A recent autumn storm caused the destruction of the metal goal fame in our garden. The small goal with the weather-beaten net had fallen into disuse. But I liked it seeing it there on the grass. I suppose I half-expected, half-hoped, it would be used again. Once, it was a father and son thing and had been constructed carefully from a nice set of plans. At the time, it impressed both son and daughter no end. But that was then, this was now.
One of our trees, blown over by the recent high winds, caused the goal frame’s final demise. As I unscrewed the twisted metal I thought of the hours of innocent fun it had given us. It had been the scene of many goals and not a few great saves. My son, who is soon off to uni, smiled thoughtfully as I mentioned that this was the end of the ‘goalposts of childhood’. Perhaps he knew what I meant.
My own childhood goalposts had been ‘doon the back’. Drawn with chalk on the red brick of the ‘sausage wall’ at one end, and on part of the ‘wash hoose’ at the other. Many a league, Cup and international match was played out between those goals on the Dennistoun dirt. We once put on a parallel version of a historic England v Scotland match while the real match was being played at Wembley. Jim Mone sitting on one of the dykes had a transister radio to his ear. As we played our match he chalked up live score updates on the wall — our Twitter and FaceBook anno 1967. What a day.
We did use a pile of jackets up on the old Dennistoun cricket pitch, but only rarely. Mostly, we played on the red gravel surface at the Finlay Drive entrance. That pitch was fitted with real goalposts — like the ones they had at Hampden. Or so we imagined.
These sentimental memories of receding years accompanied my removal of the ruined metal goal frame. But, as you can imagine, it seemed an almost symbolic act. For fans of Scottish football the ‘goalposts’ that once defined the game of our football childhoods — have not only been moved, they’ve been been twisted and mis-shapen out of all recognition.
The past decades have seen a fundamental change in the way our game is run and governed, at home and abroad. Money is now king and sporting consideration is a luxury we sometimes have to put to one side — or at least, so we’re told.
At the risk of stating the obvious, sport, if it is to mean anything at all, has to be based on clearly defined rules and principles. These rules must be applied equally to all the participants, they are certainly not optional extras. However, to misquote and paraphrase George Orwell, ‘all teams are equal, but some teams are more equal than others’ — at least, when it comes to Scottish football.
The efforts by the SFA to re-interpret rules to fit the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the demise of Rangers FC in 2012 have left most of us scratching our heads. Much of the Scottish media has backed up the SFA’s efforts, something which has added to the general confusion and chaos. In fact, it’s become clear that the death of Rangers, as we knew them, has been such a traumatic event that it must be denied. The authorities and media seem to have been so besotted with one club that its loss is out of the question. And so, it’s been gifted a bizarre kind of immunity from liquidation and death that implies its on-going existence, long after it drew it’s final breath.
This situation has opened the door to a legion of businessmen on the make. They have been allowed to perpetuate the myth, with SFA blessing, that they ‘saved’ Rangers. And their unwavering message is, that they can only succeed if fans keep giving them their hard-earned cash. To those outside the blue bubble it looks like a huge con trick. If the only source of real money in football is the fans, then the Ibrox faithful have been royally fleeced.
How different it could have been if the former club had been allowed a dignified end. A year out of the game would probably have allowed fans to restart a newco of their own. They could have applied for entry into the professional leagues along with the other clubs waiting in line. Chances are they would have been given special dispensation, and walked straight into the bottom tier. Of course, they would have claimed to be the continuation of the spirit of the previous entity — but would anyone have argued against that? How different it could have been if the rules governing the game had been respected. The SFA may even have kept their dignity intact and the press not felt obliged to print half-truths, falsehoods and lies.
You’ve got to wonder why Dunfermline and Hearts fought so desperately to avoid liquidation. After all, the Scottish football authorities now seem intent on convincing us that liquidation has little or no effect on a football club. Even past sins, such as wrongly-registered players are as naught — if, at the time, they were thought to have been registered correctly. By this logic, we have to ask: if a ‘company’ running a ‘club’ bribes a referee, will retrospective action will be taken against the ‘club’. The players and the club, after all, will have done nothing wrong. And since the referee was not known to have been bribed, and not struck off, he was qualified to referee the match in question, at the time. Using the SFA thought process, the result would probably be allowed to stand. Personally, I’m not sure I follow SFA logic. They’ve ‘moved the goalposts’, and (you saw it coming) bent them into an unrecognisable shape.
Which brings me back to our garden. The old metal goal frame is waiting to be driven down to the local re-cycling centre. The twisted metal and worn-out net are useless. Ruined by forces beyond our control. There is no interest in a replacement at present. Perhaps, if we have grandchildren, they will show an interest in football. If they do, I’ll build a new set of goalposts. They’ll be straight and true, the way the goalposts of childhood should be. The way goalposts should always be.
Tif Finn says: (1194)
January 8, 2014 at 10:51 pm
nicely put.
Eco, your investigative piece really is very good, hope you billed Mr Spiers.
However, I would add a note of caution, when organisations are run by the same, basically self selecting, group for decades, as we have seen with the football authorities, good governance gets binned in favour of back scratching and personal relationships. It will, be interesting to see if anything crawls out into the light, once this investigation starts over turning rocks. I’m not making an anti-Labour point, the same problems arise regardless of political affiliation, its more about power being accumulated in a few hands over a long period of time.
Edit
To be clear, I don’t think Celtic have anything to worry about, I’m not so confident about some of the other entities, if other threads get pulled, it will be interesting to see where they go, but that’s probably beyond the scope of this forum!
It certainly stinks of an Irvine Plot! Why do the MSM suck up to this guy?
What an opportunity for PL to finally deliver a good “Boot Tae The Baws”, if ever one was needed now!
It’s an open goal surely?
Allyjambo says: (758)
January 8, 2014 at 9:11 pm
48 0 Rate This
Just because the story was ‘broken’ by CG on RM, doesn’t mean JI wasn’t behind it. He is much more clever at what he does than the Chris Grahams of this world, who are only too ready to jump whenever they are given dirt on Celtic, no matter where it comes from. Besides, does anyone think, for one moment, that Irvine doesn’t have his own people within every corner of every supporters’ organisation of TRFC, ready to put any story he wants into the likes of Chris Graham’s ear – in a way he thinks it’s his own genius that’s uncovered it?
