As SFM folk will know, Scottish Football authorities can be enigmatic at best, puzzling and corrupt at worst, and downright crazy and incompetent in either situation. On this blog over the years, we have asked questions constantly of the authorities and the clubs, but like anyone with a fan-centred interest at heart we get ignored. “Fans are not a homogenous entity”, they say, “there are more opinions than there are fans”. This artful premise gives the clubs an excuse to ignore fans’ input, and other than on platforms like this, fan opinion is seldom gathered or curated.
The following blog, put together by Andy Smith, the Chairman of the Scottish Football Supporters Association, asks a lot of simple questions that don’t get asked often. He also invites fans to raise their own questions and opinions.
Of course, there are headline atrocities committed by the people in charge of the game.
The Five-Way Agreement, the continuity myth, the refusal to punish the biggest incidence of systematic cheating ever experienced in the game, and the casual adoption of the post-truth model introduced so successfully by venal politicians on both sides of the Atlantic.
But what enabled those assaults on the integrity of the sport? In order to get away with the big con, there have to be wee cons. Ticket allocations, kick off times and dates for set-piece occasions which make it difficult if not impossible for fans outside of Glasgow to participate, refusal to hold match officials accountable in the way an underperforming player or a misbehaving fan would be, and countless other incidences where fans are inconvenienced, or even put at risk.
The only way to combat that level of arrogance is to unite where we can, and although in a partisan sport that can be difficult to achieve, SFM is testimony that it can work. This blog is an invitation for us to begin to look forward, and not get distracted by the past. I hope SFM-ers participate and make their views clear.
Big Pink
What did Alan Dougherty, Gordon Harvey and Eddie Hutch have in common?
They were teachers who gave their time, to thousands of kids, including me, and asked for nothing back. To a man they gave up, overnight, as part of a ‘work to rule’, in an ugly pay dispute in the early 80s.
They were never thanked properly by the game?
They were and are sair missed.
Why did football let that happen?
Why has nobody ever grasped this particular nettle since?
Should you be able to have a beer at Bayview watching East Fife play Clyde on Feb 5th?
Just like the fans at Murrayfield, just over the Firth can and will, at the sell-out game vs England on the very same day.
Should you be allowed to enjoy a beer at Celtic Park watching Celtic vs Rangers on Feb 2nd?
A smaller crowd than Murrayfield too, and very few away fans. But some history and maybe a different situation altogether.
Are our leagues too small, leading to constant pressure and short termism by clubs?
Club CFO’s say the pressures are brutal and when their team is in trouble everything else gets sacrificed to avoid the financial chaos of relegation.
Many CFO’s dread the thought of promotion too knowing full well the seesaw implications of our small leagues.
Should the bottom of SPFL be an automatic relegation to open up the pyramid?
Our unique, one league only, convoluted play-off formula was only ever a last minute switcheroo/deal by the SPFL2 clubs at the time to protect their places in the SPFL ‘old boys network’.
I’d suggest East Stirling, Brechin and Berwick would change their votes if asked again.
Your Invitation to Say What You Think
Scottish Football Alliance Fan Survey January 2022
The Scottish Football Supporters Association is an independent and growing fans organisation in Scotland with circa 80,000 members. We have members from all senior clubs in Scotland and throughout the pyramid.
Many of those members regularly visit the SFM site.
We have been asked by the new Scottish Football Alliance (http://scottishfootball.org/) to provide an independent insight into what fans think about various aspects of our game, in particular what fans think our game needs to move forward. It is time for change, and football seems incapable of change from within.
Scottish Football might not acknowledge it, but it really needs the input of supporters like you. The fact none of us have been asked our opinions in the past says a lot.
We need to help and tell those running our game and other stakeholders like the Scottish Government what football needs to do.
Scottish football certainly has to think longer term and get closer to its fans.
In any business overview we are the core stakeholders.
The way we are treated and ignored is quite commercially bizarre.
To that end we have commissioned a short two minute survey, but we’d also welcome and appreciate any more detailed insights into what Scottish Football needs to do or do better. Please email those insights (in addition to participating in the survey) to me, at andrew@scottishfsa.org
I know from experience that when you get a group of fans in a room to talk about football, after the local rivalries and stuff gets dealt with, usually with humour, we can all see what the game has done for us, the power of good it can be for our communities and the things that need to change.
I constantly find that most fans not only see the bigger picture but also collectively want to give something back.
When this survey ends we will aggregate and analyse the results and share them far and wide inside the game and to other interested stakeholders like The Scottish Government.
The results will also become the foundation of policies The Scottish Football Alliance will publish and circulate.
At each stage moving forward we will work closely with The Scottish Football Alliance providing then with further fan insight.
And we will keep you and all other fans involved.
Survey Notes
You can participate in the survey by follwing this link:
https://s-f-s-a.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/scottish-football-alliance-survey
The questions are simple Yes/No and there are no right or wrong answers, just opinions and insight into what fans think.
TaxWatch believes that it has managed to uncover the identity of Mr Red
…………………………………………………………………………………….
Really?. I thought his identity was known many years ago.
Dom16 27th January 2022 At 18:19
Upthehoops 27th January 2022 At 18:56
‘The link to TaxWatch, and Mr Red’
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An excellent spot, gentlemen.
It’s clear that a chap who could write this to HMRC ” I cannot help with your fantasies and the production of a S20 makes no difference to this” was as arrogantly hubristic and arrogant as SDM himself! [see the para beginning ‘in her dissenting judgment;….] possibly learning how to be so while working on the EBT tax evasion dodge for years?
Let the s.o.a.b. be nailed good and proper, particularly if he had formerly been a Civil Servant working in HMRC.
More importantly, let there be VERY hard questions asked of the CIOT itself, such as, ‘who on the CIOT’s ‘professional standards committee’ might have been a Murray/RFC plc sympathiser and would have had the power to refuse to look into the criticisms made by the superb Dr Poon?
As TaxWatch says: “The failure to take action over very clear and high profile allegations of misconduct by a Chartered Tax Advisor brings into question the robustness of the disciplinary process for the tax profession, which in turn threatens to bring the whole profession into disrepute”;
in the same way that the failure of the SMSM and BBC to report the truth about the Big Lie has caused many of us to treat them as mere pedlars of lying propaganda for a lying PLC.
[Boris isn’t in it, as far consistent lying is concerned when compared with the deceitful SMSM and BBC!]
As an aside, many of the names of the colour-coded witnesses at the FTTT were made known either on this blog or on RTC , or somewhere!
All my own stuff relating to the FTTT is up in the attic, unsorted. Common sense and a couple of nightcaps deter me from going up right now to try to find anything related!
But maybe someone else remembers who ‘Mr Red’ was named as being (if, indeed, he was named]?
Mr Red
https://www.google.com/amp/s/fanswithoutscarves.org/2019/11/14/rangers-tax-issues/amp/
Jingso.Jimsie 27th January 2022 At 15:55
‘..Why would a US private investment firm loan a struggling football club a reported £200m… to limp along from crisis to crisis when the amount required to remove said club from administration is ostensibly £28m (plus whatever is required to stabilise & restructure the business)?’
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I suppose because in some way that is beyond my capacity to understand they believe they will gain something or other. Perhaps not immediately related to money or access to European advertising markets/ tax advantages .
A vanity project? To be upsides with other Americans who own a soccer club in England? Quite possibly.
History is littered with the stories of filthy rich folk whose vanity was never satisfied if their rich filthiness was not honoured and respected by the common people more than the filthy richness of others!
These are the aspects of civic life that serious journalists should be digging into .
Perhaps the sports pages journalists of the media need to learn how to ask questions.
From above link.
