out an old non event story will be evident soon.
Oh come on. The Record rushing out an “old non-event story.”
You’re at least going to have to narrow it down a bit. There must be thousands!
LONG TIME LURKEROCTOBER 26, 2016 at 16:58 An interesting tweet from @Barcabhoy this afternoon.
Barcabhoy @Barcabhoy1 4h4 hours ago Barcabhoy Retweeted BarcabhoyNow been seen by 130,000 people. The reason why the @Record_Sport rushed out an old non event story will be evident soon.
=======================================
“No tax paid by anyone” ?
StevieBC @ 16:15
“Obviously, I don’t think RIFC could consider holding its AGM on Hogmanay in Thurso,”
I spent some time in Thurso and still have family there.
It has its faults but it has never done anything to deserve such a fate befalling it.
In fact, I wouldn’t even wish such a thing on Wick.
torrejohnbhoy(@johnbhoy1958) October 26, 2016 at 10:38
Can I ask a question,guys?. Christmas day is a Saturday
=======================
The last I checked it was a Sunday this year.
The ESJ has this article today http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/14822898.Rangers__How_have_Mark_Warburton_s_summer_recruits_fared_so_far_at_Ibrox_/ where Union Jack claims a player who has been injured all season is potentially worth millions. There is of course no explanation as to how he arrives at that evaluation.
BALLYARGUSOCTOBER 26, 2016 at 18:56
The ESJ has this article today http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/14822898.Rangers__How_have_Mark_Warburton_s_summer_recruits_fared_so_far_at_Ibrox_/ where Union Jack claims a player who has been injured all season is potentially worth millions. There is of course no explanation as to how he arrives at that evaluation.
==================================
When the lad Rossiter signed for Rangers they told the media had he signed for an English club the fee would have been £8M. It was not questioned then and won’t be now. Given the money sloshing around in England my guess is if he was worth £8M then one of them would have signed him.
I can’t believe I wrote ‘illegible’ instead of ‘ineligible’ in my post at 1655.
Apologies.
————————————————
SMUGAS
OCTOBER 26, 2016 at 17:11
Oh come on. The Record rushing out an “old non-event story.”
You’re at least going to have to narrow it down a bit. There must be thousands!
——————————————
I’ll guess ‘Seamill Hydro’, ‘Lisbon Lions’ etc. etc.
Just a theory.
What if HMRC have sent demands to EBT recipients. Presumably the holders of side letters will be looking to the [ahem] club to make good any taxes due.
Now, if the club does not have the means to honour the side letters – could we be about to see confirmation from EBT holders and/or the Club, that the Club has died?
JOHN CLARKOCTOBER 26, 2016 at 12:23
Great work again John
The Record, Shark Jump et al spent the pervious too seasons telling everyone that the Scottish Championship was the bestest quality and most competitive league in the land. Telling us that the Premiership was not worth a light as it was so uncompetitive because ………. well, you know why because
This season they can’t give a flying monkey’s doodoo for the Championship as the all new and improved Premiership is where it is at.
Tonight four points separate five teams at the top of the Championship and Celtic are seven points clear with a game in hand over Aberdeen in 2nd and TRFC are destined to be mid table also rans.
If any writers for the Scottish press are casting their occasional eye over TSFM then know this. You are not journalists, just a bunch of hypocrites and stenographers.
P.S. I do of course recognise that there are a handful of honourable exceptions but it ain’t many.
What recourse do Celtic have if TRFC refuse to pay for the damage done to the CFC toilet facilities on 10 Sept?
and
Does anybody have any idea as to how much it cost to carry out the repairs?
GOOSYGOOSYOCTOBER 26, 2016 at 23:36
What recourse do Celtic have if TRFC refuse to pay for the damage done to the CFC toilet facilities on 10 Sept?andDoes anybody have any idea as to how much it cost to carry out the repairs?
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On-line noises of £100K GG, and possibly more due to water damage to the floor below. I have heard murmurs that if unpaid, Celtic intend to deduct it for any monies due from their ticket allocation for the Ibrox game.
BALLYARGUSOCTOBER 26, 2016 at 18:56
The ESJ has this article today http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/14822898.Rangers__How_have_Mark_Warburton_s_summer_recruits_fared_so_far_at_Ibrox_/ where Union Jack claims a player who has been injured all season is potentially worth millions. There is of course no explanation as to how he arrives at that evaluation.
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As is the norm, a TRFC puff peice that answers nothing and only leaves the question; why’d they bother publishing that? (That’s a rhetorical question, of course!)
Chris Jack seems keen to let his critics know he is employed to write about ‘Rangers’, but that doesn’t mean he can only write uncritical puff peices rather than to inform his readers. I am sure that even at the most illiterate based TRFC fan site that article could have been posted, and probably has been, and similar critiques will also have been posted in a much more realistic vein, and included a conclusion – which is something that even the most basic hack should produce every time he tries to put this type of article together.
Anyway, what is the simple and obvious conclusion on TRFC’s summer signing spree to be gleaned from that Chris Jack waffle? With the exception of Matt Gilks (a stand-in keeper) not one player has shown himself to be a success yet, and for some, it’ll be some time before they are fit enough to even try!
ALLYJAMBOOCTOBER 27, 2016 at 08:32
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The job of journalists like Chris Jack appears to be to keep the hard of thinking on board. I am sure there are many other Rangers fans who regard his article as utter cheer leading nonsense. As you say there has been no successes from the summer signings aside from the game Gilks had at the weekend. All the previous summer signings have at times looked like they struggle at the higher level.
The end of this season could be crunch time for them. If the current board don’t find significant financial back up, or other wealthy backers don’t take over, IMO they have no chance of selling season tickets in the same number. This season was meant to be the final part of the jigsaw, and it isn’t even close to fitting. The whole point of the header blog is it was pretty obvious it wasn’t going to fit and the Rangers Directors and the media probably knew that all along. They will only survive on aggressive PR statements rallying against Celtic, the SFA and whoever for so long.
Tick-tock.
Someone has posted a tweet on another forum where the official Rangers TV commentator complains that it is not a level financial playing field.
So what would help? Let me guess.
1) Almost unlimited access to the funds of a major bank?
2) A dodgy tax avoidance scheme allowing better quality players to be attracted than the club can afford?
3) Deliberate withholding of tax and N.I payments while handing out major contracts to established international players?
That was all really fair, and a really level playing field, wasn’t it!