———————————
You ain’t gonna like this, but to me – as an Englishman – what you wrote there is pretty insane.
Do you guys think the (very minor) PR guy Jack Irvin is some kind of Lord Voldemort??
You guys need to step back & get some kind of larger-world perspective on some of the crazy stuff you are coming up with here.
This ain’t ‘The Bourne Liquidation’ where he fetches up in charge of Margerita Holdings!
“Scottish Football Club linked to tax evasion shocker ”
That will be the headline aß more SPFL clubs are dragged into the mire. We shall find that 3 brickies who worked on the new st Mirren stadium several years ago may not have done a proper tax return on earnings.
Bauhaus says: (19)
January 8, 2014 at 11:37 pm
That’s a fair point. Mr Irvine is a big fish in a very small West Coast pond. A sort of West of Scotland Max Clifford, (before Max’s recent dificulties anyway)
Whoever this nomark Jack Irvine is – and he has no profile south of the border whatsoever – he must absolutely LOVE the status you guys are affording him on here, making him out to be the dark lord who pulls the strings of Scottish society.
To an outsider, it really does look like communal delusion.
The following makes it clear why Celtic referred to the Co-op loan in their statement today.
“Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will investigate reports that the Co-operative Bank provided exceptionally low interest rate loans and overdraft facilities to Celtic Football Club. [180784]
6 Jan 2014 : Column 160W
Sajid Javid [holding answer 19 December 2013]: Individual commercial loans are a matter for agreement between the parties concerned.
The Government has announced its intention to order an investigation into events at the Co-operative Bank and the circumstances surrounding them, under powers in the Financial Services Act 2012. The investigation will be led by an independent person. It will not begin and its detailed scope will not be confirmed until it is clear that it will not prejudice any actions the relevant authorities may take.”
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140106/text/140106w0006.htm#140106w0006.htm_wqn48
Gregory Campbell is the member of parliament for East Londonderry and represents the Democratic Unionist Party. Having read his wiki page I’m glad that he is not my MP. I do wonder though what interest he has in the Co-op Bank.
No1 Bob says: (84)
January 8, 2014 at 11:43 pm
Mr Campbell’s involvement comes as no great surprise he is allegedly a member of the Westminster Rangers supporters Club
“Campbell let the meeting into a secret – that a Rangers supporters club set up by MPs at Westminster has been working quietly behind the scenes to help Rangers.”
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/why-unionists-only-have-eyes-for-rangers-28726855.html
I think this thread started off with questions about Sate Aid?
wottpi says: (1383)
January 8, 2014 at 11:19 pm
8 0 Rate This
incredibleadamspark says: (61)
January 8, 2014 at 11:09 pm
As said earlier if Celtic have a case to answer then so be it as long as it is all fair and square.
Most of the taxi and pub talk is quickly ignored.
The question is why this story and why now?
———————-
wottpi:
From where I am the answer is “a load of The Rangers fans bombarded the EU Commission who have therefore initiated a low level informal probe according to their own rules”
There is an alternative theory that Jack Irvine has persuaded the Daleks, the Death Eaters and Dracula Prince of Darkness to concentrate their fire on Parkhead to squirrel attention away from the demise of The Rangers.
Take yer pick, mate
@theincredibleadamspark
The thing is, those who ran RFC have been found guilty on a number of counts, and thosr running TRFC are no better, so there is good reason to believe almost anything that’s put out there about them. The same cannot be said (with justfication, at least, though many are trying) about Celtic. Besides, if there should be a nasty shock around the corner for Celtic, they are in a financial position to ride out the storm. The same cannot be said of TRFC.
On the other hand, should, in the unlikely event, any impropriety by Celtic be uncovered, the disgrace would have a far greater impact on everyone involved with that club than has been shown by anyone involved with the Ibrox entities, by a long chalk. Not because Celtic are necessarily any more dignified than anyone else, but because all things Rangersness have been shown to be devoid of any knowledge of dignity at all.
Every day that goes by now reminds me of the scorpion and the frog fable,Jack being the scorpion and the smsm being the frog ,they deserve one another.
Billy Boyce says: (167)
January 8, 2014 at 9:51 pm
48 0 Rate This
According to the complainant(s), Celtic F.C. would appear to be the beneficiary of a land deal. To achieve this there had to be corruption and criminality on behalf of Glasgow City Council.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not just any Glasgow City Council but State organisations, which have historically been Labour controlled, hence the ‘links’ to former Labour Minister, John Reid and former Labour MP, Brian Wilson.
Apparently entire sections of the Union are in on it.
Has anyone told them that they can vote in favour of change on 18th September?
Bauhaus says:
January 8, 2014 at 11:42 pm
Whoever this nomark Jack Irvine is – and he has no profile south of the border whatsoever – he must absolutely LOVE the status you guys are affording him on here, making him out to be the dark lord who pulls the strings of Scottish society.
To an outsider, it really does look like communal delusion.
=========================================================
I don’t know why I’m responding, Bauhaus? Second thoughts, I won’t!
I was just going to eat a Topic tonight, but you’ve put me off it!
When the Scottish media publish hints of dodgy dealing involved with Celtic then you can be sure that the repeater is not a true reporter but merely a surrogate for the outpourings of Jack Irvine ( The Rangers spin master)
Jack always does this to take the edge of really bad news. The plan is simple Get the bears fulminating at the East End and they will ignore the South End. This portends really bad news and could even be the forerunner to the switcheroo to finish the spivs plan to fleece every last piund before skeedaddling to the Virgin Islands and Monaco.
@Bauhaus
Despite your insulting comment I will respond to your post at me.
If you think Jack Irvine is not up to your intellectual level, he is still way above the likes of Chris Graham’s, and more than capable of manipulating him. The fact you seem unable to grasp that leaves your own posts’ value questionable at the very least.
No one on here has a high opinion of Jack Irvine, but he is a snake well versed in all the dirty arts of PR, whether he is known in England or not.
Maybe we Celtic fans should stick our fingers in our ears, our heads in the sand and loudly sing “nothing to see here, move along”. Like The Rangers fans did over so many years.
Or maybe we could keep an open, inquisitive mind and see what, if anything, comes of the stories coming out at the current time.