Unsurprisingly this led to follow up questions from HMRC on the existence of side letters long denied. ‘Mr Red’ , believed to be Ian McMillan once again, replied to the s20 notices as follows:
John Clark 26th January 2022 At 23:40
“I hope that the Complaints Commissioner ( Ms Amerdeep Somal] will see my complaint, and judge that there is sufficient substance in it as to warrant investigation, even if 10 years after the event.
She will surely be alive to the fact that if RIFC plc can get away with what I think is a misleading Prospectus, there will be other folk who might follow suit.
And bang would go the credibility of the FCA as any kind of meaningful ‘regulator’
Honest to God!”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Great determination as ever JC but I suspect she will play the time-barred card again to cover her own bahookie.
Should she choose to investigate, we know only too well there will be powerful people behind the scenes steering or subverting her findings to ensure she does not expose the big lie. Should she investigate and fudge the answer, quoting the usual suspects who gave and continue to give credence to the myth, then effectively she is giving the green light for others to follow the same con-trick.
No, I think she will be guided to stick with the head-in-sand approach using too late as her excuse.
Greenockbornhundredaire 27th January 2022 At 23:32
‘..Mr Red..’
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Cometh the hour, cometh the man! Thanks for that very helpful post, Gbh.
Normanbatesmumfc 28th January 2022 At 11:07
‘.. I think she will be guided to stick with the head-in-sand approach using too late as her excuse.’
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We’ll probably never know, because there appears to be no requirement on the Complaints Commissioner to ‘report back’ to anyone who raises a complaint, even if the complaint was not ‘time-barred’.
Have a look at this link https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/fscc which has this :
“…The Office of the Complaints Commissioner
A regulator, also called FSCC
This authority is not subject to FOI law, so is not legally obliged to respond (details).
Also known as the Office of the Financial Services Complaints Commissioner.,,,,,,,,,,,” etc etc.
Imagine what would happen if the Commissioner were to undertake an investigation and concluded that RIFC plc’s Prospectus had been misleading. What then?
Apparently,’ Criminal liability in connection with the Prospectus may arise under the FS Act, the Theft Act 1968 or the Fraud Act 2006….’
[A mouth-watering prospect!]
I would hope that the Commissioner actually gets to deal with the complaint and deals with it with complete integrity and in good conscience arrives at a view.
Only she of course will know whether what she does is done honestly.
I’ve no reason to think that she is any kind of boris.
So, here’s hoping.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60174401
Further to my post of 14.52 today, I point you in the direction of this link
https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corporate/fca-response-complaints-commissioner-annual-report-2020-21.pdf
in which the FCA gives facts and figures about the volume of complaints , and what percentage of their decisions on the complaints is upheld by the Commissioner and so on, and boast about how they keep complainants informed of the progress of their complaint.
But that seems to be about ‘technical’ complaints rather than about potentially misleading Prospectuses being allowed to be published.
We’ll see what I will told, if anyone even goes so far as to red my complaint!
The apple doesn’t fall from the tree if one has any connection to Ibrox. The Alloa manager is collecting a “dossier” of referees in regards to the red card and suspension of one of his players. There’s probably a template available from Ibrox so Barry doesn’t have to strain himself. After all there’s precious little time to be involved with the management of his team, and get a ghost written column in the DR. I particularly like his comment about the latest messiah to appear at Ibrox, the much ballyhooed Amad Diallo, a potential $30 million plus loan player. One has to wonder why ManU were driven to let this talent go out on loan. I believe Mr. Diallo would be better served by zipping his lip and let his on field performance speak for him. However, Barry likes the look of this talent who has 8 games to his credit.
Vernallen 28th January 2022 At 22:58
One has to wonder why ManU were driven to let this talent go out on loan.
xxxxxx
Mebbe he needs a quintessential stamp of authenticity Verm.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-9245113/Amad-Diallo-fined-42-000-falsifying-documents-reunite-fictitious-parents-Italy.html
In my inbox yesterday was this:
“Summary Of Conclusions of Mr Justice Hildyard
ACL Netherlands B.V. (As successor to Autonomy Corporation Limited)
Hewlett-Packard the Hague BV (As successor to Hewlett-Packard Vision BV)
Autonomy Systems Limited
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise New Jersey, Inc
-v-
Michael Richard Lynch
and
Sushovan Tareque Hussain”
” SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS OF MR JUSTICE HILDYARD – 28TH JANUARY 2022
1.1. I will summarise my key findings in the statement I am about to make. This is a public
statement. However, I will also deliver by 8pm today to the parties’ legal representatives, but
only to them, a copy of my draft judgment setting out much more fully the reasons for my
conclusions. That draft will remain at all times strictly embargoed”
I have read the summary with interest, and what in particular caught my eye was this :
“20. By far the largest of the claims is brought under Schedule 10A of the Financial Services and
Markets Act 2000 (“the FSMA claim”). The gist of the FSMA claim is fraud on the part of the
issuer (Autonomy) in respect of statements or omissions in its published information on which
the Claimant relied in making an investment decision. It is claimed that “persons discharging
managerial responsibilities within the issuers” (“PDMRs”) knew those statements or omissions
to be untrue or misleading, or to amount to the dishonest concealment of a material facts. (An
issuer’s “published information” is specially defined but for present purposes the ordinary
meaning it conveys will suffice.)”
Nothing at all to do with IPO’s or football, of course, but a claim by for massive damages against two individual directors of a company that was bought on (allegedly] untrue/misleading information provided by those directors about its value .
But I enjoyed reading it.
the link is:
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Autonomy-v-Lynch-summary-280122.pdf
And unfortunately for Mr Lynch the Home Secretary has agreed to his extradition
Dom16 29th January 2022 At 20:19
‘..And unfortunately for Mr Lynch the Home Secretary has agreed to his extradition.’
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That’s an odd one, I have to say.
It was a CIVIL case that was brought against Lynch here, not a criminal one ( as was brought in the US against the other director, Hussain, who was found guilty of the crime of fraud and sentenced to 5 years]
That suggests that the Crown Prosecution Service weren’t satisfied that they had evidence strong enough to have him convicted of the CRIME of fraud under English law.
Can people be extradited to face criminal charges in another country in a matter for which their own country found no safe grounds to charge him with , let alone find him guilty of, a crime?
Of course, Hussain may have been charged for something he did which under US law was criminal. and they had sufficient evidence to charge and secure a conviction.
But if Lynch did not commit a criminal offence under English law, can he properly be extradited to face charges on the say-so of the USA ,or any other State?
I’ve always thought that when it came to extradition , the ‘crime’ had to be a ‘crime’ that was recognised as a crime in the country where the alleged criminal was living, as well as being a crime in the country seeking his extradition.
John Clark 29th January 2022 At 22:34
I have no real expertise or special insight into these matters and so I can’t directly answer your questions, however, I believe that a prosecuting authority can make a decision not to take proceedings against someone for a crime for which there is a sufficiency of evidence if the prosecuting authority believes the judicial system cannot realistically impose a sanction that befits the crime if another option is available. Perhaps the Crown Prosecution Service were aware of the extradition request and felt that justice might be better served by having Lynch tried in a US court.
Not a direct comparison but by way of example, I recall discussing, many years ago with a senior officer of the US Navy, the case of a serious sexual assault on a child by a US serviceman . There was considerable public angst in the town where the crime had been committed because the local procurator fiscal had taken no proceedings in the case and handed the miscreant over to the US Military Police.
I argued that the fiscal should have taken proceedings. The US officer argued that nothing the Scottish Courts could sentence him to could beat the fact this accused serviceman would now be, “…spending the next 25 years breaking great big rocks down into little tiny rocks.” I believe that had the serviceman been convicted and served a period of imprisonment in Scotland, he would have been deemed to have been dealt with for the crime precluding a further period of imprisonment in a US military prison. I am not aware of any discussions that went on behind the scenes between the PF and the US Navy … but one wonders?
