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.
@Nawlite – I see no answer from A11 to your question on the Orange strip…for me it is clearly pandering to their base/lowest common denominator, to max revenue, which wallows in a violent, sectarian, misogynistic and dystopian world. As I have posted before there was a chance to acknowledge liquidation/ death and the establishment of a new club without the baggage of success funded on institutional bigotry and to attract fans to a vision (maybe even a dream). But they missed that chance / chose to not take it. Why – who knows, maybe there were not the fans/customers/mug punters to support such a vision. But then again there were not enough fans/customers/mug punters willing to “invest” to keep RFC1872 alive…
Commiserations to Arbroath fans here (no disrespect to ICT fans!)
Wokingcelt
I agree with your reply to Nawlite wrt the orange strip – this ‘statement’, especially the timing, is right out of the WATP ‘playbook’, I seem to recollect this having been used before (Scottish Cup Final ??? – not too sure about the date) when the strips were described as mandarin/ tangerine – with advance apologies if I’m wrong about my last point. At any rate, your point about indulging the hordes is spot on.
n.b. honesty, humility, and contrition (e.g. about liquidation) are not part of said playbook.
Nawlite
You won’t get a direct answer to your question about the details of the settlement, although I’m sure Big Mike will be happy being several (?) mill better off. In addition, should Sevco not win the Europa league their already well documented financial woes (amply evidenced by ever decreasing activity in transfer windows) will increase exponentially. Squeaky bum time methinks – till Wednesday at least!
Finally, lest we forget (some might if SMSM etc had anything to do with it), and to end on a legally factual note…
“Rangers Football Club. Born 1872, died 2012” (The Herald)
…and Redliichtie’s right – Scottish Football needs a strong Arbroath!!
I feel for Hugh Keevins today as his column is somewhat less than factual. I believe Celtic have already qualified for CL group stages and unlike Rangers are not waiting on the outcome of Wednesday’s game to determine qualifications. If Ranger should win on Wednesday, the club formed in 2012, would be level with Celtic on European trophies, not one up as Keevins writes. Sometimes sports reporters, like older athletes, stay at the table a little too long.
Vernallen 15th May 2022 At 17:29
‘.., the club formed in 2012, would be level with Celtic on European trophies, not one up as Keevins writes.’
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Ach, I wouldnae bother with what , to me masel and in my opinion, is a tiresome auld scunner of a football hack. He bought into the absurd nonsense that RFC of 1872 is not in Liquidation, so anything he has to say about anything in football is about as valuable as an auld man’s passing of wind.
Ignore him, is my advice.
If he was ever a journalist of merit, those days are long past, in my opinion.
He’ coming up for 74, so like me, he has probably not many more than the short number of years of TRFC’s existence to continue to propagate the untruth that TRFC is 150 years old.
If his conscience , with death only that far away, allows him to.
Keevins will do whatever he is told. His Grandkids will one day not be able to look him in the eye, as he is not the grandfather they thiught he was
“Vernallen 12th May 2022 At 01:38
Albertz11 — 11th may 2022 — 19:30
It will be interesting to see what the financial outcome of this court battle is. Since the PR arm of Rangers has been strangely quiet I sense that the settlement could have been substantial. If we have to wait for the next set of financials it could be well buried under a miscellaneous expense heading.”
I think it is a fair assumption that the timing of the news release of an out of court settlement allowing it to be hidden under the barrage of good news stories points to a significant settlement. To date, I have only seen one unsubstantiated figure touted and that is just North of £11.5m.
Reviewing last year’s RIFC accounts the combined Current and Non-Current accruals were £8,790,000. We have no idea what is included in this number, in addition to the SDIR case, but it does guide us that this is the upper limit of what the RIFC board may have presented to the auditors as the contingent liability for the SDIR case.
Since then, RIFC have lost a further case forcing them to disclose the details of their Castore contract. This loss would seem to have been the catalyst forcing RIFC to settle as it would seem highly probable the details of the Castore contract were prejudicial to their case. If that is the case then the £11.5m number might well be correct.
Whether we will see the detail of the settlement within the next accounts, or not, is of less importance than the fact that the settlement will have to be funded. If indeed the number is £11.5m then that effectively wipes out the Patterson sale gain.
Viewed another way £11.5m would have effectively allowed the board to buy out the GASL. It is ironic that it was King who agreed the contract with SDIR and was the main instigator in it’s breach.
https://twitter.com/paullarkin74/status/1526106805935427585?s=20&t=N5fxrRPZL6uu9JFx7mhp8w
John Clark 16th May 2022 At 01:02
“Vernallen 15th May 2022 At 17:29
‘.., the club formed in 2012, would be level with Celtic on European trophies, not one up as Keevins writes.’
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Ach, I wouldnae bother with what , to me masel and in my opinion, is a tiresome auld scunner of a football hack. He bought into the absurd nonsense that RFC of 1872 is not in Liquidation, ”
I don’t think a man of his intelligence bought into the lie, more I think he helped with others to create it in order to protect his wages and ensure that some sort of old firm is kept alive to protect sports hacks from been made redundant, The man is a snake oil salesman who looks down on people who are more intellegent and clever in their opinions reyling on facts and refuse to lie for the wonga.
Is it not somewhat embarrassing that Rangers have to put former players front and center asking fans to behave in Seville. This is something you would expect from a group of teenagers on a school trip to a foreign country with a few teachers as chaperones. Hopefully the fans will heed the message and not repeat the efforts of Manchester.
Bigboab1916 16th May 2022 At 18:38
‘..I don’t think a man of his intelligence bought into the lie, more I think he helped with others to create it in order to protect his wages and ensure that some sort of old firm is kept alive to protect sports hacks.@
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I know what you mean, of course, Bigboab1916.
And that is why, in my opinion, the really bad guys, the really, really bad guys of the saga are the guys in the SMSM.