I presume it is nonsense.
But a small part of me knows that the guys running Celtic are dyed in the wool capitalists and sometimes dyed in the wool capitalists simply can’t help themselves.
I certainly won’t give them unquestioning carte blanche & neither should any Celt.
Why would we??
Lord Wobbly says: (999)
January 8, 2014 at 11:54 pm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apparently this is my one thousandth post.
I’d better make it something memorable then. Something profound, relevatory even…
…bear with me…
Nope. I’ve got nothing.
Will re lavatory do? I’m quite good at toilet humour!
There is only one conclusion to draw from the Lennoxtown squirrel
The TRFC Administration is a racing cert
I’m losing track of how many agencies are involved in these land deals.
We have:
East Dunbartonshire Council
Glasgow City Council
Labour Party
Lib Dem Party
Glasgow Health Service
Have I missed anybody, or is it just the Tories and SNP that Celtic don’t have in their pocket?
Bauhaus says: (23)
January 8, 2014 at 11:42 pm
1 8 Rate This
Whoever this nomark Jack Irvine is – and he has no profile south of the border whatsoever – he must absolutely LOVE the status you guys are affording him on here, making him out to be the dark lord who pulls the strings of Scottish society.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What’s the matter with you? Haven’t you heard of Peter ‘Machiavelli’ Lawwell?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2536224/EXCLUSIVE-McCoist-feels-Ibrox-squeeze-1m-axe-falls-Rangers.html
Release them squirrels please Jack, yes my overlord it shall be done.
Lord Wobbly says: (1001)
January 9, 2014 at 12:19 am
6 0 Rate This
Lord Wobbly says: (999)
January 8, 2014 at 11:54 pm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apparently this is my one thousandth post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How come the above post has changed to become my 1001th?
Shirley this….
Lord Wobbly says: (1001)
January 9, 2014 at 12:40 am
…is my 1001th post1
Lord Wobbly says: (1002)
January 9, 2014 at 12:19 am
6 0 Rate This
Lord Wobbly says: (999)
January 8, 2014 at 11:54 pm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apparently this is my one thousandth post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now it’s my 1002nd! Whit’s goan oan?
Lord Wobbly says: (1003)
January 9, 2014 at 12:19 am
6 0 Rate This
Lord Wobbly says: (999)
January 8, 2014 at 11:54 pm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apparently this is my one thousandth post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1003rd!
I can keep this up all night you know!
LW – apologies for interrupting your conversation with yourself 😉 – but have you been celebrating your 1,000th post with a wee Balvenie?
I think we should be told…(better than talking about furry rodents anyway).
StevieBC says: (971)
January 9, 2014 at 12:54 am
0 0 Rate This
LW – apologies for interrupting your conversation with yourself – but have you been celebrating your 1,000th post with a wee Balvenie?
I think we should be told…(better than talking about furry rodents anyway).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not this time. Just some Chilean plonk. But I do at least know how many glasses. There’s nobody coming along at the back of me and changing the number of glasses that I thought I’d had! I think!!
Oldcobrokemyheartbycheating says: (112)
January 9, 2014 at 12:41 am
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2536224/EXCLUSIVE-McCoist-feels-Ibrox-squeeze-1m-axe-falls-Rangers.html
Release them squirrels please Jack, yes my overlord it shall be done.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It’s one thing to talk about cutting player and manager costs but difficult for a clumpany like Rangers to implement even when the Manager is all ready, willing and rarin’ to go for a cut! Something like Administration would make it all so much easier.
As for squirrels today it’s like there has been an infestation and that Bauhaus fella is certainly good at making contentious points. In one of his posts where he tries to ridicule JI involvement he suggests the next crazy idea is that JI will be revealed as the man behind Margherita Holdings. Weren’t the shares in MH transferred to ATP Investments a while back?
The latest one,Bauhaus,is good fun isn’t he? I mean,an English Celtic supporter who doesn’t know about Jack Voldemort even though he must visit Celtic blogs for club info,as the English MSM regard Scotland and its football clubs as some sort of quaint backwater.
He certainly doesn’t do his homework on this blog,or he would know his utterances will be forensically dissected.
He could also check info freely available about land deals round the East End of Glasgow.
All freely available.
All above board.
Or even check the credentials of a former Bank of England man who’s hand was on the tiller at Celtic Park.
Perhaps he likes a little spice with his financial advice–say like from a pornographer.
Mind you,that didn’t work for the Norwegian Blues in their former existence.
Tif Finn says: (1194)
January 8, 2014 at 10:38 pm
Our old friend Newtz, from this very site, is behind footballtaxhavens
He has been beavering away for a long time and I don’t think he is Jack Irvine’s puppet.
Jack Irvine and the Sevconians have just cottoned on to his work in recent weeks.
I’m shocked it took them this long.
I don’t believe it is all a Jack Irvine masterplan.
Newtz is a strange bird and it looks to me that Irvine has been alerted to the material and is now using his influence to properly propagate it.
Oldcobrokemyheartbycheating says: (112) January 9, 2014 at 12:41 am
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2536224/EXCLUSIVE-McCoist-feels-Ibrox-squeeze-1m-axe-falls-Rangers.html …
====================
And in that ‘Exclusive’ there is not one quote from McCoist – or from anyone connected to TRFC.
In fact, there are no quotes from anyone at all in that article.
So either McGarry dreamt it up…or he has just copied / pasted a PR piece – as instructed – for ‘bad news management’ purposes to soften up the bears.
Haven’t commented since the days of TRTC, but have kept up-to-date will all the excellent contributions to unmasking the corruption at the heart of Scottish football, the judiciary, the MSM, and basically, the Scottish Establishment – of ALL political hues. I think the appearance of Big Hoose, or Bauhaus, (aye, we geddit) and the desperate attempts to find a smear on Celtic means impending very bad news for the corrupted ones. Can’t hardly wait!