Mordecai 30th January 2022 At 08:34
‘.. I am not aware of any discussions that went on behind the scenes between the PF and the US Navy … but one wonders?’
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It’s an interesting notion , isn’t it , that the prosecuting authorities in one country might prefer to hand an accused over to another jurisdiction because their penalties were more severe!
I suspect, though, that in the example you cite, the USA military based in Scotland [ geez, how I remember the bunches of submariners that came up to the Locarno in Glasgow from the Holy Loch base, flashing bundles of cash for the girls to see] were able to claim some kind of modified diplomatic immunity on condition that the US authorities would take some kind of appropriate action?
On Sportsound some minutes go, I thought I heard Tom English stirring thing a little by raising the question of there having been no action taken against Bankier for his comments about referees.
Darryl suggested that the transcript seen by the SFA does not quite use the words used by Bankier
Kenny asking (disappointedly, or is that just me?]] ‘is that the end of it, then?’
It appears to be, although apparently clubs have been generally reminded of the need for respect and regard for rules and decent behaviour and awareness of the possibility of causing trouble.
Has Derek MacInnes mounted a challenge to Barry Ferguson on all things Celtic/Rangers. His column today offering advice/thoughts to GVB on this week’s Glasgow Derby will no doubt be taken to heart by the Ranger’s boss. I’m sure GVB is aware of the success McInnes enjoyed as Aberdeen manager against Celtic over the years. Perhaps like Ferguson he should pay more attention to the progress of his latest team then worrying about the Glasgow rivals. I can’t wait for his prediction on the outcome of the game as he has a knack for picking the wrong party time and again. Also Barry’s column will no doubt be full of the blood and thunder of this match which is pretty much a re-write of every article he submits on this particular game. It was good to see his name attached to his Alloa team following some of the articles following the Scottish Cup game.
Interesting.
When I posted today at 16.08, I was listening to Sunday Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland.
I have now just listened to the podcast of that programme, trying to get Darryl’s exact words.
Lo and behold! that bit off talk that I mentioned in that post ( about Bankier’s comments of a couple of months about refereeing] seems to have been edited out!
I wonder at whose instigation, and why?
I see, in the passing, that Scotland’s only Labour MP is having difficulty with a ‘Prospectus’!
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/labour-call-civil-chief-step-213735969.html
“..Scottish taxpayers should not be expected to foot the bill for a prospectus… .”
Ian Murray, MP, may have a validly debatable point that a political party in office should not use Civil Service personnel to work on specifically party political planning [as distinct from ‘Government planning in the ‘national’ rather than party interest].
If I thought he is now, or ever has been, interested in whether what was contained in the RIFC plc IPO Prospectus of 2012 was the truth and the whole truth or whether the FCA may have failed in their Regulatory duty in permitting it to be issued, I might be prepared to look with greater interest at what he has to say about any other kind of ‘prospectus’.
But he isn’t and wasn’t, so I’m not prepared to be interested in what he has to say about any other prospectus!
So there! ( was it Violet Elizabeth Bott in the ‘Just William’ stories who used to say that, while stamping a foot?]
John Clark 28th January 2022 At 14:52
5 0 Rate This
“I would hope that the Commissioner actually gets to deal with the complaint and deals with it with complete integrity and in good conscience arrives at a view.
Only she of course will know whether what she does is done honestly.
I’ve no reason to think that she is any kind of boris.
So, here’s hoping.”
Yes let’s hope she is driven to identify right and truth like the admirable Dr Poon, rather than “nothing to see here men” Mure and Rae.
The mad world of transfer deadline day is on us. Lots of rumours but if BBC is correct I am very curious to understand how between them Juve, TRFC and Aaron Ramsey have squared the circle of his £400,000 a week wages for the next 4 or 5 months (whatever possessed Juve to give him a four year contract worth £20m per year in the first place is beyond my reasoning!)
Wokingcelt 31st January 2022 At 16:27
‘.. how between them Juve, TRFC and Aaron Ramsey have squared the circle of his £400,000 a week wages for the next 4 or 5 months.’
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Aidan Smith in the ‘National’ asserts quite positively that
“Juventus will heavily subside Ramsey’s huge weekly wage packet during his time in Glasgow as he aims for regular first team football following a frustrating time on the continent”
And common sense tells us that there’s no way cash-strapped RIFC plc would be able to pay anything like £400k a week in addition to the supposed £2M loan fee unless they have again borrowed from directors or been slid a few bob from a benefactor.
JC and Wokingcelt, now now boys, you know that comments like that will have Albertz11 on any second to let us know that everything is fine with the deal and the financing of it. He might even ask how TRFC’s transfer dealings tie in with the aims of this site re tackling poor governance in Scottish football.
Ramsey’s an interesting one –
He’s been in the match-day squad 9 times this season (there have been 23 rounds in Italy).
Started 1 game & subbed after 60 minutes. 2 sub appearances of 18 & 20 minutes. 98 minutes of league football. 6 squads as an unused sub. No appearances since 26.09.21.
Missed 10 league squads with ‘muscle’ problems & 1 due to Covid19. Not stripped 3 times.
2 substitute appearances in the CL, the last on 20.10.21, for a total of 14 minutes.
Looks a good signing, whatever he’s costing TRFC!
Edit: stats from Transfermarkt.
Wokingcelt & JC
400k a week?
25% of that is closer to the truth.
…..and right on cue, tadaaa! Lol.
Nawlite 31st January 2022 At 19:33
‘… He might even ask how TRFC’s transfer dealings tie in with the aims of this site re tackling poor governance in Scottish football.’
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Well, we know that RIFC plc is living the biggest sporting lie in the history of Scottish football, courtesy of ‘poor governance’.
That lie has to be kept in the forefront of our minds , however much other folk want to forget it and ‘move on’,
if only to make it difficult for our Governance people to break the rules again if RIFC plc goes bust.
We remember that it was only given ‘going concern’ status on the basis of verbal assurances that directors’ loans would be made available if needed.
Rangers have a new boy in the door and he should be well rested based on Jingso.Jimsie post earlier. Also there’s much speculation on salary, even though the DR got some information from Italy on how the figures might be misconstrued. Highly unlikely he’ll be in the lineup tomorrow night and if so injury could not be far away. This looks like Celtic’s signing of Duffy last year. Could be a thirty year old footballer looking to pad his retirement fund and anticipating strolling through games in what me be perceived as an easier touch then the EPL.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60190092
Don’t panic. Clive Lindsay, (who he?) in the above piece tells us The rangers have “reserves” to dig into;
“So far, though, Celtic have looked more able to delve deep into the depths of their squad and continue to produce free-flowing football.
Which is no doubt part of the reason Rangers dug into their reserves to bring in two eye-catching loanees – £19m winger Amad Diallo from Manchester United and Ramsey from Juventus.”
Maybe a consignment of teddy bears, (stuffed with cash) has arrived from somewhere. Shhh, nothing to see here…..
Normanbatesmumfc 1st February 2022 At 11:42
“..Clive Lindsay, (who he?) ”
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Not a name I remember seeing. Perhaps this is he?
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/clive-lindsay-99689926
I wonder whether he has personally ever asked a hard question of anyone on the RIFC board or on the SFA board?
John Clark 30th January 2022 At 23:06
What a pity there were no enraged MPs or MSPs from any party in 2012 about tens of millions of tax being with held in order to finance on pitch success. Instead some even demanded that HMRC write it off, including the then First Minister…and in my opinion they would do it again.