SDM, whose hubris was the principle cause of the debt that killed RFC of 1872? – just an everyday businessman who f.cked up and killed the club, [suffering no great personal loss, of course]
CW?…[ in my opinion ] was a chancer from no-wheres-ville who couldn’t have given a tuppenny toss about the RFC of my grandfather’s day and tried to make money out of the situation
Clark and Whitehouse as Administrators ?… for one reason or another , made an absolute balls of the Administration [in the judgment of a Court]
All of THEM can be, in my judgment, slated for killing the football club of the 4 young men on Glasgow Green
That’s one thing, and bad enough in itself.
But we might expect individual , localised failings from such folk.
However, for the very Governance body of a Sport to create and permit the sporting lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872 is unbelievably wicked and perverse in comparison with clubs telling porkies to HMRC about what they are paying their players.
And when it comes to ‘journalists’ of the print media, acceptance and propagation of untruth is even more unacceptable, but again , can be expected of venal hacks and the newspapers they get paid by.
But for the BBC to join in in propagating the really, really stupid lie is , to me, absolutely mind-blowing.
Each and every one of the chaps and girls on BBC Scotland who speak of TRFC as being the RFC of 1872 can expect from me nothing but the very deepest contempt- for holding on to their jobs by buying into the propagation of untruth.
In a matter of ‘Sport’:
While others of their London colleagues journalist risk their lives in attempting to report the truth , or attempting to uncover the truth, in much more serious matters of life and death.
Very black marks indeed to Controller, BBC Scotland for allowing the propagation of a factual untruth for base, unworthy, cowardly reasons.
Get it sorted.
If the BBC can lie to us with impunity in a matter of sport, they can lie about anything.
ps .Had a great day shooting with rifle and pistol with a friend of my son ,on a ranch about two hours drive from Fort Worth.
This guy was with the the Navy Seals . And, bejasus, his gun safe was about the size of my boxroom
with God knows how many guns of different calibre.
He happens to be a surgeon.
Westcoaster 16th May 2022 At 13:11
‘..It is ironic that it was King who agreed the contract with SDIR and was the main instigator in it’s breach.’
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I think we should commission the intrepid Jim White [was that his name?] to go to Gauteng province and do an ‘in depth’ interview with the Castlemulk son of a police officer!
We would surely get to the heart of that contradiction?
Like ..ck, would we!
Having said that, I have to say again that King has acknowledged that the RFC of 1872(now in liquidation as RFC 2012] could be still be bought out of Administration if someone paid all its debts.
And that was an explicit acknowledgement that TRFC is not RFC of 1872
He knows that TRFC is a new creation.
There’s a BBC Online article today asking if it’s a good thing for Scottish football to have two clubs in the CL next year. The writer – Thomas Duncan – includes this remarkably factual sentence “In football, a greater wage spend generally correlates to success”. Were the BBC ever so bold when playing down the impact of EBTs? I wonder if Thomas Duncan recalls both D Murray and A McLeish admitting under oath in court (FTT is akin to court proceedings) that EBTs allowed them to employ better players than they would otherwise have been able to?
Nawlite 17th May 2022 At 18:03
‘..Were the BBC ever so bold when playing down the impact of EBTs? ‘
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When it comes to playing down the part that money plays in buying the best football talent Lord Nimmo Smith takes the biscuit.
I doubt if there was ever a more fatuous pronouncement than that RFC of 1872 did not gain a sporting advantage by spending huge sums (undeclared to either HMRC or the SFA ] on buying some of the best footballing talent available over a decade or so.
The SFA should have pounced on the fact that a retired Judge is not in any position to make such an absurd observation in a matter of Sport.
But it suited their lying barra, just as it suited them to manufacture the myth that TRFC is RFC of 1872, knowing that the lickspittles of the print SMSM would sign up to propagate the myth, and that the BBC had been cowed by the then BBC Trust into accepting and broadcasting the lie.
All true, JC. Unfortunately, so is the truth that LNS was a set up by all interested parties including Celtic so as to not rock any boats. Disgraceful, but true.
Of course, the money that TRFC will not now get will in no way weaken their capacity to buy the best talent, will it? Not according to the thinking of NS and the SFA….
Nawlite 18th May 2022 At 17:30
‘.. LNS was a set up by all interested parties including Celtic so as to not rock any boats.’
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Yes.
‘Money’ counted more than any principle, whether of sporting integrity or basic truth or adherence to Articles of Association ..
And all so unnecessary!
Because how could anyone in football have believed that, if the SFA Board and the SPL/SFL boards had told TRFC of 2012 that it would NOT be regarded as ‘continuity RFC of 1872′ , Ibrox stadium would not be as full at home games as ever it was? or that the travelling support to away games would be reduced?
The panic was absolutely unnecessary.
And our football Governance bodies, and -aye! – our football clubs’ directors, including the directors of Celtic,
betrayed the integrity of the Sport in their gutless concession to CG to allow TRFC to claim to be RFC of 1872.
And made both liars and arses of themselves in so doing.
And, of course, if serious questions had been asked about how SDM/Sounness could get some of the best football talent in Europe for the journeyman wages declared to the SFA and UEFA ?..the whole feckin dirty cheating scam might have been detected at an early stage, been dealt with by appropriate penalties, and the whole sorry tax debt saga avoided.
And RFC of 1872 would not have died.
ps. it’s now 23.46 Wednesday, Texas time.
I’m told that we are off to the ‘grassy knoll’ in Dallas tomorrow.
The truth is always out there somewhere -in politics and in football governance
It was interesting to read an article on the EL final that apparently shed a different light on the former Rangers team and the current Rangers team. The article stated that this was the sixth European final for either version of the club and that the combined record in these finals was one win and five losses. Some how the Scottish media either glossed over that record, or were caught up in a blue wave of happiness and didn’t want to rain on the parade with copious amounts of good news regarding the team(s) depending on your stance in regards to the not so trivial matter of liquidation.
Vernallen 20th May 2022 At 01:32
‘..It was interesting to read an article on the EL final that apparently shed a different light on the former Rangers team and the current Rangers team. .’
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If you can, Vernallen, could you point me in the direction of the article, please?
