Podcast Episode 3 – David Low

davidLowDavid Low

represents a highly significant component of the history of Celtic FC and consequently a highly significant component of how Scottish Football has panned out in the last 20 years.

As Fergus McCann’s Aide-de-Camp, Low was instrumental in helping him formulate and implement the plans which ultimately allowed control of the club to be wrested from the Kelly and White families. Low also helped McCann to rebuild and regenerate Celtic as a modern football club.

His views are unsurprisingly Celtic-centred, and this interview reveals his ambition for the club to ultimately leave Scottish Football behind. That may or may not be at odds with many of our readers, but the stark analysis of the realities facing football in this country may resonate.

Podcast LogoHe provides a window on the pragmatism of the likes of McCann, Celtic and many other clubs in respect of the demise of Rangers. He pours scorn on Dave King’s vision of a cash-rich Rangers future, and provides little comfort for those who seek succour for our failing national sport, believing that Scotland will find it impossible to emerge from the football backwater in an increasingly global industry.

Agree or not with Low’s prognosis, it is difficult to deny his compelling analysis of our place in the football world.

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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.

3,066 thoughts on “Podcast Episode 3 – David Low


  1. Campbellsmoney says:
    April 11, 2014 at 8:01 pm

    Mr King made great play of “legally binding statements” having been issued by the Board and so he was content. Presumably he will be issuing an initial writ when the courts are open for business next week. We are still waiting for his writ against Murray Group.
    ————————————————————————————-
    Could be he knew the MIH ‘pot’ was empty and he would only have been wasting time and money.

    Of course, history has a habit of repeating itself 🙄


  2. Taysider says:
    April 11, 2014 at 7:43 pm

    People on here have asked before why do you need a 120 day review. It looks to me like the answer was to have an excuse to get the season ticket money in before you actually have to announce something!
    ==========================================================
    All I can say is I’m glad I’m not a Rangers supporter because it looks as though Ibrox is in for a severe ‘slash & burn’ exercise once the ST money is collected.

    And that’s looking on the bright side and assuming no guys in masks will be jumping overboard with bags of swag 😯


  3. “When the Board met Mr King a few weeks ago, he made it clear that he did not want to put another penny into the Club and would prefer to see the Club using other investors’ money. The Board was therefore surprised, but gave him the benefit of the doubt when, a few days later, Mr King made media comments about a willingness to invest his money into the Club. This is an easy statement to make to the media but is contrary to what he told the whole Board.”

    That sums it up for me. King wants what his original £20m should have got him, but without himself putting in another bent halfpenny. Just watch and wonder as the bears pour yet another load of their hard-earned into funding King’s comeback venture.


  4. ecobhoy says:
    April 11, 2014 at 8:26 pm

    I’m puzzled though. The speculation a few weeks ago was that admin. was imminent. If the plan now is to try to get the season ticket money in, then slash and burn, does that still require administration to get out of all those expensive contractual commitments the club has? If that is the case then a points deduction results in a more challenging Championship season? What am I missing?!


  5. Resin_lab_dog says:
    April 11, 2014 at 6:38 pm

    My guess:

    Waldo uses Kings ST boycott to justify swingeing cuts on and off the park.
    All players placed up for sale and sold/given to anyone who will pay them a wage.
    Stands closed if necessary. Massed redundancies. Threaten to make the first team part time if the ST renewals target isn’t reached, and share offer subscribed to. Threaten the bears with a 10 year route back to the top challenging Celtic, rather than the 5 years its going to take if they get the renewals.
    =============================================
    Rangers needs admin to get rid of players or cut their wages and they’ll still need to pay full-time wages even if they go part-time. That’s where the real spending is concentrated and what player is going to walk without a substantial pay-off which the club simply can’t afford.


  6. Allyjambo says: at 8:18pm
    twopanda says: at 8:07 pm
    The problem is:
    If King wins, he still has to find the money to pay off the current ‘owners’, and they ain’t leaving with buttons. So the first £20m or so he raises (if he’s lucky) does nothing for the club.
    If King doesn’t win, then the club is still in dire straits, but even poorer because of King’s actions.
    In the end, there might be one winner: but how many losers?

    Yes AJ – That’s it – in a “fair fight”
    But I`d bet on some `disclosures` in the PR down and dirty fisticuffs a coming
    Wars need point battles & momentum
    😉


  7. McMurdo s take on it
    ______
    You could be forgiven for thinking Dave King had a secret deal with the Rangers board for commission on season ticket sales, especially after his latest ramblings on matters at Ibrox.

    The man who claims to have lost £20 million in a previous stint as a Rangers director – what you could call a reverse Midas touch – has, with his latest anti-board rant, helped to convince bluenoses today to renew their season tickets.

    Fans on the forums and elsewhere are reacting in anger to King’s call for a boycott on season ticket renewals and Rangers merchandise. They are renewing in defiance of a man increasingly seen as nothing more than a trouble maker in the boardroom saga.

    King’s timing has also come under fire as Rangers gear up for a vital Scottish Cup semi-final clash with Dundee United. His latest attempt to destabilise the club has brought a furious reaction from fans on the eve of this momentous game.

    King is becoming more and more hostile in his pronouncements but the reality is that the board and the club’s investors are standing firm against his attempt to utilise fan power and hold the club to ransom.

    It is likely that his agitation will produce the opposite effect and prompt loyal fans to renew their season tickets as quickly as possible. In fact, more than a few who pay by instalments have stated their determination to pay by single payment.