@A11 – happy to be corrected on the salary; 400k was widely reported down here when he moved from Arsenal but happy to accept that this was incorrect, although I think the figure you quote is net of tax – I trust no-one at TRFC has made the same mistake…
Albertz11 — Jan 31/22 — 21:51
With all the speculation surrounding Ramsey’s weekly salary, even if its closer to the $100,000, you mention I would think Ranger’s would be picking up a substantial portion of that. Juventus have some financial worries of their own and can’t be too generous with their out-goings for someone who was not well acquainted with the field during his time there. It will be interesting when those diligent reporters in the Scottish media do some digging and get the actual facts. (LOL).
Can anyone put this in a meaningful context?
https://www.italy24news.com/News/357166.html
Lousy feckin translation, but was there any hanky-panky such as we have seen in another football governance context?
is the USA a haven for sports governance folk caught doing naughties?
Dal Pino has resigned as president of Serie A. (Who’s president of the SFA? Rod Petrie.)
His ‘day job’ is CEO & ED of a large telecommunications company with interests in the USA. It appears that he’s moved there for work reasons & is unable to fulfil his role with Serie A. There was some discontent over the current Italian media deal he brokered last year, with several clubs complaining about its set-up. I can’t see any allegations of naughtiness. What makes you think there is anything dubious going on?
Jingso.Jimsie 2nd February 2022 At 11:28
”…What makes you think there is anything dubious going on?”
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Oh, nothing in particular, I suppose. Just the fact that the world of football has seen a number instances of criminal/quasi-criminal episodes in high places where lots of money ( or dodgy opportunities to make money via bribes and such like] is swilling about.
Relatively high-profile people suddenly demitting office /being asked to ‘step down’ is sometimes a sign that things are questionable.
In our own wee backyard in recent times I believe dodgy stuff was done and lied about, and that , perhaps, has pre-disposed me to be suspicious and distrusting, ready to assume from the off that truth is not being told until I can be persuaded otherwise.
There are many little borises in this wicked little world, may they be , sooner or later, punished for their lying.
A reply to my complaint to the Complaints Commissioner came in yesterday afternoon.
Not surprisingly, but still disappointingly, the Commissioner thinks my complaint is out of time and will not be looking at it, and the file will be put away.
She also thinks that, even if it was not time-barred, my complaint is not one that she could deal with. As far as I can see it’s a complaint about the way the FCA allowed a misleading Prospectus to get through, which would seem to me to be very much a complaint about the exercise of the FCA’s statutory function! So I don’t know where she is coming from.
I will of course write to acknowledge that answer. I’ll take a day or two to draft a snail-mail response so that there’s a bit of paper they will have to file away!
Here is the reply I received:
“complaints@frccommissioner.org.uk
To:(me)
Tue, 1 Feb at 15:48
Dear …,
Thank you for your further email explaining your complaint and your request that the Commissioner consider your complaint.
Unfortunately, the Commissioner is not able to consider your complaint. The Complaints Commissioner’s role is to consider complaints about how the regulator (in your case the FCA) has carried out, or failed to carry out, its function.
You raised a complaint with the FCA in April 2020 and the FCA responded in May 2020. In its decision letter the FCA informed you that if you were not happy with its decision you could refer your complaint to the Commissioner’s office within 3 months. After the FCA issued its decision letter you wrote again to the FCA and it responded with a further email to you on 30 July 2020 in relation to the issues you had raised.
In both of these communications the FCA advised you that if you were unhappy with its decision you could contact the Complaints Commissioner, and that this should be done within three months of the date of the decision letter. You have not referred your complaint to the Commissioner within three months of the date of the FCA’s decision letter to you and you have not provided the Commissioner with a satisfactory reason for the delay in contacting her office. Consequently, the Commissioner considers that your complaint to her is out of time and will not be looking at your complaint.
Also, as noted in our last email to you, in its correspondence to you on 30 July 2020, the FCA explained that your concerns about Rangers International Football Club were not something it could consider under the Complaints Scheme. The Scheme is in place to deal with complaints that arise from the exercise of, or failure to exercise, any of the FCA’s relevant functions. It is for this reason that even if you had lodged your complaint with the Commissioner in time, that she would still be unable to consider your complaint under the Complaint Scheme.
I am sorry, as I know this will disappoint you but for the reasons set out above, the Commissioner will not be considering your complaint any further. Please note that any further correspondence received in relation to this matter will be filed but we will not send any response as we have now closed our file.
R…. L….
Investigator
Office of the Complaints Commissioner
Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1HN, United Kingdom
My understanding of the Ramsay wages is his contract is a ridiculous £400k/week of which The rangers will pay 25%, or £100k/week. Defoe was allegedly on £60k/week, so his departure may have helped. Although why a team already running at huge losses choose to compound their financial stresses with such a transfer beggars belief.
Still I suppose, as “rules” don’t apply to them so why would the normal rules of economics be considered???
https://salarysport.com/football/player/aaron-ramsey/
An interesting article caught my eye this evening when trawling to try to get a fix on Japanese football. ( I am constantly amazed at my general ignorance of the rest of the world]
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2022/02/02/soccer/celtic-japan-rewards/?cx_testId=4&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=2#cxrecs_s
I must get out more!
Amad Diallo, a 20 million pound man, sho is going to set Scottish football on fire, doesn’t make to the second half of either game he started and hasn’t apparently struck fear into his opponents. Matt O’Riley quietly lands at Celtic, no flapping of his gums on what he’s going to do but puts in three solid performances to date. Who do you want in your side. Ange’s Japanese signings, no where near the salary and pomp surrounding Ramsay, just keep playing and leading a Celtic charge. Aaron Ramsay must be wondering what have I got myself into, at least the pay cheque is good. And poor old Hugh Keevins not seeing the Rangers lose another game this season must have a most difficult night.
Not relevant for this site, Vernallen, surely?
Depending on what source you look at the winners of this year’s SPL will pick up maybe £40m from direct entry to the Champions League (assuming whoever finishes second doesn’t qualify via qualifying).
In the Scottish context £40m is a corrupting amount of money. So here’s an idealistic thought. Why not socialise all payments received from UEFA and allocate across all clubs in the football pyramid such that the winners pick up more for their contribution but the competitive environment is not distorted by such windfalls falling to one club.
At a stroke you would remove a huge incentive towards reckless gambles, make the football family more financially secure and maybe put more focus on to clubs playing football rather than scrambling for survival.
There would even be a chance that with a healthier domestic competition our clubs would be more competitive internationally. Of course it will never come to pass due to the various vested interests.
Nawlite
Genuine (and non-agenda ) question …
As someone who avoids the more vitriolic/bitter partisan fan sites, I’m struggling to comprehend your (confusing to my pea brain!) response to Vernallen. Can you help me here? What point(s) have I missed?
His post seems quite innocuous, and indeed relevant, to me, but if your suggesting that it is ‘out of place’ on a broad ranging ‘family ‘ blog, then I must disagree.
If I’ve misunderstood your point, then I ‘ll duly apologise.
Best67 — 4th Feb 2022 — 12:44
I too was somewhat puzzled at Nawlite’s comments. My comments were based on reports of the game and previous comments from the recent Ranger signing. No offence was intended. Perhaps if the club’s PR department ( and this includes all clubs) should have a sit down with in coming players and give them a brief session on being wary of the scottish media and how any comments can/will be misconstrued by the reporter and fans.
Bect67 4th February 2022 At 12:44
Vernallen 4th February 2022 At 14:39
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I suspect that Nawlite was implying that the subject matter of your post was more appropriate to a Celtic supporters forum, rather than SFM, whose aims are more focused on sporting integrity and the governance of all of Scottish football.
Apologies to Nawlite if I’ve misrepresented him/her, but, for what it’s worth, I agree with Nawlite’s comment, however inoffensive and well intentioned your post may have been.
It’s maybe worth reading ‘About SFM’ at the top of the page. Hope this helps.