John Clark — 20th May 2022 — 05:30
John the article originally appeared on an msn.com news site and was referenced back to NBCsports.com. Had a quick look earlier tonight and could not find it. Another avenue may be Europa League final game reports. Happy hunting and the info can be confirmed by googling Glasgow Rangers results in European finals.
Vernallen 21st May 2022 At 01:33
‘.. the article originally appeared on an msn.com news site and was referenced back to NBCsports.com.’
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I’ve had no success finding it, either, Vernallen.
What I did find was a piece by some guy who would get a job on the DR or with the SFA anytime as a ‘journalist’ either ready to compromise himself as any kind of truth-teller or betray a woeful ineptitude as a fact-checker.
I give you one James Benge!
Have a look on this link to see the kind of ignorant or biased crappy type of journalist who gets paid by cbs for false rubbish.
https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/eintracht-frankfurt-vs-rangers-europa-league-final-live-stream-tv-channel-watch-online-start-time-odds/
He says
“Many could not have imagined this day would have come a decade ago when Stirling were the opponents in the Scottish third tier, Rangers brought low by years of financial management that forced them to reform and drop into the lower leagues.”
Ignorant s.d appears not to know that RFC of 1872 are in Liquidation or what Liquidation means. Or does know, but is ready to defend a dirty, dirty lie.
Have guys like that no sense of shame at being propagandists of an untruth or useless at their trade?
The kind of shame that bent cops must feel, or bent referees ,or bent athletes , or bent “guardians of the integrity ” of a sport must feel?
How can they live with themselves?
PS: was at the ‘grassy knoll’ yesterday thinking of of the really, really bad lying bast.rds involved in the Kennedy assassination.
All of a piece, really, the lying game whether in national politics/assassination or in football/rigging of the rules and telling porkies about sporting achievements over 150 years by a club that is ten years old!!
Honest to God
Vernallen 20th May 01.32
Rangers have played in 5 finals and not 6.
1961 Fiorentina 0-2 & 1-2
1967 Bayern Munich 0-1 aet
1972 Dinamo Moscow 3-2
2008 Zenit St Petersburg 0-2
2022 Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 (4-5pens)
Can’t be counting the 1961 games as two separate finals surely?
Can’t be counting the 1961 games as two separate finals surely? You would if Rangers had won them
Looking at the bbc football headlines today, it will be interesting to see how things unfold with Everton and question on their financial losses and how this is judged regards “sporting integrity”… Of course in Scotland some thing that spending money on first team players doesn’t affect results…
“Rangers have played in five finals and not six ”
Whit a sneaky and unsuccessful attempt to try and claim continuity (!) so, in the interest of factual and legal accuracy, as well as the credibility of this blog, the above statement should perhaps have been submitted along the following lines …
“Rangers (1872-2012) played in four finals and not five. The current incarnation of the aforementioned (TRFC) has played in one final ” Only then has the statement credibility.
Admittedly, for a ten-year old club to reach a European final, was quite an achievement.
Does anyone else like me consider just how close Rangers* policy of running up huge losses to gain Champions League cash came to succeeding? It’s highly unlikely they will be reaching Europa League finals on a regular basis, but they were a penalty shoot out victory away from a CL pot one place. This would simply not have been possible without huge year on year losses. Why are other clubs so against domestic financial fair play, especially when most are run on a sensible financial basis already?
@UTH – couldn’t agree more. What I don’t understand is the disconnect between UEFA rules and domestic rules. A few years back Man City were being threatened with expulsion from UEFA competitions due to their FFP numbers. What I don’t understand is how clubs can/would operate in their domestic leagues with weaker financial rules/ratios than UEFA insists on. Even if domestically there are no rules, surely you need to comply to play in UEFA comps.
Wokingcelt 21st May 2022 At 20:48
‘.. Of course in Scotland some thing that spending money on first team players doesn’t affect results…
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It’s encouraging that Leeds and Burnley are pushing for an investigation.
There is ,as far as I know, no football institutional culture in the FA (or in Engerland generally] that affords Everton FC immunity from investigation such as that which existed, and exists, in the SFA : as demonstrated by the Big Lie and the point-blank refusal to allow an investigation into the UEFA licence award to CW’s RFC .
Leeds or Burnley are facing losing the millions afforded by being in the EPL.
They are prepared to fight to ensure that there was no jiggery-pokery in the finances , no nods and winks from the Governance body, and that their share-holders had not been diddled.
Lord above!
A Derbyshire educated Indian journalist sending copy to Reuters is , it seems, in hock to the myth!
This is from Reuters :
“…Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who won the competition twice as a player during his three-year spell at Ibrox, capped an eventful first season in charge by guiding the club to their first Scottish Cup triumph since 2009.”
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/soccer-rangers-dig-deep-to-win-first-scottish-cup-in-13-years/ar-AAXz9PW?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8d2ff6d3979f423a9c4f59bba6c00dd4
Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris [Bengaluru was better known as Bangalore]
Does Ms Sharma know that TRFC weren’t in existence in 2009?
If so , she would get a job with the SMSM anytime. If not, then she’s a rubbish ‘journalist’. Or allowed her ‘editor’ to amend her report.
[I can’t/ don’t use Twitter: maybe someone who does can tweet to let her know the footballing truth and refer her to this SFM blog?]
Incidentally, I walked down a street in Fort Worth today to the ‘Liquor Store’ [ none of this being able to buy liquor in a supermarket!]
The temperature was a mild 25 or so, but there was a breeze that made it necessary to hold on to my[yes], cowboy hat.
Anyway, the young guy behind the counter was Nepalese, which gave me the opportunity of using a couple of words I had learnt from a colleague in my working days in HM Civil Service .
It was a happy experience , buying a wee quarter bottle of Johnny Walker Red label, trying to explain that I was not English. The usual stuff when you have to talk to folk who think the UK is ‘England!’
Me masel personally, I tell them different
I am happy that there’s a wee guy from Nepal who might go home tonight who knows now that Scotland is not England, and that being ‘British ‘ is a kind of artificial piece of nonsense ,such as being Ukrainian means that you are Russian!