Bauhaus (23 total posts) mostly on a single subject where a “financial advisor” and his triple initialed sidekick are making a laughable attempt to smear a club and a business that is way beyond the aspirations of their joke outfit, in every way . To quote the great Louis C.K. “These dudes are nuttier than squirrel sh*t”
Sporting, financial, ethics ,morals, you name it , the desperado’s at The Rangers Standard wouldn’t recognise the right , and legal , way of achieving excellence in these area’s . That’s not entirely their fault. They have been happily spoon fed a diet of cheating, tax evasion, lying, deception and bigotry. They bought into it, lock stock and barrel. They had neither the business or financial intellect to realise they were part of the biggest cheating scandal in UK football history.
Having completely failed in their laughable attempts to unite the fanbase behind the requisitioners, and subsequently being dismissed by the victorious board as irrelevant nonentities, they are now engaged on yet another waste of time. Not only are they desperate and pathetic, they are serial losers.
It’s hardly like being written about by Woodward and Bernstein, more like Bert and Ernie !
StevieBC says: (972)
January 9, 2014 at 1:20 am
%%%%%
FROM THE ARTICLE:
McCoist acknowledged the need for belt-tightening last year when he agreed to have his salary halved from £824,000 until the club were playing in the Premiership.
Despite his willingness to sign this off, Sportsmail believes the board have yet to present him with the necessary paperwork.
£££££££££££
two things:
That’s a precise figure for Ally’s salary, either the writer made this up or he was given detailed info.
Sevco need to save £1M, Ally was willing to half his salary in Oct/Sept 13, the board have yet to action this, we are being asked to believe that the board, which is implementing austerity across the club, has, as a result of lethargy, foregone ±£400 000 (?!?).
Jack is playing a dangerous game, he’s trailing a significant ST price increase, a ‘come ‘n’ gettit!’ for cut price players, a spotlight on a land deal done between a club and a state owned bank,
http://www.scotzine.com/2013/02/charles-green-makes-some-outlandish-claims-to-expat-rangers-fans/
Interesting times.
As far as I can see from online editions, there are not any papers making a great deal of the supposed Celtic state aid claims. Either they think it’s nonsense or they’ve decided to play safe. Pity the BBC dived in – they should be better than that.
Sevco are going down the toilet faster than a Curry supper and all their support can do about it is complain about Honest businessmen making a stonking deal at another club.
Celtic have published accounts year on year nothing has been hidden no shredder has been on nightshift.
There is no substance to the story, none .
Ecobhoy Shredded the so -called story magnificently if the Sevco fans would read it they would know all the facts. But when you are drowning in shit I suppose grabbing a floater gives you a wee bit of hope.
On Celtic and their financial dealings.
I am more than happy to go with the judgement of Brian Quinn (et al), the man who rejected EBTs being used at Celtic park because he understood the reality and the rammifications.
If he got any of the land dealing stuff wrong and it is ruled that the club is guilty of some form of wrongdoing, whether deliberately or in error then the club will just have to deal with the consequences.
On The reported cut in the Rangers’ player wages budget of £1m, I’m afraid that has to be the tip of the iceberg. If that is all that budget is reduced by then they need to find the other £10m a year from elsewhere. Additional income or further cuts, and real cuts.
For perspective, a player on £5,000 a week is on roughly £250,000 a year. So the club would need to lose 4 of presumably it’s top players to meet that £1m target, whilst at the same time maintaining income.
It doesn’t add up chaps, and everyone but the most blinded , naive supporter knows it.
Funny how different outlests can report things
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-boss-ally-mccoist-relieved-3003316
Rangers boss Ally McCoist relieved as his squad survives Ibrox cuts.. so far
TALKS between McCoist and Ibrox chief executive Graham Wallace are expected to continue over the coming days but so far the manager hasn’t been told to sell any of his top stars.
ALLY McCOIST has not been ordered to start selling off his highest-paid players.
Record Sport can reveal the Rangers manager has held a series of crunch talks over the last 48 hours with chief executive Graham Wallace who is determined to drive through a range of costcutting measures in order to stave off another financial crisis.
But although the talks between the pair are expected to continue over the coming days, so far McCoist has not been told to raise cash by selling off star man Lee Wallace or any of his other big earners.
His current budget sits around the £6million mark and the manager has made it clear to new CEO Wallace that any further cuts to this sum could derail his attempt to lead Rangers back into the top flight at the first time of asking.
But Wallace must find a way to balance the books after 18 months of spending which has seen Rangers burn through almost all of the £22m raised from Charles Green’s IPO of December 2012, as well as two tranches of season-ticket cash worth in excess of £16m.
It’s estimated Wallace will need to find savings of around £1m a month just to steady the ship but so far McCoist has not been ordered to oversee a cull of his first-team squad.
If Wallace adopts a different stance in the coming days then his relationship with the manager, which has been relatively warm, could soon become a great deal more strained.
Meanwhile, Bilel Mohsni says his furious red card bust-up at Airdrie was a natural reaction, as he blasted the rough-house tactics of Rangers’ lower league rivals.
The Gers defender broke his silence after copping a second yellow card for a touchline rammy with Airdrie players and boss Gary Bollan after Rangers’ 1-0 win on January 2.
Moshni told the club’s website: “After the Airdrie game, I was happy we had won but I was a little bit upset as we had taken a lot of kicks.
“Their right-back swore at me so I swore back at him which I know was stupid but I did it. Their manager walked straight to me and was swearing at me so I swore back at him too.
“I reacted and other players will react in the future because we are human beings.”
Bauhaus says: (23)
January 9, 2014 at 12:24 am
Allyjambo says: (760)
January 9, 2014 at 12:05 am
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I don’t agree the JI is a “squirrel”. Perception becomes reality and JI is setting the agenda. For example, the word “NewCo” did not appear in the newspapers by accident. Clearly NewCo was preferred to “New Club”. Lazy and weak minds can be influenced and the SMSM were only too happy to jump onto a word universally when they had none of their own. This ultimately set the stage to introduce the lie that only the company died and not the club. This lie has so often retold that many people accept it as fact unquestioningly. It was a coordinated campaign and I do not doubt for a second that JI was behind it and pushing the agenda.
JI is known to strategically place good and bad news stories about his clients and their competitors. Details of this only come to light years later. The journalists involved likely didn’t have any idea JI was behind it. That’s how he works. It generates a certain amount of paranoia here, but I think that is healthy. Question everything.