Just back in and saw the comments from Bect67 and Vernallen regarding my earlier short post. I accept my post could have been perceived as curt, so apologies if that’s how it came across – I should have perhaps gone into more detail as to why I thought it not relevant/appropriate for SFM. Highlander above is absolutely correct in his perception of my thinking. It seemed to be saying not much more than ‘Our new signings are better than your new signings….and we got them for less too, so nanananana’ (Not sure how to write that down!)
I couldn’t see any more in V’s post than that, so posted accordingly. Unlike earlier posts re the Ramsay signing, which questioned how TRFC might be affording the signing (OR NOT!) and whether or not the SFA should be having a closer look at it, I felt V’s approach to it after the derby win wasn’t asking any questions about governance, corruption, cheating etc which is the focus of SFM.
Hope that clarifies (and if I’ve misinterpreted V’s original post, I apologise).
This is causing a wee bit of consternation in some places , and nowt to do with dying .
Rangers supporting Conservative MSP, Murdo Fraser, tweeted his support for the motion.
He said: “Delighted to add my name to this motion from my Scot Tories colleague, Sandesh Gulhane celebrating 150 years of the world’s 2nd most successful football club.”
It has so far been supported by 13 MSPs including 11 Conservatives, one SNP, Fulton McGregor and one Labour, Glasgow MSP. Paul Sweeney.
Nawlite
Thanks for your reply – that helps me understand where you were coming from.
Highlander
On your wider point,I have read ‘About SFM’, and can agree with you that “the aims are more focused on sporting integrity …”.
Challenging injustice in the form of the ‘Big Lie’, supported by the Scottish Football Authorities, the SMSM etc is certainly an integral part of that aim – indeed, to me, the real mission on here is never to lose sight of that. That’s one of the principle reasons that I maintain my interest in the SFM (note to self – donation due!). Although I also agree with you about a preponderance of Celtic-minded posters…
Whit else dae we expect given the history and rivalry? (I’m still waiting for a follower of the former Govan club to come on here and openly agree/admit that they are in Liquidation!).
Paddy
What an irony it would be for the definitive liquidation announcement to be made around the time the present incumbents of Ibrox were celebrating a non-existent 150 years of history
What has happened with that motion? I thought Rangers*/TRFC were always lauded by their fans as the world’s most successful club? Surely, they’re not acknowledging there’s a more successful club these days?
Or am I reading it wrong grammatically and they’re actually admitting the new club thing after all this time i.e. they acknowledge Rangers as the world’s FIRST most successful club and talking about Sevco as the world’s SECOND most successful club! HaHa, that can’t be right, can it? Albertz?
Of course, behind Real Madrid, Barca, Bayern and many many others either of the 2 Ibrox clubs is probably about the world’s 250th most successful.
Paddy Malarkey 4th February 2022 At 18:59
“””””””””””””””””””””””””
‘..That the Parliament congratulates Rangers Football Club, founded in March 1872, on its 150th anniversary; ‘
%%%%%%%5
A counter motion:
“Presiding officer, I move that Murdo Fraser be censured for trying to mislead the Chamber in suggesting that The Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872 is somehow celebrating 150 years of participation in Scottish professional football.
Mr Fraser knows , or ought to know and admit, that, both in fact and in law, that football club suffered the insolvency event of Administration, was NOT brought out of Administration but entered LIQUIDATION in 2012, where it languishes under the name of RFC 2012 plc ; no longer entitled to participate in Scottish professional football, having been required to surrender its share in the then Scottish Premier league in virtue of which shareholding it had been entitled to membership of the Scottish Football Association.
Presiding Officer, the following extracts from the Companies House records amply prove beyond any rational doubt, that The Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872 and incorporated on 27 May 1899 died the death that many another insolvent football club has died.
Mr Fraser should be embarrassed for his brass-necked disregard for actual facts, and should be made to apologise to the Chamber, and to the people represented by this Chamber, for his ridiculous , pernicious motion that makes light of Truth, and comforts men in football governance who also made and make light of Truth.”
From Companies House records:
“ TO: The Registrar of Companies
Company Number: SC 004276
name: RFC 2012 PLC , FORMERLY THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB PLC [ incorporated 27 May 1899]
I/We James Bernard Stephen Malcolm Cohen
4 Atlantic Quay 55 Baker St
70 York St London
Glasgow W1U 7EU
give notice that on 31 October 2012 a winding up order was made against the above named company by an order of the Court of Session dated 31 October 2012 and I attach a copy of the order.
Signed…..”
__________
Application to register a company
Certificate of Incorporation of a private limited company
Company Number: 425159
Company Name: SEVCOSCOTLAND LIMITED
“ The Registrar of Companies for Scotland hereby certifies that SEVCO SCOTLAND LIMITED is this day incorporated under the Companies Act 2006 as a private company , that the company is limited by shares and its registered office is in Scotland.
Given at Companies House Edinburgh on 29th May 2012.
name of each subscriber:
Mr Charles Alexander Green.
++========
31 July 2012 Company name changed, certificate issued
“ Certificate of Incorporation on Change of name
Company Number 425159
SEVCOSCOTLAND LIMITED a company incorporated as private limited by shares ; having its registered office situated in Scotland has changed its name to THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED.
Given at Companies house on 31st July 2012.”
That any honest, rational person should be so perverse as to deny the facts and the legalities of the Companies House records to the extent that Fraser does (with such irritating, sneering arrogance ] is a very worrying thing.
There have been many like him in history, of course, but it’s a pity that one such as he should be so ridiculously and blindly unheeding of truth in a mere matter of sport!
One wonders what he might be prepared to do to Truth in a really serious matter of state?
As Dr Strabismus (whom God protect!) of Utrecht used to say , ‘Honest to God!”
Paddy Malarkey 4th Feb 18.59
In full
……………………
Titled “Rangers Football Club 150th Anniversary”, it reads: “That the Parliament congratulates Rangers Football Club, founded in March 1872, on its 150th anniversary;
“Understands that it is the second most successful club in world football in terms of trophies won; further understands that it is one of the 11 original members of the Scottish Football League;
“Has been champion of Scottish league football 55 times, winner of the Scottish Cup 33 times, the Scottish League Cup a record 27 times, the domestic ‘treble’ on seven occasions, and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1972.
The motion goes on to ask the parliament to applaud the work done by the lcub in supporting the Rangers Charity Foundation.
Scottish Tory leader Murdo Fraser wrote: “Delighted to add my name to this motion @ScotParl from my @ScotTories colleague @Sandeshgulhane celebrating 150 years of the world’s 2nd most successful football club @RangersFC”
The motion speaks of the second most successful club in world history, as the Gers have won 115 trophies, behind Al-Ahly’s 118.
Nacional and Penarol, both of Uruguay, are next in the running with 113 and 108 – and then comes Celtic with 106.
Barcelona and Real Madrid are next on the list with 91 apiece with Benfica on 82.
Some of the charities supported by the Rangers Charity FOundation are UNICEF and Armed Forces veterans’ charity Erskine.
Bect67 4th February 2022 At 20:07
‘..What an irony it would be for the definitive liquidation announcement to be made around the time the present incumbents of Ibrox were celebrating a non-existent 150 years of history’
%%%%%%%%%%%%
I think the ‘definitive liquidation announcement’ is the act of dissolution, when the liquidators BDO advise the Court that all that had to be done and all that could be done to maximise returns to creditors has been done.
I haven’t recently looked for BDO’s most recent update, but there might still be a ‘ways to go’ before dissolution!
I haven’t even been checking whether the D&P action v BDO is still live? Anyone?
@Nawlite – well as my father would say, never mind the quality feel the width… By all accounts Al Ahly of Egypt have won most trophies. And Club Nacional de Football are closing in on their total. So RFC+TRFC might need to either win some trophies or buy some more history to hold on to second place.