John Clark 21st May 2022 At 23:39
There is ,as far as I know, no football institutional culture in the FA (or in Engerland generally] that affords Everton FC immunity from investigation such as that which existed, and exists, in the SFA : as demonstrated by the Big Lie and the point-blank refusal to allow an investigation into the UEFA licence award to CW’s RFC
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In my opinion the culture which exists in Scotland which permits what you refer to goes way beyond football, although it manifests itself in football much of the time. I also know it was a culture which had an impact on me and many others deemed to ‘kick with the wrong foot’ in my earlier working life. Only when the company I worked for fell out of Scottish control did we get more of an opportunity to advance. One area where it still seems prominent is the BBC, where it is beyond dispute that ex-Rangers players are overwhelmingly favoured by Sportscene and Sportsound to work as pundits.
Upthehoops 22nd May 2022 At 07:08
‘..the culture which exists in Scotland which permits what you refer to goes way beyond football,’
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Ha ha, Uth.
in 1963 ,the guy who interviewed me for a job in Lanarkshire County Council , referring to my ‘cv’ ,used an expression to which even I , mild mannered as Clark Kent , made me turn Superman and challenge him with a ‘how dare you use such an expression’
I got the job.
The poor man must have realised that he was no Peter Thomson of BBC infamy who got away with utterly outrageous discrimination;
The malevolent ghost of said Peter Thomson has influenced and brought about the acceptance by the BBC of
a lie .
An absolutely and insultingly stupid lie.
The thing is: if the people in Pacific Quay are liars in a matter of Sport, what will they not lie about in matters of more importance?
PS. We drove through Irving [ I think] on the way back to Fort Worth, and passed the windowless building of the Freemasons’ hall.
Windowless building!
FFS, one would say… until one thinks of TRFC and the SFA; a new club allowed to claim a 150 year history?
Broadly speaking more a probity matter than specific to Scotland but nonetheless. Leeds United retain their EPL status and Burnley are relegated. I am quite sure that Leeds previous position regarding Everton’s potential financial impropriety will suddenly not be quite so belicose. It’s a dog eat dog world but I hope Burnley still feel sufficiently aggrieved to pursue the matter.
Gunnerb 22nd May 2022 At 18:17
‘… I am quite sure that Leeds previous position regarding Everton’s potential financial impropriety will suddenly not be quite so belicose.’
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I tried to find an email address for Leeds so that I could email their Board to encourage them to follow through with their promise to join Burnley in demanding an investigation into Everton’s finances.
Couldn’t find one on their website.
I do hope that they are people of integrity enough to honour the agreement with Burnley.
Failure to do so would remind one of the lawwellistic readiness, eagerness even, to keep the head down, ask no questions, tell porkies to shareholders, and accept a possibly corrupt act of football governance involving the loss of a couple of million quid , for the sake of future revenue, when that future revenue would not have been at risk if the truth had been told!
As said before, no one could seriously have thought that TRFC would not have been considered by the loyal fans as anything but RFC of 1872, even if the official records of the SFA showed that they only came into existence in 2012.
To bend the truth is always wrong.
To do so unnecessarily is unforgivably stupid.
Let the SFA sort it out: forbid TRFC to claim falsely to be RFC of 1872.
That restores truth to Scottish Football as a sport. [ Mind you, it might add to doubts about the legitimacy of RIFC plc’s Prospectus on its launch in the market]
[Not that the Financial Conduct Authority is any kind of effective disciplinary body!]
Another one for you to put right JC
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/may/25/which-football-clubs-have-won-the-league-title-in-their-centenary-year
Best regards
Fitbawfan 25th May 2022 At 12:11
‘..Another one for you to put right JC..’
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I’m not sure what you’re referring to, Fitbafan, unless it’s the misprint 1987 instead of 1887 for the year of Celtic’s founding?
Would it be possible for one of the members of the Scottish media to ask Stewart Robertson if the figures being bandied about in regards to their European run are based on the gross income or the net income. If they are indeed net income well done, but, if they are of the gross income variety the picture is not as rosy. It would be helpful if the media pointed out to the numerous Ranger fan websites the difference between gross and net income as they are clamoring for the number quoted to be spent on a re-build, new contracts, etc. I wonder what Mike Ashley thinks about this type of number and what his cut is/was. Oh to be able to see into the future and the next set of Rangers financials.
Vernallen 25th May 2022 At 22:55
‘Would it be possible for one of the members of the Scottish media to ask Stewart Robertson ..’
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Possible indeed, but not likely to happen!
The SMSM print media and the BBC are so hopelessly thirled to the Big Lie that they either DARE not, or willingly CHOOSE not to, ask any kind of serious question about the finances of the ten year old club .
Not just the football hacks!
The financial/ world of business hacks as well!
None of THEM has ever asked how RIFC plc was allowed to claim to be and launch itself on the Market as being the holding company of a club that was founded in 1872 but which died the death of a shameful Liquidation, when in fact and law it was the holding company of a football club admitted into Scottish professional football only in 2012.
Bad cess to the liars, and may the worm of dishonour munch at their souls for the rest of their contemptible lives.
More contemptible even than the life lived, in relation to Rangers of 1872, by SDM.
And that’s saying something!
ps. as you can see from the date of this posting I am back from a really good couple of weeks in Fort Worth.
For amusement and philosophical reflection have a gander at this:
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/H01EC860-Committal-Order.pdf
(Not at all related to football or the demise of RFC of 1872.)
But ,see the whole ‘contempt of court’ nonsense, and how it seems not to be universally applied?
Some wee sods might go to jail
Other bigger sods don’t!
The Scottish Courts seem to be very selective.
South African courts?
I confess to being a wee bit disappointed at the CL Final result , if only because I have a Liverpudlian cousin! I would have liked to send him an email of congratulation .
Not a spectacularly good game, with only the odd flash of clever brilliance from each side.
Our man Robertson? A wee bit off the pace once or twice, I thought?
Salah very unlucky once or twice.
And UEFA/the French FA need a right good boot in the ars. for the failures of organisation that practically invited the Gendarmerie to over-react! Tear gas ffs! before a match !