    It looks like loyal Gers supporters have had enough of the constant undermining of the club by reqs and rebels. King’s call to fans to pay into his Not-the-Rangers Fund may just galvanise those fans to back the club more than ever.

    One thing is for sure – if King’s plan is successful, Rangers will go to the wall. That may suit Mr King and his toerag band of followers but it is a horrific thought for genuine bluenoses.

    I thought I had heard some real bull**** coming from South Africa when listening to the testimony of Going-for-an-Oscar Pistorius but Dave King’s latest has topped even that.

    Rangers supporters have the power to show Dave King and anybody else who wants to mischief-make that they will never get power at Ibrox by putting a gun to the club’s head and threatening its very survival.

    That power is the power of the blue pound and all fans have to do to help Rangers get back to the club’s rightful place in Scottish football is step up and pay.

    Which is something you won’t find Dave King doing…

    Unless it’s with YOUR money.
    ____________

    Fans on the forums and elsewhere are reacting in anger to King’s call for a boycott on season ticket renewals and Rangers merchandise. They are renewing in defiance of a man increasingly seen as nothing more than a trouble maker in the boardroom saga.

    wee Bill must be banned from follow follow if he thinks the forums are reacting in anger :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


  8. Taysider says:
    April 11, 2014 at 8:36 pm

    What am I missing?!
    =============================
    The same thing everyone else is – including myself 🙁

    An axis between Laxleys & Ashley? They have separate commercial aims which don’t clash. That still needs a Rangers Man to find and Ally and Walt are busted flushes. But possibly the right manager might fill that slot.


  9. andy says:
    April 11, 2014 at 8:47 pm

    McMurdo’s take on it.

    Fans on the forums and elsewhere are reacting in anger to King’s call for a boycott on season ticket renewals and Rangers merchandise. They are renewing in defiance of a man increasingly seen as nothing more than a trouble maker in the boardroom saga.
    ===================================================
    Well McMurdo is a Board sycophant to a nauseating level. And the likes of RM is riddled with pro-Board propagandists.

    At the end of the day the Sons of Struth showed real fan power at Ibrox with their 30K blue card display – they have support on the ground from ordinary Bears who go to games on that showing as opposed to anonymous keyboard warriors with dubious agendas.

    Of course whether holding-up a blue card will translate into not buying STs is a big ‘IF’. Of course no matter what happens the civil war truly will be formalised round whether you were on the renewal or non-renewal side and that could possibly lead to an alternative Rangers being formed,


  10. I would think that at least 10k would not want to give up there seats that they have had for 20-25 years


  11. andy says:
    April 11, 2014 at 8:47 pm
    McMurdo s take on it
    __
    They can renew or not – up to them – any reason they like
    Facts are they’re 16m in the red [June 2013] at the last `count` –
    And goodness know what else
    New Buyers would have moved by now
    Carrying on regardless is not an option – if only they knew it – which they don’t seem to
    And a small matter of 30m+ to find
    So they can grandstand on loyalty all they like
    If that’s the way of it – then so be it
    As I said – It`s their choice


  12. I think we are heading for a King led acquisition of TRFC shorn of the property assets. Funded largely by the fans of course.

    RIFC shareholders will then sell on RIFC which will have become a purely property company.

    TRFC will see the cost cutting that should have taken place two years ago. RIFC or an administrator will probably do the dirty work to avoid TUPE.

    Spending will be constrained by an expensive FRI lease of Ibrox and a lack of assets to overvalue in the books. Murray Park will be gone – sold by RIFC.

    Years of struggle ahead.

    Scottish football needs a strong Dundee United.


  13. Featured album for the weekend : Billy Bragg’s “Life’s a riot – Spiv v. Spiv” or something like that….

    Scottish football needs some comment from the SPFL, SFA and perhaps even Mr Lunney on the two parties claims especially that there is a “common cause” that the club (!) is insolvent without the season ticket monies and a further cash injection. This into a company that cannot secure banking facilities.


  14. Looks promising, bear on bear stuff. Has Phil Mac posted the Russian guy naw singing yet? Can someone oblige or is that too funny at this stage. :mrgreen:


  15. Could King and the Board have set up this little spat in advance so that the Board can get out of football, while retaining the properties, and King gets the toy he has always wanted, paid for by the fans? Looks like win/win to me. The Board say that King left them no choice but to put TRFC into Admin (true), King claims to have rescued Rangers from the money men by forcing a sale (true). The qualifications in the accounts regarding ST renewal timing tie in very nicely with that scenario. There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors around, in my opinion.


  16. Think we’re on the same wavelength Neepheid. It’s beautiful really.

    Scottish football needs a strong Arbroath.


  17. Lot of speculation on Twitter etc that Sevco have shortened the pitch for tomorrows match at Ibrox. It could be a hoax , but pictures suggest the main stand touchline has been moved a few yards . If as suggested the Stadium is for all intents and purposes a Neutral venue, then the SFA should be the ones in charge of any pre-match preparation…..I am not in a position to verify the facts but quite a few posters over there have mentioned it.


  18. I seem to remember that there is an SFA charge of ‘not acting in the best interests of the sport’.
    You would be spoiled for choice as to who to give that charge to;
    Should it be a board who has now asked for an extension on a 120 day review for a company who only employ just over 250 staff?
    Should it be the outside menace threatening the financial stability of the club/company?
    Should it be the manager who has presided over the squandering of £22M in fourteen months on players of dubious quality.