Bect67 4th February 2022 At 20:07
‘..I’m still waiting for a follower of the former Govan club to come on here and openly agree/admit that they are in Liquidation!).’
%%%%%
heh heh! Aren’t we all?
One expects that fans of a club destroyed by a knight of the realm and a barra-boy spiv would have difficulty in making such admission.
One does not expect an MSP to bloody well make an arse of himself by publicly declaring that a club in liquidation in its 140th year is somehow able to to celebrate its 150th birthday!
What are we dealing with here?
What distortion of truth, what pressures on the BBC and the SMSM generally, to lie and to foist the stupid, stupid lie on us that a new club created by cowardly barstewards in football governance could possibly be the very same club as a club that is in Liquidation?
There are very, very bad people in this world.
Let them be exposed as the liars that they are.
President of the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) has won his appeal against a one year ban from any football activity and a 30 000 Swiss franc fine imposed ‘ for breach of loyalty’.
https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Media_Release_8256.pdf
Utterly unconnected with ‘football’ except that it is about a ‘ contempt of court’ action, I can’t wait to see what sentence will be imposed in this case. The judge issued his judgment on 5 January ( it was only made public yesterday) but adjourned sentencing until 18 February.
It’s an entertaining and instructive read
https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/premier-marinas-limited-v-robert-looker/
From today’s Times. We can have complaints against members of the Judiciary regarding possible pro-Rangers bias, but not against the SFA!
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rangers-raid-judge-accused-of-bias-lmz5f2clw
The sheriff who granted an unlawful warrant during the botched police operation into the takeover of Rangers FC is set to be investigated after claims that his “vociferous” support for the club compromised his impartiality.
An official complaint has been submitted against Sheriff Lindsay Wood, alleging that he disregarded the apparent conflict of interest created by his affiliation with the Scottish champions.
Wood, who regularly appears at Rangers matches and social events, is said to have a framed photograph of Ibrox in his chambers.
It has emerged that Detective Chief Inspector Jim Robertson, the senior investigating officer during the ill-fated fraud case, is also an ardent supporter. The saga has already triggered a public inquiry and cost the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds.
When Rangers fell into administration in 2012 the finance experts David Grier, David Whitehouse and Paul Clark, of the consultancy firm Duff & Phelps, were appointed to manage the club’s affairs. All three were arrested two years later over allegations of fraud linked to the club’s collapse and sale.
Although they were cleared of all charges many Rangers fans believe that they failed to do enough to prevent the club’s demise.
During the fraud investigation Wood signed off a warrant that allowed officers to raid the London offices of Holman Fenwick Willan, the legal firm representing Duff & Phelps. The operation was later ruled to have been an abuse of state power. Grier has now submitted a formal complaint against Wood to the Judicial Office for Scotland, alleging that his close affinity to Rangers meant that he should not have been involved in issuing warrants to the investigating detectives.
Wood was photographed in the Ibrox directors box in the year before Grier, Whitehouse and Clark were arrested. In 2018 he was a guest at the official Rangers Burns supper and chaired an event featuring the former club managers Graeme Souness and Ally McCoist.
“Sheriff Wood is a lifelong and vociferous supporter of Rangers Football Club,” Grier claimed. “He was far too close to the club to be granting warrants to allow investigation into its demise.”
Grier pointed to the code on judicial independence which says that judges will excuse themselves from hearing a case, known as a recusal, if they have a personal interest in it.
One senior legal source with knowledge of the case said: “This shameful episode appears to demonstrate that tribalism is alive and well within Scotland’s criminal justice system. Ministers need to take action.”
The source claimed that many supporters regarded Grier, Whitehouse and Clark as enemies of their club.
“There was a feeling that these three guys had come up from England and wrecked their beloved Rangers,” the source said. “Many cheered on the legal action against them, seeing it as a form of payback.”
The warrant to seize documents from the offices of Holman Fenwick Willan was requested by Robertson, who led the inquiry. In court he denied chanting The Billy Boys, a Rangers song with sectarian lyrics, during interviews with suspects and witnesses. He said he may have “referenced” it. It is alleged that Robertson wore Rangers cufflinks while conducting interviews.
In a statement submitted in 2019, Robertson confirmed that he had met Wood on December 4, 2015, noting that the sheriff had “dealt with a number of the warrants sought in the case”.
Robertson added: “Sheriff Wood was interested in the case. He told us that he was a season ticket holder at Ibrox and had a framed picture of Ibrox on the walls of his chamber.”
Court aide criticised firm as threat to her club
The Times has learnt that Christina Herriott, Wood’s court manager, declared her support for Rangers FC on social media and criticised the finance firm at the centre of the bungled fraud investigation into the club’s collapse and sale.
Christina Herriott’s online CV states that she is a manager with the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service in Glasgow. Robertson submitted a statement in which he said he was told by Wood in 2015 that he and Herriott — who as his clerk was responsible for the administration of cases in the court — were both Rangers season ticket holders.
Herriott’s Twitter profile states: “It’s Rangers for me” and features the club’s crest. In September 2014 she tweeted: “As soon as Duff & Phelps were appointed there was no hope of anything good for Rangers happening.”
Two years earlier Herriott, who has no involvement in judicial decision-making, accused the financial consultancy firm of “making money out of the Rangers crisis”. She later gave evidence in a hearing where David Grier, a senior figure with Duff & Phelps, argued he had been arrested maliciously before being cleared of all charges.
Herriott, who has now made her Twitter profile private, also shared tweets which referred to Nicola Sturgeon as “Scotland’s First Megalomaniac”, accused a high-profile referee of “cheating Rangers” and described the Crown Office as “not fit for purpose”.
Asked to comment on behalf of Herriott, a spokeswoman for the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service stressed that clerks of court only provided administrative support. “They have no involvement in judicial decision-making,” she said. The service declined to comment on Herriott’s social media posts.
‘A Rangers fan officer, Rangers fan sheriff and Rangers fan clerk’
Grier said: “This has the impression that a senior police officer who is a Rangers fan arranged for a Rangers fan sheriff, and his Rangers fan clerk, to grant a warrant to search the offices of my solicitors.” Grier insists that the warrant should have gone through the High Court, where proceedings against him had commenced, instead of being presented to a “sympathetic” sheriff.
In 2016 judges at the High Court in London ruled that the search warrant which led to privileged documents being seized from Holman Fenwick Willan was of “excessive and unlawful width”. In a separate Scottish judgment Lord Carloway found that the warrant was “oppressive” and “executed without proper safeguards”.
Grier and his legal team claim that Wood gave contradictory and misleading accounts in two explanatory reports submitted to Carloway. They allege that the latter was “more or less identical” to a warrant request which Robertson had previously submitted.
In his statement Robertson confirmed that he had left a copy of the document with Wood.
Grier said: “I have always been brought up to consider that the system of justice in Scotland is of the highest order. However, things appear to have gone badly wrong and there are significant and important questions which now need to be answered.”
The Judicial Office for Scotland said: “If a conduct complaint were received in respect of any member of the judiciary, it would be dealt with thoroughly and rigorously on a confidential basis in accordance with the Judiciary (Scotland) Rules 2017. It would not be appropriate for a sheriff to comment on any case that has been dealt with through the court process.”
The Scottish Police Federation did not answer a request for comment.
Upthehoops 5th February 2022 At 18:56
‘..From today’s Times. We can have complaints against members of the Judiciary regarding possible pro-Rangers bias, but not against the SFA!’
%%%%%%%
Good spot, Uth. I’ve only just seen your post, and thank you for it.
Marc Horne, the ‘ award winning’ journalist who wrote the article, is based in Scotland.
Where the hell was he in terms of asking probing questions about the ‘5-Way Agreement’ or about how RIFC plc could get away with claiming falsely to be the holding company of RFC of !872 vintage, when the fact is that they were [and are] the holding company of The Rangers Football Club Ltd of 2012 foundation, while RFC of 1872 origin is in Liquidation?