Where to start. I’ve been away for a few days ( nothing as glamours as Texas) but still good to be away. The mayor of Seville says the city enjoyed a financial bonanza of 68 million due to their recent hosting of a EL final. What is difficult to swallow is the DR translating that to the fact Rangers fans were responsible for it. I believe there was another team at the final and brought a significant fan base who probably spent money in Seville as well.
Then we have a failed manager turned pundit claiming three Rangers players could net the club 30 million plus. Whatever he is drinking or smoking I’ll have some. They have sold one player in recent years with a wide variance of what the sale pulled in. Only time will tell what the real number is.
Then there is the ultimate hanger on, Paul Murray, with his opinion on the value of Calvin Bassey based on a six month resurgence in his career. A 7 figure valuation is beyond the pale.
Finally, UEFA in major disruptions in two of their glamor finals Who the hell organizes these events and how many brown envelopes change hands. The scenes in Paris, showed around the world, are disturbing and disgusting.
@Vernallen – I’m not yet convinced by the reporting of the Champions League final. No question there were problems but…bear in mind as French police/stewards:
1. Think Wembley and behaviour of English fans at Euro final last year.
2. Last week or two with pitch invasions at Everton and Patrick Vieira ( a French hero) being abused on the pitch.
3. And go further back to the Euros that were held in France (8 or so years back) and riots with English fans.
As I noted there were problems/mistakes, but let’s not forget context. I do think the English press are not presenting a rounded view here and wonder how much we would have heard of these problems if Liverpool had won…
Wokingcelt 30th May 2022 At 22:13
‘.As I noted there were problems/mistakes..’
+++++++
“.. ‘UEFA has today announced it has commissioned an independent report into the events surrounding the UEFA Champions League final in Paris on Saturday, May 28.”
Independent? Who will conduct the review?
The passing of the racing legend Lester Piggot brought to mind that he was jailed and stripped of his OBE for tax fraud. What a strange thing to happen. Anyway RIP The Long fellow.
Gunnerb 31st May 2022 At 18:11
‘..he was jailed and stripped of his OBE for tax fraud. ‘
+++++++++++
I think I first read of ‘knightly chivalry’ and ‘honour’ in reading a children’s version of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table when I was about 8 or 9 or so. Very stirring and noble ideas!
There was, of course, no mention of the adulterous deeds of Sir Lancelot, whose wretched dishonourable and disloyal behaviour led in the end to the break-up of the Round Table of honourable knights.
Piggot’s tax cheating was a personal matter, which had no discernible effect on the sport of kings/ queens. But it was scarcely an honourable thing.
The RBS chap as far as I know did not gain personally from his mismanagement of the Bank, but it caused huge problems for the banking industry. His reckless foolhardiness , though, was far from being ‘knightly’.
SDM ‘s vainglorious boasting and the reckless , feckless use by RFC of 1872 of what they must have known or suspected, to be a dodgy EBT scheme [ given that they told porkies to ( a perhaps already aware SFA?) about what they were paying their players] resulted in the death of RFC of 1872, AND the loss of trust in Scottish Football governance by its manufacturing of the Big Lie, the nonsensical, insulting Big Lie that a club newly created in 2012 is the same football club as the RFC of 1872 which Companies House records show as being in Liquidation.
That has not resulted in any punishment of SDM whatsoever!
I cannot be alone in wondering why the hell not?
And while I wonder about that, I also wonder if the said SDM is any the happier as a human being for getting away with it, knowing at the same time something of the contempt that many people feel for him?
Perhaps he doesn’t do ‘knightly chivalry’, and laughs at the very concept?
That would not surprise me, even as it saddens me.
The ‘living lie’ of a football club that is TRFC issues a ludicrously pompous a.se of itself in a ‘statement’:
” This morning , representatives from Rangers met with Her Majesty’s Government to discuss the issues faced by our support in Seville before, during and after the Europa League Final”
[‘The Scotsman’ reports more truthfully ‘ Rangers have met with government officials’]
Honest to God, what a laughable bunch of grubby little self-important tossers sit on the Ibrox Boards blowing smoke up their own fundaments in an effort to legitimise themselves.
My post of 10.43 this morning: the link to the statement is
https://www.rangers.co.uk/article/seville-supporter-update-310522/1sTMuWi5pPrSQxaZVufuBc
As your man Zelenskiy said
“Joy to our soldiers, joy to the entire country. We are all fighting, everyone on their own front. “We will fight on, we will withstand everything, we will win. For we are Ukrainians.”
By gum, if the Ukrainian sojers are as highly motivated as that Ukrainian team tonight, it’s no wonder that they have done so well against the Russkies!
I would have to say that we simply did not turn up tonight.
Lots of huff and puff as we were run ragged and seemed incapable of playing football!
Big punts up the park to nobody!
Not one of our players ,except Gordon, played to anything like their club standard.
Pathetic.
But perhaps a symbolic, condign punishment for a lying SFA.
John C
The pomposity of that TRFC statement is quite amusing. One the TRFC mouthpieces in the media also referred to communication at ‘very high levels’ of government?
I think you are correct on your analysis that they need to legitimise themselves as ‘big players’ in a World & European level. Having the compliant media give them a wee leggy-up to help sell it to the easily confused but hard of understanding is a bonus. ‘Higher and higher, it’s a living thing’, as Jeff Lynne was once wont to say ?
Big Pink 3rd June 2022 At 15:25
‘..The pomposity of that TRFC statement is quite amusing..’
++++++++++
I think, BP, I can say with truth that there will be very few PR guys and gals in the UK who would have presented such a script to their client!
I remember posting some time ago about the fact that there was one statement by TRFC that made its points in a very moderately expressed way, but all the more effectively for that reason!
There has not been another such!
The Ibrox Boards know themselves to be claiming FALSELY to be the Directors of the ‘holding company’
of RFC of 1872[ a football club/ company in Liquidation!] and not the holding company of a ten-year-old creation.
They must needs strut and bluster ( as CG did before the cowed , spineless, dishonourable men who were supposed to be the guardians of the integrity of Scottish professional football] in order to defend the lie.