    Well as for the board they are the easy targets. They are desperately trying to plough the ship headlong into the iceberg but, ironically, that will be the best solution!
    There is a chain of thought that if the Titanic had rammed the iceberg head on it would have survived as there would have been more watertight compartments left intact to keep her afloat. If season ticket money is received then the club can be placed into admin, players dumped, contracts ripped up, and more importantly the season book tickets torn up and the fans told to pay again. Even if only half of them pay a second time then, along with the other actions specified, they will possibly last the season.
    There maybe method in this strategy. It will not be moral but morality and ethics were casualties in this debacle long ago. Will the SFA do anything if this unfolds? Nope.
    Dave King won’t get any charge because he essentially have anything to do with Scottish football and is simply back ground noise.
    Ally McCoist for being the biggest single reason why this club/company has floundered should be charged with ineptitude, incompetence, and sleeketness. To take players away to a hotel the night before the Ramsden’s Cup Final really beggars belief. If, as I believe, he privately briefed journalists to answer criticism of this move by saying it was ‘standard expected at Rangers’ reinforces my comments above. The man is imbued with an incredible dose of ignorance, arrogance, or stupidity. I personally think it is a concoction of all three. The ignorance to not understand that the old ways are over. The arrogance to not understand that you should only purchase what you can pay for. The stupidity to fail to understand that the money has gone and the pot is empty. He has manipulated the very people that held in in such high esteem, and in doing so, he has lost their money and squandered their trust.
    Not many great players make good managers. Ally McCoist has made a staggeringly poor one and yet he does not seem to understand what is wrong in the new setup. That is a whole new charge altogether!!!


  19. To ask the stoopid question…

    If you are a confused TRFC fan, who is about to fork out several hundred pounds for your season ticket, and possibly for your partner and/or kid(s)…but you simply don’t know who to believe in the TRFC shambles: the Board or King ?

    Shirley, it would not be unreasonable for the average punter to look to the governing body for some direction ?
    If only to state that – as far as the SFA is concerned – they are not currently aware of any TRFC problems which would prevent the issuance of a license for next season ? [i.e. a ‘covering backside strategy’.]

    Staying silent in the bunker might not be the best option for the SFA.

    If you pay your money, then TRFC goes bust during next season, would you be able to sue the SFA for negligence in the operation of its licensing procedures, [or raise an action via the Small Claims Court ?]
    Anyone ?


  20. I may be wrong but did king not say he wouldn’t put his money into the plc … Only TRFCL ?


  21. ianagain says:
    April 10, 2014 at 11:02 pm
    ‘….’…..http://www.murray-estates.co.uk/news/edinburgh-garden-district/..’
    —-
    I see from Companies House webcheck page that SDM is on the board of Murray estates and that the MIH FD Mike McGill is off! Bloody ducks and drakes, that whole world of company directorships.
    “Document
    AP01 13/03/2014 DIRECTOR APPOINTED SIR DAVID EDWARD MURRAY

    “…Document
    TM01 13/03/2014 APPOINTMENT TERMINATED, DIRECTOR MICHAEL MCGILL

    What I would like to know is whether directors’ terminations are always mutually agreed as part of a plan, or sometimes enforced by a board vote on, say, grounds of inefficiency or face- no- longer- fitting or some such.


  22. It must surely be getting close to the stage where RIFC have a claim for damages against King. Or does Scots law turn a blind eye to publicly issued claims of bad faith or lying on the part of company directors? Not that I could care less in this instance, you understand lol!

    Abe Lincoln said in a famous address that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Karl Marx said that capitalism contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Both could have been alluding to this situation. Not long now!


  23. RyanGosling says:
    April 11, 2014 at 6:51 pm

    72

    2

    Rate This

    Martin,

    “The problem for Rangers fans is, if you don’t support the board and you can’t in all conscience support Mr King. What exactly are you left with?”

    A very pertinent question. From my point of view, at this point there is very little that can be done. You can say what you’d like to happen but there is very little you could do to actually make it happen. Consider the options.

    A fans group tries to raise money to become the majority shareholder, thereby driving the price up by bulk buying shares and even if by some strange miracle enough was raised, it would exhaust all funds and not solve the cash crisis. It would also be a very slow process and in all likelihood the company would be well bust even before a million quid was raised.

    Withhold season ticket money. Company goes bust. No brainer. Best case scenario is probably starting again in division three I don’t think that would happen, I think it would be game over this time.

    Which leaves the last option of cross your fingers, put your fingers in your ears and your hands over your eyes and hope for the best. I know that will sound very defeatist but at this point really, outside of the mythical sugar daddy, what else is there to do?

    When the SFA bent over backwards to allow a Rangers back into the senior league setup, a team should have been built that not only spent within their means but turned a substantial profit while progressing through the lower divisions. That chance was not taken, and it fear will not be presented again.

    _____________________________________________________

    You’re right Ryan.
    And the elephant in the room is the £22m that McCoist and Green have spunked away.
    See the current board represent the owners.
    These are the people who ponied up the £22m when no one else was willing to.
    Dave King and the Rangers fans can huff and puff. But what the RIFC owners have is theirs and they paid handsomely for it. They can do with it as they wish. Some shareholders (like Ally MccCoist) got thier shares for buttons. Others paid 70-90p. These 70-90p guys want a return. They are entitled to it.
    They could walk away with a £22m loss and hand the whole stinking basket case to Dave King. But they aren’t going to, and why the hell should they?
    They own you.
    So pay them.
    Or else watch as they take you down, while you try to take them down with your own trademarked brand of unrighteous indignation, Dave King style.
    Your choice.