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/989/6ao2.png
Celtic’s turn to be suspended I mean expelled I mean liquidated, anything , please
If he doesn’t get anywhere with his MP he could write to the lead singer of Echo and the Bunnymen
(Oldies might get that one)
Dear Echo ….
Funnily enough its as if theres an echo the way this nonsense recycled land and loan guff is wheeled out and you could say theres something funny here but not ‘ha ha’ funny.
Echo and the funny men
“Dear Mr Echo”, shurely. 🙂
Regardless of whether there is anything in the land deal story or not, the reaction of some Celtic supporters – “Disgraceful that this is on the BBC, no-one should talk about this, this damages the club’s brand” – exactly mirrors the attitude of Rangers fans three years ago.
Can we not learn from history?
There is nothing to be feared from the truth.
Bauhaus @ 9.18am
😆 but even when the ‘truth’ came out the team in blue’s fans ( don’t know what name the club/company are using at the moment) still did not accept that their team had been guilty???? I also welcome a full investigation into Celtic’s finances 😉 as you say there is nothing to fear from the truth 🙂 is that why super salary has fear in his eyes????
Bauhaus,
I’m a first time poster/long term lurker to this site.
But your tireless quest over the past few hours motivated me to come out of the shadows, so to speak. The post you have been referred to by Ecobhoy, should illuminate you as to the workings of the Lennoxtown deal.
I’m not sure why you are still insisting that Celtic and Celtic fans should ‘welcome the truth’ – the Club itself came out last night and rubbished the claims made and were quite open in their statement?
As you’re a Celtic fan, I salute your courage, your strength, and your indefatigability on this issue. It’s that “spark” which permitted Celtic & and it fans to overthrow its destructive board in the mid 1990s and usher in a new era.
While this decade, on the other hand the world has witnessed the death of Rangers, while it’s fans stood idly by seeing how things would ‘pan out’.
If only Rangers fans had your gumption, eh?
Bauhaus says: (24)
January 9, 2014 at 9:18 am
4 5 Rate This
===========================
Its always good for a blog like this to have some dissenting voice but some of your comments haven’t been the most informed IMO.
I suppose its understandable that someone living south of the border may be completely unaware of JI or MH and what they do but I think you underestimate them somewhat if you think its simply impossible for them to be involved in the propagation of stories to suit their paymasters agenda – even at BBC Scotland.
As for having no profile in England I think you might find some Politicians and businessmen in England will be only too aware of Mr Irvine and his methods.
Its also understandable that living out of the reach of the Scottish Media day to day you will likely be unaware of exactly the tone and style of their reporting on Scottish Football so again perhaps its difficult for you to put people’s suspicions into context and they may appear a little OTT.
I’m not convinced this particular squirrel was created or started by any PR people – seems quite simply to have been prompted by Rangers Fans with a sad, twisted agenda but i’d say its entirely possible that once out there certain “PR” people will use it as they need – its really as simple as making a call to a friendly reporter who either shares your agenda, owes a favour, fears some consequence of not towing the line or perhaps a combination of all 3.
That’s not conclusive in anyway and tbh i’m inclined to say I agree that some posters have reacted too quickly to condemn the BBC for reporting this but I undertsand why they do.
As you have said – there should be little to fear in the truth. But then I suppose that assume the unvarnished truth will see the light of day and that light won’t be passed through any prism’s en route through our MSM.
The problem for some time appears that the accurate reporting of the truth is at a premium in Scottish news reporting.
Bauhaus says: (24)
January 9, 2014 at 9:18 am
Regardless of whether there is anything in the land deal story or not, the reaction of some Celtic supporters – “Disgraceful that this is on the BBC, no-one should talk about this, this damages the club’s brand” – exactly mirrors the attitude of Rangers fans three years ago.
Can we not learn from history?
==================
Yes we can. Story released on extremely questionable factual basis – the reason there was not a 1 hour long BBC expose’ on it. (What is an unforseen expose’ by the way?). Limited facts completely rubbished on a factual basis by one of our own contributors. Not seeing any rebuttal of these claims, just a constant fairly tiresome stream of claims that “you deny it by not reporting it so therefore it must be true?”
Apologies if I have picked you up wrong on that.
More importantly …..
briggsbhoy says: (781)
January 8, 2014 at 11:38 pm
“Scottish Football Club linked to tax evasion shocker ”
That will be the headline aß more SPFL clubs are dragged into the mire. We shall find that 3 brickies who worked on the new st Mirren stadium several years ago may not have done a proper tax return on earnings.
==============
If it was only 3 now that would be a shocker!
Brenda
I think you will find that if there is any wrongdoing associated with Rangers then some rrogue element is to blame and if anything Rangers are the victims as much as anyone else. It was David Murray or Craig Whyte or Charles Green or Imran Ahmad or Brian Stockbridge or Sandy Easdale or any number of people to blame. Rangers have been the victim of a fraud.
If any wrongdoing is associated with Celtic then it is the club which is to blame.
I thought that was common knowledge.
@AndyGraham.66 Makes you wonder mate..!!
I won’t discuss the merits of a lot of gers fans deflecting the seriousness of their own clubs predicament and teflon-ing techniques to rake up anything about celtic or other clubs for that matter.
One thing I would say is it is clear the siege mentality still exists and there are no signs of it going and at any opportunity the rangers fans will break into a collective shield rattling exercise.
Blanking out the daily horrors down Govan way in favour of any negative crumb of nonsensical fiction agin any other club is their novocaine for the soul to quote a great song title.
I encourage any official investigations into ANY/ALL Celtic affairs. Maybe there are similar angles that the authorities might want to make an assault on the general goings on down Ibrox way.
The fact that rangers supporting NI MPs are involved in these allegations just opens up the whole corruption piece to a new level.. I am sure most MPs would be open to a bit of financial probing into their own affairs.
I really just feel the rangers are in injury time trying to take the cup tie into extra time.
Tif Finn @ 10.12 am
Of course 😆
Fisiani says: (60)
January 9, 2014 at 12:01 am
When the Scottish media publish hints of dodgy dealing involved with Celtic then you can be sure that the repeater is not a true reporter but merely a surrogate for the outpourings of Jack Irvine ( The Rangers spin master)
Jack always does this to take the edge of really bad news. The plan is simple Get the bears fulminating at the East End and they will ignore the South End. This portends really bad news and could even be the forerunner to the switcheroo to finish the spivs plan to fleece every last piund before skeedaddling to the Virgin Islands and Monaco.