Not from them any attempt at a quiet , reasonably toned word of ‘explanation’ [well, none such is possible, but they could have tried]
No, they HAVE to shout and bawl and threaten in defence of the indefensible, so weak is their case.
I would ask them:
what financial loss would you suffer IF you acknowledged that TRFC has no football success history before 2012? and that it is not[however sadly] RFC of the 4 young men and is therefore not entitled to claim the footballing success of RFC of 1872?
Would Ibrox not still be filled to capacity?
Wouldn’t the concept of ‘Rangersness’ carry on , unabated?
Of course it would.
The turnstiles would click as merrily as before and season ticket sales would not drop.
The Big Lie was absolutely unnecessary if the Truth had been acknowledged at the time!
I venture to suggest that not only are their PR people useless, but also that their moneymen completely misunderstood the underlying realities.
As did the forsworn SMSM.
ps. I was already well into my thirties, and overseas, I think, when I heard the ELO version. I was old in attitude before my time!
JC wrote,
“ps. I was already well into my thirties, and overseas, I think, when I heard the ELO version. I was old in attitude before my time!”
Never too old to rock John?
John Clark 3rd June 2022 At 23:18
EDIT
“Wouldn’t the concept of ‘Rangersness’ carry on , unabated?
Of course it would.”
————————
Agree John ,Crazy panic at the time and I can’t get it out of my head.
After a very enjoyable afternoon in the sun in our small crescent with neighbours from Jamaica , the Punjab, Australia, Nor’n Ireland, Aberdeen, Hungary , exotic Fife , even more exotic Yorkshire , I sit relaxed quietly re-reading the iniquitous “liars’ charter” that was the Joint Statement
https://spfl.co.uk/news/joint-statement-2012-07-27
The lying sons of bitc.es tried to assert that there had been a ‘transfer’ of RFC of 1872’s share in the SPL to a new owner and a corresponding ‘transfer’ of SFA membership.
It was such a deliberate attempt to deceive that it is incredible that the SMSM and the BBC bought into it.
SevcoScotland /TRFC had to apply, as a NEW SHAREHOLDER in a recognised League, for membership of the SFA.
There was , and is , no way that TRFC could in any sense be regarded as ‘continuity RFC of 1872’ as if there had been a mere change of ownership.
No, It is a 10 year old club, with only a 10 year record of participation in Scottish football, and ,in terms of sporting achievement, with absolutely no right to claim as being theirs the sporting history and successes of a now dead football club.
The whole thing is just nonsense: propagated not only by the liars who hope to make money, but by lying, compromising journalistic hacks who are a disgrace to themselves and their profession, and, of much more sinister import, by the lying BBC Scotland.
May every lying son of a b.tch in Scottish Football governance who was, is, party to the Big Lie be brought to account -preferably in this life when we could all see the ‘accounting’ process.
The comforting and sure thing is that they themselves know who and what they are!
Liars and betrayers of any kind of trust.
Daddy, what did you do in your job? Why, son, I lied.
Daddy what did you do in your job? Why, son, I propagated a lie.
Daddy, in your publicly funded BBC job what did you do? Why, son, I broadcast on radio and TV perhaps the biggest sports lie there ever has been in this country!
Wowwee, daddy! aren’t you nothing but the very best scum of the earth?
Honest to God!
John Clark 5th June 2022 At 00:08
From the joint statement:
“We are pleased to confirm that agreement has been reached on all outstanding points relating to the transfer of the Scottish FA membership between Rangers FC (In Administration), and Sevco Scotland Ltd, who will be the new owners of The Rangers Football Club.”
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Several things are striking from that joint statement. Firstly, as we are all well aware some ten years into ‘the saga,’ the name of the entity that went into administration followed by liquidation is the Rangers Football Club plc, an incorporated football club.
How peculiar then of the football authorities to ascribe those insolvency events to Rangers FC, rather than its operating company.
Then they refer to Sevco as the new owners of The Rangers Football Club, NOT the owners of Rangers FC. Yet we know that TRFC only came into existence in 2012.
Further on in the joint statement, reference is made to RFC(IA).
You have to feel a smidgen of sympathy for our obviously confused band of inquisitive journalists for failing to challenge the blatant anomalies in the official statement when my six year-old grandson could pull it apart in seconds and show it up for the concocted work of fiction it truly is.
ps I’m well aware that you and I are supposed to swallow the fallacy that Rangers FC was the owner and operator of the club, but I’m confident that you’re not gullible enough to fall for it either. If the football club owned and operated by the Rangers Football Club plc wasn’t Rangers FC or RFC, each of which died a self-inflicted death of liquidation, who exactly was it?
Getting back to the statement that Rangers reps met with officials of Her Majesty’s Government to discuss Seville. What level of official did they meet with. Most levels of government have numerous people in positions to justify a wage and a [pompous title, (under assistant to the assistant to the secretary of the minister of whatever portfolio). I’m sure the higher ups passed this meeting off to the lowest level of minions. Where is Allly McCoist and his demand to know who are these people.
Wales v Ukraine , nothing to do with England . However this did not deter the Commentator “ Aaron Ramsay may be the first A.Ramsay to reach the World Cup since 1966 “ Unbelievable !
Paradisebhoy 5th June 2022 At 18:35
Wales v Ukraine , nothing to do with England . However this did not deter the Commentator “ Aaron Ramsay may be the first A.Ramsay to reach the World Cup since 1966 “ Unbelievable !
——————–
Caused an uproar of hilarity in my local. Sides split, lager expelled onto walls etc…..
Regarding the other topics, Leigh Griffiths will in due course be recognised to have had the final word on the matter: “Your club’s deid”.
Vernallen 5th June 2022 At 18:16
‘..What level of official did they meet with. ‘
++++++++++
Well, Vernallen, remember that the ‘Rangers’ name was powerful enough to let the Big Lie be endorsed in certain quarters such as the mercifully now defunct BBC Trust [ despicable bunch that they were] and by our less than honest SMSM hacks, and by the likes of Murdo whassisname , MSP ,and Alex and one or two other [relatively] influential folk in the murky world of Scottish politics.