    King says he wants to rescue the club – and implies this is so he can spunk more money on returning the club to the glory days – days of spending beyond its means, don’t forget. As if. He may want a return to feeling of superiority of the past. But the bills accrued during that period are still outstanding, I should remind you.
    And first he needs to kill it (again) so that he won’t have to pay back those who poured £22m in good faith for the greenbacks they invested in your club, that the spivs and Ally blew through recklessness, greed and incompetence.
    In this respect, King is reminscent of the macabre psycho in the film ‘Red Dragon’, inhabiting a bizarre fantasy, and in trying to effect a subliminal transformation that is as divorced from the reality of the situation as it is from the consequences of his actions on the wider world.

    So what can TRFC fans do?
    Either:
    1. Find £50m
    or
    2. Pay the board and accept serious cuts
    or
    3. Throw away the moral compass (again) and sell your soul to King the impassioned loony. Go down the liquidation route again and throw the dice. Only without enjoying so much goodwill from the rest of scottish football this time round! (seriously… dersision and scorn this way lies.)
    or
    4.Find a proper leader and start over from humble beginnings
    or
    5. Walk away.

    4 or 2 are the best options. 4 is the best and also the hardest.

    Accept the reality and rebuild what you can with stoicism.


  24. auchinstarry says:
    April 11, 2014 at 10:07 pm

    Lot of speculation on Twitter etc that Sevco have shortened the pitch for tomorrows match at Ibrox. It could be a hoax , but pictures suggest the main stand touchline has been moved a few yards . If as suggested the Stadium is for all intents and purposes a Neutral venue, then the SFA should be the ones in charge of any pre-match preparation…..I am not in a position to verify the facts but quite a few posters over there have mentioned it.
    ——

    Perhaps comes from a thread on Dundee United Mad, which includes pics of the pitch being trimmed at the edges. Apparently there’s an excuse for it (somethign about it never getting the sun along that edge or something) and it was actually done a while ago.

    Meanwhile, heard the one about the convicted fraudster who asks thousands of people to give him their cash as part of a ridiculous plan?

    I can’t wait to read the interviews with Richard Gough explaining how he was duped, as said fraudster disappears into the distance with bulging pockets.


  25. RyanGosling says:
    April 11, 2014 at 6:51 pm

    When the SFA bent over backwards to allow a Rangers back into the senior league setup, a team should have been built that not only spent within their means but turned a substantial profit while progressing through the lower divisions. That chance was not taken, and it fear will not be presented again.

    ±+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    And is that not half the problem?
    Bill Miller and John Pritchett saw it.
    Paul Murray and Brian Kennedy saw it.
    John Brown saw it.
    The internet bampots saw it.
    Even while occupied by SARS King saw it
    However the highly paid CEOs of the SFA and the SPL assisted by the highly conflicted SFA president and worlds greatest football administrator the SMSM and the world record holders of the title of most gullible fans allowed Green to proceed wholly unchecked.
    Lord knows how big a château he would have had if he had had access to SPL ticket prices and prize money.
    From day one the whole thing was heading towards the toilet pan and not one person in authority stood up to say ‘Huad on a minute!’ Instead they let the children run wild in the sweetie shop with no rules, limits or naughty step in sight


  26. Follow the money
    All players in this saga are Spivs

    Both DK and the Spivs benefit from a TRFC Administration
    The Spivs get to keep the assets
    Plus any ST money left over after paying back the £1.5m loan from the gullible fan
    DK gets the club for peanuts and rents the assets. He then sells 49% of the club to the Gullible makes a handsome profit and returns to SA


  27. I was in Skye for a couple of days ( got home earlier this evening) , and have only now gone into the email address I use for blog purposes. And there is a reply on 8th April to an email I had sent to Sportscotland.
    I reproduce the correspondence below:

    “Dear Sportscotland,

    You will no doubt recognise this statement:

    “Ultimately, we see a Scotland where sport is a way of life. In everything we do we act in the best interests of Scottish sport – putting sport first.”

    You will also be aware of the stooshie that has been caused by the decision , made rashly and prematurely by the Scottish Football Association, that the semi-finals of their flagship competition (the Scottish Cup) should be played at Ibrox stadium without contingency plans in place to prevent The Rangers Football Club, participating in the competition and therefore a possible semi-finalist, having home advantage in the event that they did  in fact qualify for the semi-final.

    A clearer example of the SFA NOT ‘putting sport first’ could scarcely be found.

    The fact that Sportscotland has not expressed  any criticism  of that decision , which so patently is counter to the very idea of fair play and even-handed treatment of participants in a sporting contest, is extremely regrettable, and prompts the question: what are you about, with your grand statements about your aims and purposes about how you spend tax-payers’ and the sporting public’s money?

    I would be pleased to have your comments on this issue.

    Yours sincerely,
    John Clark
    —-
    Good afternoon John,
     
    Thank you for your email below in relation to the Scottish Football Association’s (SFA) decision on the stadiums to be used for the Scottish Cup semi-finals.
     
    Apologies for the delay in providing you with a response.
     
    While we note your position regarding the SFA’s decision, please understand that sportscotland has no regulatory jurisdiction over the conduct of Scottish Governing Bodies, including the SFA in relation to such matters and thus would not be in a position to intervene or express criticism as suggested in your correspondence.
     
    As you will be aware, the SFA announced in October 2013 that Ibrox Stadium would host both semi-final matches, due to redevelopment work taking place at Hampden to lay the athletics track for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, with Celtic Park hosting the final.
     
    For clarification on the decision made in relation to the stadium choice for the semi-finals, this would be a matter for the SFA to discuss with you.
     