================================================================
You’ve got it in 1 😎
Interesting watching the ‘tone’ of some comments about the land deals – all these ‘worried’ Celtic supporters popping-up. I’ve been around the scene for decades and through some really really rough times at Celtic but one thing has always remained the same and that’s that there has always been a large core of Celtic supporters prepared to call the Parkhead Suits to account by using facts rather than thinly disguised sectarian bile.
I had actually thought there was a slight possibility that Rangers might survive this season by the skin of their teeth but in view of the size of the defelction exercise being mounted I’m beginning to think seriously bad news is coming from down Govan Way.
But to those ‘worried’ about this bogus complaint – why not have a laugh and investigate the ‘evidence’ like I did with Lennoxtown. It will show you that either the ‘educated’ Bears are stupid or indeed the whole thingf is a PR deflection tactic. It could even be a combination of both.
Celtic will be vindicated and whatever doom is about to befall Rangers will have taken place and the focus of the SMSM will have moved on – or is it bacwards – to ensuring Rangers are returned to their ‘Rightful Place’.
Given the sectarian morivation behind the bogus claims I think that Rangers are well on their way to sinking to their traditional place in Scottish Football.
@Fisiani, Eco, couldn’t agree more boys, these stories have been around a few month’s now obviously it’s time to add the arms and legs and get backing from equally biased men in power. Timing is everything..
Eco your point about the Celtic fans ‘prepared to call the parkhead suits to account’ is spot on, maybe due to our own troubles pre-the bunnet…
Ironically I am sure just before wee Fergus came to the rescue there were a lot of gers fans suggesting the Celtic support were very quiet and passive when it came to remonstrating with the board way back (unlike rangers, probably in the Greig managerial shift pre-Murray).. On a similar vein the ‘paranoid’ tag Celtic and fans were brushed with a few years back seems to have shifted down Govan way. Karma is a funny thing right enough. 😉
Bauhaus says: (24)
January 9, 2014 at 9:18 am
Regardless of whether there is anything in the land deal story or not, the reaction of some Celtic supporters – “Disgraceful that this is on the BBC, no-one should talk about this, this damages the club’s brand” – exactly mirrors the attitude of Rangers fans three years ago.
Can we not learn from history?
==================================================
It’s not disgraceful that the BBC or anyone else should report the story. But there is an onus to check the facts. If you check the history you will find that the few truthful stories printed about Rangers by SMSM have stood the test of time because they were factually correct.
This stuff is fabricated nonsense and history will prove that to be the case. I don’t think many Celtic supporters will be that worried about ‘Brand’ damage as we don’t need a ‘Brand’ to claim continuity. We actually have a continuing club with an unbroken history and I thought that you as a self-confessed Celtic supporter would be proud of that and recognise how that differentiates us from the team currently playing out of Ibrox.
The other difference is that if our Board were to be found guilty of any dodgy dealings then they would be forced out because the Celtic Fans would be in the carpark until they went and were replaced with people of integrity.
I have absolute confidence in this Board having clean hands in this affair and it really seems such a shame that idiots and a PR Campaign could cause a helluva lot of damage to Glasgow, Scotland and the Commonwealh Games and cast us in the light of a banana Republic.
And all to keep the unsustainable business model limping along at Ibrox to feed the sectarian supremacy sickness that has infected the place for decades. Yes history will eventually lay the full story bare and it won’t be a pretty tale.
Just had a wee peek at RM…first time this year. Every thread is laced with references to the land deal, the excitement of the Bears is luminous, I fear they will be disappointed, and this reddest of herrings will leave them nursing another dimension to their faux sense of persecution. It did get me thinking how they would react if CFC had fiddled their taxes for decades?….or suffered Liquidation?….or had a sectarian signing policy for the best part of a century?….or snaffled some charity cash?…..or openly greased officials at the SFA?…or we’re sold for a £?
From a Pancho Gonazales on twitter:
“If one of my nearest was at deaths door I’d be right beside them holding their hand.Not raking through the neighbours bin for gossip. #sevco”
How apt.
Ecobhoy 10.20
My money is on a combination of both. 🙂
Angus1983 says: (1317)
January 9, 2014 at 9:17 am
“Dear Mr Echo”, shurely. 🙂
======================================
SIR! will be quite acceptable 😀
ecobhoy says: (2199)
January 9, 2014 at 10:35 am
Bauhaus says: (24)
January 9, 2014 at 9:18 am
Regardless of whether there is anything in the land deal story or not, the reaction of some Celtic supporters – “Disgraceful that this is on the BBC, no-one should talk about this, this damages the club’s brand” – exactly mirrors the attitude of Rangers fans three years ago.
Can we not learn from history?
==================================================
It’s not disgraceful that the BBC or anyone else should report the story. But there is an onus to check the facts. If you check the history you will find that the few truthful stories printed about Rangers by SMSM have stood the test of time because they were factually correct.
This stuff is fabricated nonsense and history will prove that to be the case. I don’t think many Celtic supporters will be that worried about ‘Brand’ damage as we don’t need a ‘Brand’ to claim continuity. We actually have a continuing club with an unbroken history and I thought that you as a self-confessed Celtic supporter would be proud of that and recognise how that differentiates us from the team currently playing out of Ibrox.
The other difference is that if our Board were to be found guilty of any dodgy dealings then they would be forced out because the Celtic Fans would be in the carpark until they went and were replaced with people of integrity.
I have absolute confidence in this Board having clean hands in this affair and it really seems such a shame that idiots and a PR Campaign could cause a helluva lot of damage to Glasgow, Scotland and the Commonwealh Games and cast us in the light of a banana Republic.
And all to keep the unsustainable business model limping along at Ibrox to feed the sectarian supremacy sickness that has infected the place for decades. Yes history will eventually lay the full story bare and it won’t be a pretty tale.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I agree with what you say and as for the BBC thing to me it’s a simple case of “something happened today about Celtic. Is it News? Yes – ok lets report it”. Reporting and analysing are two seperate things.