But one may as well ask a question, to see what kind of response one will get,
It is a cardinal sin, of course, for anyone in government office [or any civil servant off his own bat] to to be caught out in an actual untruth when replying to a question from a member of the public.
So, I have in mild amusement sent off this email to the email address of the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Digital Cultural Media and Sport..
‘To:
enquiries@dcms.gov.uk
Sun, 5 Jun at 22:38
Dear ‘enquiries’,
I understand from a report[ in what I freely admit is a not terribly informative or trustworthy tabloid newspaper] that Rangers International Football Club plc, the holding company of ‘The Rangers Football Club’ which applied for and gained, for the first time, membership of the Scottish Football Association in 2012, recently met with ‘ the UK Government’ to raise concerns about the way fans of the club were treated in a recent match in Seville.
May I ask whether Mr Huddleston MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport, chaired the meeting, and whether the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was represented at some level ?
I ask because as I understand things Sport is a matter devolved to the Scottish Government, and I am interested in the finer workings in situations of shared(?) responsibility.
Yours sincerely,
me
That is one belter of a question to ask, John! One of those questions that is better to give than to receive. I for one can’t wait for the reply to that one.
Mordecai 6th June 2022 At 02:04
‘..I for one can’t wait for the reply to that one.’
+++++++++
I think , Mordecai, we may have a long wait!
The site says merely ‘we will try to respond within 20 working days’
Just a quiet reflection afore I go to bed, nothing to do DIRECTLY with football :
D-day, June 6th 1944, was 10 days after my dad ,serving with ‘S’ company Scots Guards attached to the Coldstreams, had had his leg blown off on Monte Piccolo , after moving out of Cassino , after the Monastery was finally taken by the Poles, and the Germans had moved up the road to Rome.
One of my fondest memories as a child is of my wee brother and I lying in bed with my dad on those occasions when my mum’s sister would stay overnight ( having to sleep in the same bed with my mum, while dad had to sleep in our bed].
And we would ask him; ‘what would you do if a German attacked you?’
And he would say ‘ Kick him a kick in the privates’ , as he lifted his arm ( with my head on it) to have a draw at his fag [Capstan cigarettes!] , with the bright red glow in the darkness.
I’m smiling to myself as I write this.
John Clark 1st June 2022 At 10:43
” This morning , representatives from Rangers met with Her Majesty’s Government to discuss the issues faced by our support in Seville before, during and after the Europa League Final”
I wonder if the Government rep reminded them of the issues caused to the public purse by the illegal withholding of tens of millions of pounds in social taxes by a club that they still claim to be? A breakdown of just what the amount illegally with held could have bought for the NHS, Schools, or their beloved Armed Forces would have been a timely reminder. Or perhaps the UK Government were honoured to be cheated out of tax by the glorious, mighty Rangers. Just like the Scottish Government and Scottish Media were honoured. Now we are paying out an even bigger sum in compensation to people who were maliciously targeted in an attempt to absolve ‘Rangers’ of any wrongdoing. Why is there not an absolute uproar about this? In my view the fear of officialdom in having to admit there is indeed institutionalised bias towards ‘Rangers’ is the reason. If they admit it once, we are then entitled to ask just how many other times it has happened. Any public inquiry won’t give use the answer, that’s for sure. They might as well ask a certain demographic to write the conclusions in advance.
Meet the new board , same as the old board .
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-61717713
Paddy Malarkey 7th June 2022 At 11:40
‘…Meet the new board , same as the old board ‘
++++++++++
‘ leopards and spots’ immediately come to mind.’
Honest to God, I can almost smell the rotten reek from Ibrox here in Edinburgh.
Re PM’s post at 11.40,
The CMA statement in full is at this link
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-provisionally-finds-illegal-price-fixing-of-rangers-fc-merchandise
Note the timetable of action, and that investigation into two parties involved (Hummel and Greaves Sports Ltd] was dropped for ‘administrative’ reasons.
So … the GASL is back with a vengeance:-
‘ Dave King hits back at *Rangers CMA price fixing accusations and insists the club is not complicit in shirt deal’ (Football Scotland)
Q: Was was complcit then?
and it gets better …
‘ The South African based former chairman insists he kept a close eye on everything to make sure it was by the book’ Whit a belter that wiz!
Q: What book are we talking about here!?
Ye should jist keep yir trap shut Dave.
Bect67 8th June 2022 At 11:17
‘..‘ The South African based former chairman insists he kept a close eye on everything to make sure it was by the book’’
+++++++++
Thanks for giving me a good laugh on a damp miserable morning!
Holly Williams in today’s ‘The Scotsman’ has this:
” It [ i.e the CMA] also said that Rangers Football Club took part in the alleged collusion.”
Mind you, that was ” only to the extent of fixing the retail price of adult home short-sleeved replica shirts from September 2018 to at least mid-November 2018″
Well, that’s all right, then: just a wee bit of commercial dishonesty , not many fans ripped-off!
Honest to God, what ARE they like ?
I think the problem for TRFC/RIFC is that they appear to have instigated the price fixing and have yet to acknowledge their part ion fleecing their fans or apologise to them for their actions .
‘The Sun’ reports
“..The South Africa-based businessman, who stepped down as Rangers chairman in March 2020, says it would have been IMPOSSIBLE for such arrangements to have happened without his knowledge.
Speaking to the Herald, King said: “I was absolutely not aware and, due to the club’s prior embarrassments with retail, James Blair and I kept such a tight control over all commercial contracts that I don’t believe it was possible for Stewart (Robertson), or any other executive at the club, to enter into such an arrangement without my knowledge…'”
We know what a judge in South Africa said about DK.