    Finally, please note that sportscotland does not contribute financially to the hosting of these events, either directly or through the SFA. I have provided a link to our website below where you can find specific information about the organisation and its work to develop and support a world class sporting system at all levels.
     
    http://www.sportscotland.org.uk/about_us.aspx
     
    Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any further queries.
     
    Regards
    ———-
    ———
    Now, that’s a fair enough reply, in that I accept that Sportscotland have no regulatory powers, and they would have got short shrift from Regan ( and a whole lot of other people in the press) if they had aired a view.
    But it seems to me to be utterly absurd for there to be a ‘Sportscotland’, publicly funded, which has no power to uphold and develop the very notions of ‘sport’ and ‘sporting integrity’ and to call into question any sporting organisation which behaves or operates in ways that manifest a contemptuous disregard for those notions.
    What are they for??


  28. Good try jc and ‘chocolate fireguards’ springs to mind. 😉

    GG – think you’re right there – and especially about King selling a minority stake – and to perhaps offset the pain of his previous losses in Rangers. Might even put a smile on his coupon! 🙂


  29. StevieBC

    One of many aspects to come out of the past 14 years is just how much in football That self governance simply does not work.

    In the days before big money the rewards for winning were never that big that they made cheating to win them a risk worth taking. But TV opened up the market, blew away geographical boundaries of paying viewers whilst trapping Scottish clubs behind Hadrian’s Wall.

    The rules until then and roles of those responsible for policing them were based on trust. If a club signed a document saying for example they had no overdue payable to tax authorities, then no one would question their honesty and so the resources and attitude to enforce honesty did not exist.

    It may have been professional football but it’s governance structurally and culturally is amateur. It has not evolved to match the incursion of commercialism and reflect the advances made in the commercial world in terms of systems and attitudes to SERVE it’s customers.

    In such an amateur and imbalanced culture totally unprepared for one club to consistently break the rules in pursuit of commercial reward, aided and abetted by a media more interested in getting their share than protecting the sport, you get the results we now witness and still the penny does not seem to have dropped.

    Nothing but a root and branch review of structures, system failings, capacity and attitude failings will lead to mending that which is broken and that by definition must be beyond those who created the current structures, systems, capacity and prevailing attitudes.

    So who from outside can step and take the lead in restoring something that is apparently so important to the sporting fabric of our nation?


  30. RyanGosling says:
    April 11, 2014 at 6:51 pm
    91 2 Rate This

    Martin,

    “The problem for Rangers fans is, if you don’t support the board and you can’t in all conscience support Mr King. What exactly are you left with?”

    A very pertinent question. From my point of view, at this point there is very little that can be done. You can say what you’d like to happen but there is very little you could do to actually make it happen. Consider the options.

    A fans group tries to raise money to become the majority shareholder, thereby driving the price up by bulk buying shares and even if by some strange miracle enough was raised, it would exhaust all funds and not solve the cash crisis. It would also be a very slow process and in all likelihood the company would be well bust even before a million quid was raised.

    Withhold season ticket money. Company goes bust. No brainer. Best case scenario is probably starting again in division three I don’t think that would happen, I think it would be game over this time.

    Which leaves the last option of cross your fingers, put your fingers in your ears and your hands over your eyes and hope for the best. I know that will sound very defeatist but at this point really, outside of the mythical sugar daddy, what else is there to do?

    When the SFA bent over backwards to allow a Rangers back into the senior league setup, a team should have been built that not only spent within their means but turned a substantial profit while progressing through the lower divisions. That chance was not taken, and it fear will not be presented again.

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

    I feel for you Ryan. Although fans of other clubs have all been critical of Rangers fans actions throughout this debacle (with some justification IMO) I think the decent Rangers fans are now in an unassailable position. All you can do is hang on and hope for something better.

    The idea that a group of decent, honest fans can rise up and take control, or even effect a significant level of influence on RIFC is simply unrealistic in my opinion. It would be disingenuous for critics to suggest this now I think. Perhaps 2 years ago it would have been possible but that boat has been missed.

    There must be lots of decent fans out there and I think there is really no means for these fans to band together with sufficient voice and numbers while there are so many destructive, reckless and selfish groups all fighting tooth and nail to further their own agenda’s.

    While there are fans loyal to the team for the right reasons, there seem to be more assertive and more vocal “fans” who are perhaps loyal for other reasons. I won’t attempt to go into the needs and desires of these people and why they need this so much, but it seems to be they will trample anyone in their path to get what they desperately need – an RFC in the image they desire.

    Perhaps some Rangers fans, and I mean the football fans, don’t stand a chance in the face of this.

    Maybe I’ve had too much vino, but it all seems horrible and nightmarish when I look at this with no other eyes than as a football fan, all other things aside.


  31. Dave King.

    Says a lot. Does nothing except cause ructions in the customerbase. Maybe that is the purpose of Dave King.

    We all know it does not take 120 days to review a business like TRFC. So the 120 days is to take us to now. Mr King’s involvement a few weeks ago was what? – a false start or a delaying tactic? Nothing much has changed but now Mr King is in effect saying that the fans should bankrupt the company.

    I can’t help but think that Mr King is there to justify the insolvency by allowing the fans to think that they have forced the divisive event (in the name of saving the “club” for the real fans.

    Neepheid – I think that you expressed this view earlier.


  32. http://thefrontofthebus.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/when-spl-ratified-sevco-as-new-club.html

    An interesting find – amazing how new evidence is still coming to light in this OCNC saga after almost 2 years!