The annoying thing is that with the “story” being all over RM etc then it is implanted into the cultural lexicon of Rangers fables and even after the myth has been debunked there will still be bears going around repeating the slurs as gospel and in doing so the purpose of the myth generators will have been served. It does nothing to further the interests of Rangers, Celtic or Scottish football but then that’s not what RM etc are really in business to do.
@Bauhaus
Regardless of whether there is anything in the land deal story or not, the reaction of some Celtic supporters – “Disgraceful that this is on the BBC, no-one should talk about this, this damages the club’s brand” – exactly mirrors the attitude of Rangers fans three years ago.
Can we not learn from history?
There is nothing to be feared from the truth.
=================================================================================
For the avoidance of doubt…
1. I think most/all Celtic fans are fine with any official investigation into Celtic’s probity (plus all the other bodies involved in any dealings with Celtic). There are no more critical of those running Celtic than the Celtic fans IMO.
2. I believe most/all Celtic fans and other non rangers fans see this as a bit of idle deflection on the larger issues in Scottish football, mainly affecting rangers, strangely enough.
3. Most who know about the rangers saga have seen similar tactics before come out of Ibrox and their doctors of spin often trying to conceal the real goings on at rangers.
4. Re: Damaging the Celtic brand, MSM often just throw out some part of a story to sell interest in their product, especially for the rangers fans in THIS case as it provides welcome respite to their own precarious predicament. It’s not the first time, I am sure you as a Celtic fan can recount much of the same thru the years and it won’t be the last. Lazy journalism is rife in Scottish sport/football, nothing new there.
The strategy of the media outlets won’t change much.. Get a headline that sounds scandalous and ‘EXCLUSIVE’, you gotta laugh at that and it brings attention to their product for a short while, apart from a few good Journo’s it’s pretty much the general MO of the meeja these days. Most stories can be gleaned from sites like this one, cheap news articles.
RayCharlez says: (68)
January 9, 2014 at 1:16 am
Tif Finn says: (1194)
January 8, 2014 at 10:38 pm
Our old friend Newtz, from this very site, is behind footballtaxhavens
He has been beavering away for a long time and I don’t think he is Jack Irvine’s puppet.
Jack Irvine and the Sevconians have just cottoned on to his work in recent weeks.
I’m shocked it took them this long.
I don’t believe it is all a Jack Irvine masterplan.
Newtz is a strange bird and it looks to me that Irvine has been alerted to the material and is now using his influence to properly propagate it.
==============================================
I’m personally surprised at that claim and tbh I find it hard to believe that the excellent forensic abilities of Newtz would have let him make the obvious mistakes the creator of the land deal rubbish has made.
Please PM me if you have anything to add on this subject which you may not want to state in public as I would be interested in anything that backs up your statement.
There has been talk here of the possibility of property assets being transferred from a subsidiary to a holding company in satisfaction of debts owed by the subsidiary to the holding company. In near-insolvency situations, the important point to look at is whether any such transaction could be challenged as an “unfair preference” either under Section 243 of the Insolvency Act 1986 or at common law.
The law of unfair preference in Scotland strikes at transactions carried out on the eve of an insolvency event by a company where those transactions have the effect of favouring a particular creditor to the prejudice of the other creditors.
Let us assume that a company called Football 2 Limited is not doing well financially. Football 2 Limited has only one asset – its property – valued at £8m. It owes money to only three creditors –
(i) its holding company (£10m debt);
(ii) HMRC (£5m debt); and
(iii) Supplierco (£3m debt).
So in balance sheet terms it is insolvent (-£10m).
You might think that Football 2 Limited and its holding company could agree that, in return for the transfer of the property asset to the holding company, the holding company could agree to write off the whole of its debt. That might appear to be OK because (i) the holding company is owed a lot; and (ii) Football 2 Limited is actually better off (in net asset terms) as a result of the transaction (it has extinguished £10m of debt in return for giving up an asset worth only £8m). You would think it has a £2m benefit by that transaction.
When Football 2 Limited goes into liquidation or administration, it now has only £8m worth of creditors but no assets – so there is now a shortfall of £8m. Contrast that with the position that would have applied had it not carried out the property transaction – it had £18m worth of creditors (and an asset worth £8m) – so a deficit of £10m. It would appear that the property transaction has made the position better rather than worse.
However such a property transaction is likely to be challenged by the liquidator or administrator as an unfair preference. The reason for this is fairly simple.
Consider the position of HMRC before and after the property transaction. Before, it was a creditor holding 5/18ths of the total debt and thus, in an insolvency, would be entitled to 5/18ths of the assets (I’m ignoring the costs of the insolvency process itself for simplicity). That would have meant 5/18ths of £8m (assuming the property is sold for £8m in the insolvency) = £2.22m. After the property transaction, HMRC are now owed 5/8ths of the total debt and would therefore be entitled to 5/8ths of the realisations in the insolvency. Unfortunately because the property asset is no longer in the insolvent company, there are no realisations. So HMRC are clearly worse off. Being entitled to a higher percentage of zero is worse than being entitled to a smaller percentage of 1.
Contrast that with the position of the holding company. It has received 8/10ths of its debt value. Clearly the transaction has the effect of preferring the holding company, to the prejudice of the other creditors.
There are defences available to the recipients of unfair preferences. However the most common defences broadly require either that a debt is paid in cash when it is due and payable, or that the transaction is in the ordinary course of business. Transferring a property asset to a creditor is neither payment of a debt in cash, nor is it in the ordinary course of business.
Finally, unlike the position with wrongful trading, unfair preference actions can be brought by creditors, not just by liquidators or administrators.
Well then, Alistair.
Looks like your generous £10,000 investment may soon be worth a paltry £300,000.
It is indeed fortunate that you made this sacrifice to help save the club you love rather than as a cynical, almost spiv-like, corpse stripping manoeuvre.
Squirrel Satay
Well, looks like the Lennoxtown squirrel is snared, skinned and satayed. If it was meant to be a smoke screen for bad news – if failed miserably – so what next ?
Meanwhile the RIFC share price drifts ever lower on very light trading – getting dangerously close to the psychological barrier of 30p this morning. http://www.lse.co.uk/ShareTrades.asp?shareprice=RFC&share=rangers_int
I’m not sure the share price matters much anymore – except to the little guys who invested their hard-earned out of loyalty to their “club”. I’m afraid they’ve been snared, skinned and satayed by the spivs. Increasingly I regard Mr McCoist as the biggest spiv of all.