I note, though, that he has “Although they were cleared of all charges many Rangers fans believe that they failed to do enough to prevent the club’s demise”- so he’s brave enough to say that bit of Truth!
Personally, I don’t give a monkey’s damn about alleged ‘Rangers supporters’ in the Police or Judiciary trying to get revenge on people they think killed their club: they could be understood to have faced up to the reality of Liquidation and would be justified in their thirst for revenge!
Unlike the very Governance body of Scottish football and supposed guardian of its Sporting Integrity, who to their eternal shame and disgrace created the nonsense that a club that THEY THEMSELVES permitted to enter Scottish football in 2012 should be allowed to claim now to be 150 years old.
Honest to God, what double-dyed wretches and enemies of truth they are.
PS, Do we know whether Marc Horne is related to the brilliant journalist Cyril Horne, who flourished in the 1950s at the Glasgow Herald?
I remember our teacher of French -who was also a [hard!]Master of Discipline- stunning us all one day in class when he read to us a report of a match at Celtic Park ( in or about 1958/59?] by Cyril Horne, which began with the words ” Weeping grey skies over Parkhead ..” and , I think, went on to refer to Janefield cemetery , with some kind of reference to ‘Paradise’.
He stunned us because we knew he wasn’t interested in football, being a cricket man , Cambridge graduate and what-not. We thought-or at least I thought- he was going to give us the task of putting that report into French!
No. He just wanted us to savour the delight of good descriptive writing even in sports reports.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60285799
“You’ll be the judge, but I believe I have a firm grasp of the profound challenges facing our healthcare system, and the difficulties faced by patients during the current pandemic and beyond”
https://www.drsandeshgulhane.com/about-dr-gulhane
Maybe so, but I reserve the right to question Dr Sandesh’s grasp of realities in the world of Scottish Football.
He has made a farce of himself by buying into the lie that The Rangers Football Club of 2012 creation is the Rangers Football Club of 1872 foundation that went into Liquidation in 2012 and died aged 140!
If there was ever a more egregious attempt by a politician to curry favour by disregarding unpleasant truth and using his position to propagate an untruth, I’ve yet to come across it.
May he lose his seat at the first opportunity, for being so stupid.
JC 5th Feb @ 23.15
Scottish football is sick but the sickness is like alcoholism. Until the disease is admitted, no remedial measures can be taken. The administration – top heavy with lightweights intoxicated by power – is reluctant to admit the obvious, and is disturbingly complacent about the state of the game today.
Anyone reading this far might think those words are mine – but they are not (as the better read among the community may have noticed!). In an act of mischief, I deliberately omitted quotation marks to give that initial impression. Mea culpa!
Your reference to Cyril Horne had me delving in to the writings of Scottish football journalists, and the words above are from a publication (When Saturday Comes), and are attributed to John Rafferty – a highly respected football journalist from days of yore. They were, I believe, written ca 1971 – 50+ Years ago!
(Readers may now add the quotation marks to the first paragraph!)
How prophetically true of today – and eerily supportive of the SFM blog aims.
Had Mr Rafferty be penning his thoughts in this day and age, he might just rephrase his words a bit e.g.
“the administration (with the undying support of the SMSM and the Scottish Establishment)”.
Plus la change, plus la meme chose etc etc
Bect67 8th February 2022 At 16:13
“…Had Mr Rafferty be penning his thoughts in this day and age, he might just rephrase his words a bit.”
%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In 1971 , Bect67, I lived in Pollokshields.
I was, at the time, engaged in some occasional voluntary work in that general area.
In geographical connection with that voluntary work I had occasion to phone John Rafferty on an ‘ad hoc’ basis, which turned out to be about once every four or five weeks:[on nothing to do with football]
And I think you’re dead right: Rafferty would have been all over the ‘saga’ from at least the first mention of a MBMB, through the shambles of an Administration, and would not have suffered the nonsense of the ‘5-Way agreement’, or allow the untruth that RIFC plc was entitled to claim to be the holding company of RFC of 1872 to go unchallenged.
I think Ian Archer would have been the same.
Neither would have accepted at face value what anyone involved had to say, but each would have strained every journalistic sinew and followed every journalistic instinct in the direction of unearthing and exposing the truth- AND reporting it!
If all of the SMSM brigade had been simply incompetent journalists or mere indolent, fearful, sponging ‘lamb eaters’ /swillers of fine wine from the kitchen/cellars of a despicably hubristic knight , that would have been bad enough.
But it must be the case that some of our SMSM journalists knew at least some of the truth but chose not to report it,
And, of course, any one of them even now can check for himself that RIFC plc is the holding company of a football cub that did not exist before 2012, a football club that could not possibly be 150 years old.
[ That they choose not to do so betrays a want of journalistic integrity, which, as said before, is far more pernicious and dangerous than a similar want of integrity in those WRETCHES who claim to be guardians of the Integrity of Scottish Football !]
May Rafferty and Archer and Turnbull Hutton rest in the peace of honest, decent human beings of great personal integrity.
May others in the SMSM or in Football governance who die lacking that integrity lie as dishonourably in their graves as they lied in the exercise of their profession or offices.
Further to my post of 22.18 this evening, I find this in my inbox :
” 2022 is a significant year for ICIJ because it marks the 25th anniversary of the news organization’s founding. So to kick off the Meet the Investigators series this year, we decided to take a quick trip down memory lane with one of our longest serving partners.
Acclaimed Colombian journalist Maria Teresa Ronderos worked on ICIJ’s very first international collaboration. In the latest episode of our podcast, she talks about how the project sparked a passion for investigative journalism that informed the next two decades of her storied career.
Maria Teresa went on to create Verdad Abierta — the “Open Truth” project — which specialized in reporting on war crimes. She’s now director of the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP), which she co-founded in 2019. And last year, she was honored with the prestigious Simón Bolívar National Journalism Award for her lifetime achievements.
Maria Teresa and her team at CLIP joined forces with ICIJ once again for the Pandora Papers. She says that as international reporting collaborations have grown around the world, journalists in Latin America are facing ever-worsening dangers to press freedom. But she sees crossborder models like ICIJ’s as an important buffer against such threats.
“When you feel you have a fraternity and it’s having your back, you become more courageous and you can have no fear in being really independent,” Maria Teresa says in the podcast. “I think that’s why it’s so important, these kinds of collaborations.”
I’ve just emailed the ICIJ to ask whether there is a Scottish journalist in their ranks.
Will I be surprised if the answer were to be in the affirmative?
Much as I dislike ‘Americanisms’ , I gotta say ‘You bet!’
And if there WERE to be any hack in Scotland who is a member of the ICIJ, then of course the credibility of the ICIJ would to my mind be called into question.
And I would make the point to the ICIJ that wee local corruption needs to be investigated as well as the big international business and governmental corruption.
Even if it were to be every bit as career-threatening .
I’ll see what they reply.
I note that Craig Whyte is being prosecuted at the instigation of the Financial Conduct Authority for allegedly failing to comply with a notice to disclose PIN passwords, and a provisional trial date has been set for September 13th in Manchester Crown Court.
I was prompted by that bit of news to have a look at the list of those Scottish Court cases that are still subject to reporting restrictions and which relate in some way to the death of RFC of 1872 and the creation in 2012 of the new club TRFC and RIFC plc and subsequent wicked abandonment of Sporting integrity that is represented by the ‘5-Way Agreement’ cobbled up by unprincipled ,deceitful, frightened men in a blind panic.