    The new evidence – I won’t reproduce it, it’s clearly set out – confirms that, according to the SPL rulebook, Sevco were designated as an “other football club”, ie. not the same club, at that point in proceedings (pre-SFA/SPL membership/share transfers).

    This is another insight into the fudge which enabled the Brechin v Sevco Ramsdens tie of late July to go ahead, a fudge called out at the time by the late, great Paul McConville (staggeringly ahead of the game on this!) http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/the-brechin-ultimatum-did-sfa-botch-rangers-fcs-membership-are-any-rfc-players-registered/

    As Paul saw back then, Sevco didnt have any registered players back then. And this new evidence explains how they got some!

    This particular aspect of the fudge essentially expired on August 3rd when memberships/shares were transferred and the players registrations switched to Sevco in the SFL and no more “borrowing” needed to take place, and the SPL’s Member RFC ceased to exist from that point on. It’s a window on the machinations going on back in July 2012 but, in terms of the current status of TRFC/sevco, I can’t see it changes anything personally.

    As far as can be gleaned from how the SFA have responded to the asa/ECA etc, their “transfer of membership means its the same member to us” basis for perpetuating the myth is not really impacted by this new evidence. We’ve known for a while the Ramsdens/Brechin game was a hole in this narrative (it WASN’T the “same” membership being used for that pre-full-transfer-of-membership match), and that hasn’t stopped them pushing that tainted line before, so this won’t make any difference to that.

    Realistically, will this dent the wider tolerance/perpetuation of the same club myth by our governing bodies/MSM? I doubt it – pessimist as I am! – but its another piece in the jigsaw either way. Well done Paul Larkin for unearthing!


  33. the taxman cometh says:
    April 11, 2014 at 10:13 pm
    28 0 Rate This

    http://thefrontofthebus.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/when-spl-ratified-sevco-as-new-club.html?m=1

    Time for fresh submission to the ASA

    If genuine of course
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    I wrote quite a long piece on this last night; but decided not to post as it would have been immediately consigned to the wilderness of the “Bonkers” OCNC thread.

    What I will say however is that Sevco Scotland automatically became a member club of the SFA when it was admitted into the SFL on 13th July 2012.
    Rangers and Sevco co-existed as separate member clubs of the SFA until Rangers transferred its SPL share to Dundee on 3rd August 2012.
    If this document is genuine it appears that the entire Sevco team were treated as trialists. From memory, I will check later, the competition rules allowed two trialists in the early round(s).


  34. Campbellsmoney says:
    April 12, 2014 at 1:22 am

    I can’t help but think that Mr King is there to justify the insolvency by allowing the fans to think that they have forced the divisive event (in the name of saving the “club” for the real fans.
    ———————————————————————————–
    Your thoughts are a possibility. Thr fly in the ointment though might be the fact that McMurdo doesn’t seem to be in the loop and yet he has been the voice of the new Board, Unless of course it’s a really well-crafted plot to con the Bears.

    Of course perhaps the SFA might enter the fray one way or another by declaring whether King would be fit and proper to be involved with Rangers in any capacity.


  35. ecobhoy says:
    April 12, 2014 at 9:06 am
    0 0 Rate This

    Campbellsmoney says:
    April 12, 2014 at 1:22 am

    I can’t help but think that Mr King is there to justify the insolvency by allowing the fans to think that they have forced the divisive event (in the name of saving the “club” for the real fans.
    ———————————————————————————–
    Your thoughts are a possibility. Thr fly in the ointment though might be the fact that McMurdo doesn’t seem to be in the loop and yet he has been the voice of the new Board, Unless of course it’s a really well-crafted plot to con the Bears.

    Of course perhaps the SFA might enter the fray one way or another by declaring whether King would be fit and proper to be involved with Rangers in any capacity.

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

    If King wants to own sevco there is hee haw that the SFA can do to stop it, all he has to do is create a holding co named after a cocktail hide behind that and install a puppet CEO so why all this in the open

    Lots of things lining up this week, it’s no co incidence that the duff n phelps letter has surfaced now

    will it be the end of a team in blue playing out of ibrox

    I certainly hope so


  36. Well that was another quiet week that was.

    Raith Rovers triumphed, a karaoke party, some lot losing 16m back in 2012, run-of-the-mill disclosure scandals
    and, – War declared.
    Perhaps it`ll liven up for the weekend?
    😉


  37. ecobhoy says:
    April 12, 2014 at 9:06 am

    …McMurdo doesn’t seem to be in the loop …

    Conversely, I would describe him as indeed quite loopy.


  38. I note the Daily Record states today: ‘Finally, the journalistic legend and all-round rascal that is Hugh Keevins called it a day after 44 years in the newspaper industry yesterday.’

    And about time too – he most certainly won’t be missed by football fans

    Looks as though he took the enhanced redundo deal that was on offer and which apparently was threatened to be the last time anything above state minimum redundo would be paid such is the parlous state of the Daily Record.

    I have heard that 25 journos have called it a day but haven’t heard any figures for other staff. I wonder how long the Record print editions will continue except for possibly a sports-weighted weekend mag/paper.

    There’s no doubt their future as a company will be dependent on their online content and there will be a lot of experienced journos going out the door so I have real worries about the quality of content being even worse than currently – if that’s actually possible.

    And with the staff reductions the paper will just have more PR and wire copy cut and pasted into its online pages with zilch investigative reporting or anything that takes more than one brain cell to put together.

    Sad days that the People’s Paper has fallen so low because of the numpties at the top who didn’t have the courage to fight for the journalism the paying public not only deserved but wanted. Instead they went down the road of feeding cold pap that cost peanuts.