Here is what Lionel Persey QC (sitting as a Judge of the High Court )had to say about Blair at para 87 of his judgment in the case of
SDI RETAIL SERVICES LIMITED
Claimant
and –
THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED
Neutral Citation Number: [2019] EWHC 1929 (Comm)
Case No: CL-2018-000631
“87. Those rights were not only not offered to them but Rangers, through Mr Blair, untruthfully asserted that Hummel had not been granted any Offered Rights and did not provide SDIR with a copy of the Elite/Hummel Agreement. ”
I think I would be a trifle unwilling to accept at face value any statement about the commercial affairs of a football club (which is itself living a lie about its own origins) made by DK or by Blair.
Just for fun, while listening to the Armenia game, I have sent this email to the Integrity officer of the All India Football Federation:
To:
aiff@the-aiff.com
Wed, 8 Jun at 21:23
For the attention of Mr Javed Siraj,
Integrity Officer
Dear Mr Siraj,
I was intrigued to see that the All India Football Federation recently entered into ‘partnership’ with The Rangers Football Club Ltd
What really intrigued me was what Mr Savio Medeira, Technical Director and Head Coach Education, AIFF, said:
“I am honoured that Rangers FC have signed an agreement with us. We are trying in our own way to be self-sustainable in various technical programmes. The association with this historic club (my italics) will add extreme value to our coach education programme, scouting processes, talent identification,and analysis amongst others, all in our endeavor (sic)to move forward together.”
May I suggest, with all due deference, that you, as Integrity Officer, ought to explain to Mr Medeira that :
‘The Rangers Football Club’ to which he refers has no footballing history earlier than 2012. It was only in that year that it becme a share-holder in the then Scottish Football League, in right of which share-shareholding it became eligible to apply for membership of the Scottish Football Association(“SFA”).
It did apply for, and was granted, membership of the SFA as a new football club into Scottish professional football in 2012.
It is clear that Mr Medeira got confused ,or was led to believe that the ‘partnership’ entered into by the AIFF was with a quite different club- ‘Rangers Football Club’ that was founded in 1872!
Sadly, that football club ( having changed its name to ‘RFC 2012 plc’) went into Liquidation in 2012,.
It had to surrender its share in the then Scotttish Premier League. It ceased thereby to be entitled to membership of the SFA. It therefore died as a football club participating in Scottish Professional Football. ( A look at the UK’s Companies House records will show that it is in Liquidation still, as RFC 2012 plc, its huge debts to the tax-payers of the UK and to other creditors still unpaid)
To many people here, a 10 -year-old football club that falsely claims to be 150 years old and to be entitled to the sporting honours of a dead club is somewhat lacking in the ‘Integrity’ department.
I expect that football fans in India would think likewise.
Yours very sincerely
JC,
Scotland
Two comments from me:
1. I see that the French authorities are now accepting that policing of the Champions League Final was flawed. I had previously noted my caution in following the media storm at the time. Happy to accept that things could have been better policed.
2. I saw a tweet yesterday from TRFC promoting an event with the Scottish Government “celebrating” their 150th birthday. Was this for real? Leaving aside the obvious falsehood, I can’t comprehend the “English” (aka UK) government celebrating a “birthday” of a Man U, Arsenal, Wigan etc… Is the Scottish political-government-legal-professional classes so parochial???
Wokingcelt 9th June 2022 At 21:27
‘…I saw a tweet yesterday from TRFC promoting an event with the Scottish Government “celebrating” their 150th birthday.”
++++++++++++
Don’t know about the Scottish Government, but the ‘feast of political and football liars’ gets this report
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/8990907/rangers-150th-anniversary-government-reception-michael-gove-uefa-gift/
John Clark 9th June 20.21
Don’t you think it’s strange that although Rangers are a SCOTTISH club, playing in the SCOTTISH league, having represented SCOTLAND in a European final and having recently won the SCOTTISH cup no member of the SCOTTISH government attended?.
I routinely enjoy doing the mini quiz in ‘ The Scotsman’ .
Today I had extra fun!
“Q4. when is the feast day of St Valentine?
Q5. which plucked stringed instrument has a body in the shape of a half pear?”
An additional question sprang immediately to my mind:
Q. in light of the CMA’s provisional findings: what play-on-words association of ideas might there be between the answers to those two questions and anything TRFC may have to say today about their current revenue figures ( as reported by David Oliver in today’s paper] ?
No prizes for making the right connection!
Albertz,
Yes I do think it is strange. There is probably a fairly mundane explanation, but I sense (CAPS alert) the victim card being played again?
Are you inferring that the Scottish Government are anti-Rangers? I would suggest that the phantom birthday party being held by ScotGov suggests otherwise …
Albertz11 10th June 2022 At 10:01
Were they invited , Douglas Ross and all ?
Albertz11 10th June 2022 At 10:01
00Rate This
John Clark 9th June 20.21
Don’t you think it’s strange that although Rangers are a SCOTTISH club, playing in the SCOTTISH league, having represented SCOTLAND in a European final and having recently won the SCOTTISH cup no member of the SCOTTISH government attended?.
———————–
Fair play Albertz, cracking fishing trip.
I genuinely laughed out loud when I read it, and I applaud you for it.
When even your own clubs founding fathers, Green and Ahmed, know that the club they set up was brand new, then how can you expect politicians to go to an event that is a lie?
Your new club have, since the day they were formed been in more courts than Nadal, appealing everything and anything, no matter how trivial.
Yet when they started life in the 4th tier they didn’t appeal this, inexplicable if they thought it was the same club, especially so with the difference in revenues obtained in the 4th tier rather than top tier, especially when they regarded it as ‘the journey’.
Why take part in the journey if the destination is a simple court case away.
You constantly hear from sevconians that Uefa Fifa, Sfa, Ad agencies, and every other party you can think of, say its the same club, if so, all they had to do was what they do with everything since they were formed, just appeal.
It would be an open and shut case and the compensation due to being incorrectly placed in the 4th tier would be enormous, especially if, as we keep hearing, Uefa say it’s the same club.
Hey, maybe they preferred playing brickies, plumbers and welders rather than full time footballers, especially if the managers don’t turn up for matches, for instance if they decide to get married on the day instead.
So, in summary, if your own clubs founding fathers don’t think they are the same club as the one that died, then politicians are surely obliged to believe the same.
As I said, brilliant fishing trip.