There are 5 such cases:
HMA v CW [under Section 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981] Court of Session 12 December 2018
Charles Green v RIFC plc, Court of Session 12 November 2016
The Rangers FC Group Ltd re Adjudication of Claim , Court of Session 15 March 2016
HMA v Whyte, Withey, Grier, Whitehouse, Clark, Green and Ahmad, High Court of Justiciary 16 October 2015
HMA for restraint order re Craig Whyte , Court of Session 11 September 2015
John Clark 10th February 2022 At 14:12
EDIT
“..I was prompted by that bit of news to have a look at the list of those Scottish Court cases that are still subject to reporting restrictions and which relate in some way to the death of RFC of 1872”
———————–
Your post prompted me to look at why reporting restrictions have been imposed on the cases you highlight John.In truth I am at a loss as to why restrictions are extant, indeed I am further perplexed at the ban at all! According to the guide on reporting restrictions then there has to be a pressing and convincing case presented by the defendant as to why ‘open justice’ may not be applied. Are you aware of any way of discovering the reasoning for the restriction and whether the PF ,defence or sitting judge has requested such? The extract below is from guidance issued to England and Wales but I would be surprised if Scottish law was to differ in any meaningful way…maybe.
“The open justice principle
• The general rule is that the administration of justice must be done in public The public and the media have the right to attend all court hearings and the media is able to report those proceedings fully and contemporaneously
•Any restriction on these usual rules will be exceptional. It must be based on necessity
• The burden is on the party seeking the restriction to establish it is necessary on the basis of clear and cogent evidence
• The terms of any order must be proportionate – going no further than is necessary to meet the relevant objective”
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/reporting-restrictions-guide-may-2016-2.pdf
Gunnerb 10th February 2022 At 20:50
“… I am at a loss as to why restrictions are extant……. Are you aware of any way of discovering the reasoning for the restriction and whether the PF ,defence or sitting judge has requested such? ”
%%%%%%%%%%%%%
I’m no expert, of course, Gunnerb, but as I understand it, in the kind of so civil cases in question , one or other of the parties must have asked the judge for reporting restrictions to be imposed for reasons of commercial confidentiality for matters that might have to be discussed but which are not in themselves germane to the action; and in the criminal case, the PF,or the Judge himself, might have had in mind that other prosecutions were or might be pending, that might be prejudiced.
The fact that some time has elapsed might not of itself remove the possibility that publication of the judgments in the civil cases could still cause commercial harm to either party. I can understand that.
However, I struggle to understand why the restrictions are still in force in the ‘contempt’ and ‘restraint order’ cases? I’m certainly not aware of any current criminal charges against CW? [ Or at least, not until today!]
I suppose a member of the public may be free to ask, without himself being guilty of contempt?
And don’t look at me, Ha, ha. I’m too feart!
“The journalists who broke the story of Russian skater Kamila Valieva’s positive drugs test on Wednesday say they have faced death threats, abuse, and warnings they should check their tea”
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/british-journalists-receive-death-threats-from-russia-over-valieva-controversy/ar-AATK5rB?ocid=msedgntp
Scottish journalists knew that it was safer/more profitable not only to refuse to question the Big Lie in Scottish Football in 2012 but actively to propagate it!
https://www.celticfc.com/news/2022/february/11/celtic-plc-interim-report/
” The Opinion of Lord Tyre
in Minute for
Duff and Phelps Limited
in the action at the instance of
David John Whitehouse against
Chief Constable Police Scotland
and
The Lord Advocate ”
was published today :
The link is
https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2022csoh16.pdf?sfvrsn=c73cab3_1
I have only just noticed it and am about to begin reading it.
Oh, what fun!
Oh what a tangled web they weave…
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sheriff-who-issued-22-warrants-in-rangers-inquiry-had-shares-in-club-jf8dd220t
A sheriff who granted more than 20 warrants during the failed police investigation into the takeover of Rangers FC has been accused of a “glaring judicial conflict of interest” after it emerged he was a shareholder in the club.
Last week The Times disclosed that Lindsay Wood is the subject of an official complaint relating to his close links to the Scottish champions.
Wood regularly attends Rangers matches and social events and was said to have a framed photograph of Ibrox in his chambers.
It has now come to light that he held shares in Rangers’ old parent company, which became worthless when the club went into administration in 2012. Records from 2008 confirm Wood owned 110 shares.
Following the collapse of Rangers, David Grier, David Whitehouse and Paul Clark, of the consultancy firm Duff & Phelps, were appointed to manage the club’s affairs.
All three were later arrested over allegations of fraud linked to the collapse and sale of Rangers. They were cleared of all charges but many of the club’s supporters believe they failed to do enough to prevent its demise.
The saga has already triggered a public inquiry and cost the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds in payments to individuals who were prosecuted maliciously.
Between 2013 and 2015 Wood signed off 22 warrants during the botched investigation. They included one which allowed officers to raid the London offices of Holman Fenwick Willan, the legal firm representing Duff & Phelps, which was later found to be unlawful and executed “without proper safeguards”.
It was requested by Detective Chief Inspector Jim Robertson, the senior investigating officer, who is said to have worn Rangers cufflinks while conducting interviews.
Russell Findlay, the Scottish Conservative spokesman on community safety, called on Lord Carloway, the lord justice general, to establish why Wood failed to recuse himself.
“This represents a glaring judicial conflict of interest in the Rangers malicious prosecution scandal,” he said. “It seems there was a perfect storm of a Rangers-supporting police officer, a Rangers-supporting sheriff and Crown Office prosecutors who pursued innocent men with reckless disregard for the evidence, leaving taxpayers with a bill for tens of millions of pounds and no one being held to account.
“A register of judicial recusals was introduced in Scotland seven years ago for circumstances such as these, and I would expect Lord Carloway to establish why there was no voluntary recusal by Sheriff Wood.”
Grier, who has lodged a complaint with the Judicial Office for Scotland, added: “Sheriff Wood’s connections to Rangers are overwhelming and it was entirely inappropriate for him to be involved.”
The code of Scottish judicial ethics states that it is not acceptable for a judge to adjudicate on a matter on which they or family members have a financial interest. It adds: “An example of such an interest might be the holding of shares in a public company.”
In a statement submitted in 2019, Robertson said: “Sheriff Wood was interested in the case. He told us he was a season ticket holder and had a framed picture of Ibrox on the walls of his chamber.”
The Times asked the Judicial Office for Scotland for a response from Wood but did not receive one.
A spokeswoman said: “In making a judicial decision, sheriffs must carefully consider the facts before them and take full account of the unique circumstances of each individual case, applying the law without bias or prejudice.
“Judges can recuse themselves from proceedings on certain grounds — or parties to a case can object to a judge’s involvement.
“If a party is not satisfied with a judicial decision, it can be appealed to a higher court.”
CFC’s financial statement seems to have startled the supporters of another club . They seem to veer between disbelief and anger on behalf of victims of historical abuse . A fatal blow to aspirations of dominance ?
Upthehoops 12th February 2022 At 14:54
‘…It has now come to light that he held shares in Rangers’ old parent company,’
%%%%%%%%
There we have the BIG damned Lie again, Uth, in the barefaced, brazen assertion that it was some ‘parent company’ that went bust, while the football club survived !!
The meanest intellect can easily discover that there WAS NO holding company of RFC of 1872.
There was only ONE entity registered with Companies House, one Company number, and that entity was the Rangers Football Club of 1872, incorporated in 1889 with company number SC004276
And it was that football club that went into Liquidation in 2012, renamed as RFC 2012 plc, having had
to surrender its share in the Scottish Premier League Ltd, thereby losing entitlement to membership of the SFA, and therefore cessing to exist as a football club participating in Scottish professional Football.
There is a diabolical perversity of mind in the SMSM which simply will not tell the incontestable truth.
And the evil facilitators in Scottish football governance who abandoned all notion of integrity will have a lot to answer for, rot their bones in the fullness of time.