    In the process many of the experienced and good journalists realised that it was dangerous to raise their head above the parapet and rail against the accountants’ cost-cutting. So they hunkered down, avoided anything confrontational and counted-off the years till they got their pension.

    I have never counted Keevins as a good journo but just a bitter and twisted individual who had demonstrated that trait in may ways over the years IMO.

    So using boxing parlance he may be down but isn’t yet counted-out as he’ll be grubbing around in the gutter on a freelance basis.


  39. ecobhoy says:
    April 12, 2014 at 10:00 am
    ‘….. ‘Finally, the journalistic legend and all-round rascal that is Hugh Keevins .’
    —————–
    Yes, there was some kind of legend , possibly fabricated by himself,that Keevins was a ‘journalist’.
    I don’t think of him as a ‘well-intentioned’ but blithering old fool. (Anyone can be a blithering old fool!)
    He goes into retirement not only unloved but entirely unrespected either as ‘journalist’ or ‘football pundit’ or even court jester.
    Good riddance.


  40. Someday someone will realise the fabulous opportunity there is / was for a serious, balanced, in-depth, investigative news outlet for Scottish Football


  41. We’ve (Motherwell) had some great tussles with The Arabs in recent times, some really fantastic games of football – we’ve met often in cups and been quite close in league placings, chasing Europe etc.

    They’re a great club doing things the right way. I really hope they hand out severe Armageddon today.


  42. From the King Statement…

    “I recognise that fans will have anxiety about “betraying” the club and the risk of loss of a cherished seat at Ibrox. However, the time has come when the trade-off is a potential loss of a seat against the loss of the club.”

    LOSS of the club?….has any journo asked for clarification on this detail?…to lose 1 club is careless…but to lose a second?


  43. I believe the game today will be a tight affair…with a close 1-0 or 2-1 victory for United…


  44. HirsutePursuit says:
    April 12, 2014 at 8:46 am

    I’m not sure they were treated as trialists as they were all registered with an existing club and I doubt you can play a player registered with another club as a ‘trialist’ in a competitive match, though I have no certain knowledge on this. I get the impression, if the letter is indeed genuine, that the players were all loaned by RFC to Sevco and doubt very much that it is within the rules to field a team totally comprising of loanee players, if it is, then it shouldn’t be! If it is possible, then there’s nothng to stop, say, Celtic lending a whole team to, say, Albion Rovers to enable them to climb the leagues, just for the hell of it.

    But regardless of the legitimacy of it all, in any similar situation, surely it is beholden of all bodies concerned to proceed in an open, and ultimately, honest manner by publishing the fact that one team comprises of a full squad of loaned players. What legitimate purpose is attained by withholding such information?

    If they can allow the secret lending of players to facilitate the continuance of ‘Rangers’, what else might they ‘allow’; secret lending of money to keep them afloat?

    Ah, I hear it said, yet another conspiracy theory; but that’s what you get after carrying out secret deals while espousing the virtues of honesty and transparency, although it’s along time since we’ve heard those words emanating from Hampden, having been replaced by ‘time to move on’ and other excuses for ignoring such virtues.


  45. I see tickets are still available for the ‘home’ support today 😉 thought it was going to be a sell out 😳 good luck to Dundee utd


  46. Wild guess. Sevco haven’t played anyone with United’s pace or fitness for some time. Tackles will be late. Losing will be a frustration. Neck on the block: United by 2 or 3 goals, one home team sending-off.
    As for tomorrow, league runners-up and two cup finals is a lot to ask of the Dons and I’ve got a worry they’ll slip up somewhere. They might come a cropper in the semi but if they get decent results v Dundee Utd and Motherwell in the next few weeks then it will still have been a great season.


  47. This creation that was foisted upon the public is almost at deaths door and about time too. The supporters of the new club are beginning to ask serious questions of Mr McCoist and not before time. If anybody has driven the new club to the edge of the abyss, step forward Sooper Ally.

    His style of football is painful on the eye and with the budget at his disposal, should have bled young hungry players instead of staid journeymen who only went for the package on offer. (Daly & Templeton) Black is an absolute thug on the park so fitted in well with the psyche.

    McCoist cost rangers big time in Europe with his brand of football which was punished by teams who should’ve been taken care of easily. The little local difficulties his team have suffered are a result of his inadequacies and lack of knowledge.

    No sane person would’ve wished upon themselves that which Mr McCoist has had to put up with but he has not behaved as many would have hoped. In fact, in many instances, has been an less than an admirable human being. He has certainly fell below the standards I expected of him. From ‘who are these people’ to sneaky manoeuvres of backing whoever was in charge comes across as nauseating.

    Are we watching the final death knell? I sincerely hope so.


  48. About last night.

    How long did it take TRFC (or was it RIFC) to respond to Mr King’s statement? It seemed very quick and makes reference to the fact that they had already referred the matter off to their solicitors. They have not always been so quick off the mark with their retaliation.

    Thetaxmancometh – I hope you don’t mind me asking (I know one shouldn’t ask a journo to reveal sources etc 🙂 ) but how did you find the D+P letter?


  49. To counter all the people wishing Dundee United well today, I desperately hope Rangers win and I wish them well. Fingers crossed for the lower league underdog.


  50. This season it took me a long time to tune into the mono tone comments of Willie Miller on Radio Scotland …. But I now consider him probably the best pundit on radio and fairest and he knows what he is talking about !


  51. Doddsy says …. Woeful striking … True
    But what about the defending Doddy ?

    More Baloney


  52. Stonewall penalty claim for DUFC waved away.
    Hmmm…. who could have predicted such a thing?


  53. In the interest of balance, Chic Young says the goalie got a hand to it first 🙂

    To be fair, TRFC are bossing the match in almost every area except where it matters. Looks like a different team from the one I saw last week against Raith Rovers.


  54. TSFM says:
    April 12, 2014 at 1:49 pm

    0

    0

    Rate This

    In the interest of balance, Chic Young…

    ___________________________________

    buzz.

    Non sequitur alert. Points to me! 😀


  55. I wonder who has the Scottish Football balloon concession?


  56. Definite credit to Dow there, first time I can remember in recent years seeing a player take an absolutely shockingly late challenge and just get up without crying. Well played son.


  57. Football is about money.
    And the team with the bigger playing budget has been the better team.
    Unlucky to be losing with ten to go.


  58. RyanGosling says:
    April 12, 2014 at 1:17 pm

    16

    19

    Rate This

    To counter all the people wishing Dundee United well today, I desperately hope Rangers win and I wish them well. Fingers crossed for the lower league underdog.

    ________________________________________

    They didn’t embarass themselves Ryan.

    Home advantage helped. Ref was a bit one sided.
    But result was fair though. And the performance was no disgrace to TRFC.
    If I was a fan of your club, I would take that.


  59. A good game to watch ,Rangers paid the penalty for their early misses as the commentator indicated early on,few players actualy stood out but for me the Rangers player Peralta was man of the match good prospect ,Chicko and his Ally for Manager of the year comment ,well it will not be the last we hear such words of wisdom from the St Mirren man,I would take Aberdeen to make it a New Firm Final . Congatulations to Utd.The officials ,well the odd decisions keep comming and you really do worry,but maybe one day.off out to meet some sevco mates now.


  60. Resin_lab_dog says:
    April 12, 2014 at 2:44 pm
    ========================
    Even allowing for my natural bias I’m a bit bemused at the talking up of the Rangers performance today. It was an error strewn 3-1 defeat. In addition the Referee was kind to them in terms of awarding fouls, and denied Dundee Utd an absolute stonewall penalty. This just doesn’t add up to a really good performance.

    Tom English on Sportsound seems to be the only one willing to point out the harsh truth that missing a lot of chances is an indication of not being good enough rather than being unlucky.


  61. I thought both sides were pretty pedestrian … you often find that when a half-decent team plays a team of lower league hoofers. Black’s behaviour was atrocious.

    If United play like that in the Final, they won’t win it. I expect that to be a much better game.


  62. I’d suggest that’s probably the best TRFC have played this season if the standard of opposition is taken into consideration. They could rightfully consider themselves unlucky to lose. If only they’d been able to spend some money on one or two strikers (or maybe more). It reminded me so much of so many matches involving a big team and a little one, where the little team (sometimes referred to as the diddy team) puts up a great performance, creates a number of great chances, but just doesn’t have the class to stick them away. In the meantime, the top level club, without creating as many chances as might be expected, still, aided with the defensive frailties little teams always show, manage to score three.

    It will forever be so; for that is the nature of football. Well done to TRFC for making a game of it, if you can hold on to your squad for a season or two, bring on those youngsters your manager is preferring to the ageing hammer throwers, you should make a good showing in the Championship, and who knows, maybe one day experience the thrill of playing in the top league.


  63. upthehoops says:
    April 12, 2014 at 3:13 pm

    Unlucky is hitting the post, or seeing the keeper make a great, or fortunate, save. Blasting the ball wildly into the crowd is just being cr*p. Still, for a lower division side, they did put up a plucky performance, as have many such teams before them.

    Dundee United: well they did enough to win a difficult away match in the cup, but they will have to do better in the final, regardless of who they meet. Good luck to them, they did Scottish football, and the integrity of the competition, a great service today, with everything the competition organisers could stack against them, bar ability, well and truly stacked, it was never going to be an easy gig.


  64. Interesting conundrum for Wallace & Nash. How many season ticket holders would renew now if they sacked Ally McCoist on Monday versus how many it would take to pay him off? Might be money well spent to burst Dave King’s balloon.


  65. Allyjambo says:
    April 12, 2014 at 3:43 pm
    ========================
    In terms of effort and application I will grant that it was a plucky showing from them. I do think what actually happened is already being re-written though. Why should I care if it means Ally continues in his role! He is the chief distorter of the facts in this case anyway.


  66. Made much better by my son asking me to put a tenner on 3-1 at 16/1… Pays part of his £215 for a new pair of footie boots..


  67. Sugar Daddy says:
    April 12, 2014 at 3:44 pm
    =========================
    How impossible a scenario is it that McCoist is ‘working’ for King in any case?


  68. In regards to the Sevco vs Dundee Utd game I thin Tom English summed it up very well
    BBC Scotland’s Tom English at Ibrox
    “I thought Dundee United were disappointing, it’s the poorest I’ve seen them this season. Rangers brought a lot to the game – a lot of pace, a lot of intensity – but they were undone by their own incompetency at the back. The reality for them is that they were undone by a team nowhere near their best.”


  69. UTH

    Not impossible. However, what would King do if he were to take over? Keep Ally? A lot of Rangers fans, no doubt still a minority, want to see a change in the dugout for next season. I think the board should look at moving Ally “upstairs” to Director of Football/Golf/Pies/TV Shows & bring in a new manager. That way they can claim to be forward thinking and can legitimately ask King what his plans are beyond a series of jam tomorrow statements.

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