A wee bit of seasonal cheer (bit late, but it is good to be reminded).
Over the festive period one of Mrs Zilch’s distant relations over in the East End posted a wee message on Facebook that I would like to share….
Sitting in the house of an afternoon, there is a knock at the door and her cousin’s wife answers to find two blokes on the doorstep.
“Hello. We are from Celtic Football Club and we would like to wish you and your husband a Merry Christmas. All the Best”, they hand over a brown envelope and walk off.
Slightly stunned, she goes back upstairs and finds £200 in the envelope. Later finds out that the club have asked local schools to nominate families that could do with a wee helping hand and they were suggested.
The family are not fans or connected in any way to the club. However, the money helped a lot at a very difficult time of year, and was very welcome.
Only reason I know it happened is they wanted to tell people about their good fortune.
Celtic are far from perfect and I will criticise them wherever and whenever I see them getting it wrong. However, I have to say that I think they are also doing a lot of things right and my hat goes off to them for this kind of initiative.
Brown envelope payments: not always a bad thing!
Happy New Year to all you Bampots
GeronimosCadillac says: (167)
January 9, 2014 at 1:13 am
As for squirrels today it’s like there has been an infestation and that Bauhaus fella is certainly good at making contentious points. In one of his posts where he tries to ridicule JI involvement he suggests the next crazy idea is that JI will be revealed as the man behind Margherita Holdings. Weren’t the shares in MH transferred to ATP Investments a while back?
==============================================================
I didn’t think JI had the money to throw-away investing in a loss-making football club and even if he did I don’t see him being that stupid. Why invest money in shares which don’t pay a dividend when you/your company is getting paid tens of thousands from the football club without any risk to you own capital.
And you’re quite right that the Margarita shares were transferred to ATP back in early summer 2012 and yet just a few weeks ago the Rangers offishal website is announcing that the Margarita share proxy is held by Easdale. Just can’t get my head round that one and is anyone in SMSM interested – Of course not ❗
Amazing though that down in England a Celtic supporter who appears not to know much about the major football topic in Scotland for the last couple of years links JI to Margarita and why because the issue with Margarita is one for the obsessives like myself. All very strange. I hope that no Celtic fan is daft enough to make the link suggested by Bauhaus as there isn’t a shred of evidence to justify it 😯
Looking back over at events in Sevconia in the last 2-3 years, the thing that stands out for me and for any other sane , neutral observer is how desprately adrift and lost the “the rangers” fans really are.
They remind me of the scene in “The life of Brian ” , when Brian is being chased by the crowd and falls into the hermits hole in the ground . He then tells them to “f**k off” only to be met with brilliant , “but sire ,how should we f**k off? ”
Observing this behaviour has brought me to a couple of conclusions. Both should be worrying for any fan in blue.
1. The majority of the sevco fans are of the “how should we f**k off”bracket. Totally unable to veer from blindly following the leaders. This in turn has made the intelligent fans walk away , having the sense to realise that mob rule is all that counts but the mobs strings are being invisibly pulled.
2. This part in my opinion is the bit where all fans in blue should really wake up and realise who has created this monster. It is not” rangers haters “,” timmy” or any other assortment of “enemies” who have done this but much much closer to home .
Ask yourself the question . Who would know how the fans think and would react?
Take a minute over it.
Not every clubs fans react like them, In fact Id struggle to think of any others .
So , The people who came in , Whyte , Ahmed , Green etc. they wouldnt know . They wouldnt have a clue how to manipulate a Scottish football teams fanbase unless they were informed by those in the know and very well informed, to convince them it could be pulled off.
No . The only people who would have this knowledge and would be able to convince outsiders of how easy it would be to manage and fleece the hordes would be “real Rangers men” . Remember the ji “john greig thick” moment. You can bet those who started this whole ball rolling 3-4 years ago have the exact same opinion of the entire fanbase. Mugs to be fleeced . Nothing more.
How ironic is that. A club built on arrogance and supremacy being betrayed by its own people and ultimately destroying itself with its delusional ideas of “where it belongs”
My thoughts? It belongs , hopefully where its going .Oblivion.
In a 21st century Scotland , theres no place for ANY of the values , if we can call them that, coming out of that place down Govan way.
Bauhaus, I understand you have doubts over JI’s influence?
May I suggest you pick a random ‘good news’ story about Sevco or a random ‘bad news’ story about Celtic. Then simply read these stories on a number of news outlets’ sites and look for not even similar but identical phrasing.
Then ask yourself who gave the news outlets these ‘stories’?
Re. Mail article;
So a business running at a loss in excess of £1m/month thinks it can be turned around by reducing costs by £1m/year.
No wonder they’re in the mess they are……..
Cheats then (RIP), Liars now, Disgrace forever.
Well the joke running at 3 Rangers Int. shares for a pound looks like becoming old hat.
Fourfurrapound at least has an alliterative ring to it.
I am no believer in the long term viability of brand Rangers but I have come to conclusion that all this talk of iminent Sevco administration is bunk.
Given Stockbridge’s closeness to the management accounts and taking him at his word (I know) that there will be £1m left in the bank at April then surely the name of the game is to get them to ST renewal in May/June. Surely this would be achievable with cuts of only about £3m?
They can then put up STs by 50% which should close the monthly deficit to about £0.5m from £1m assuming other costs do not rise. It means that they would still run out of money sometime during 2014/15 – unless they can find a credit facility that can cover the £6m or so. Perhaps not impossible for a better run Rangers on a cusp of a return to the top flight?
However if Ally blows it in the Championship then it would be curtains….
@rantinrobin
Well the joke running at 3 Rangers Int. shares for a pound looks like becoming old hat.
Fourfurrapound at least has an alliterative ring to it.
=================================================================================
threefurrapound, always good value, fourfurrapound even better but like the boy at the EGM questioned… ‘Where’s ma penny shares!?’, maybe in the next couple of weeks his question will be duly answered..
ecobhoy says: (2201)
January 9, 2014 at 11:02 am
Surprised at this myself. Had a quick look at that site and it’s archive material and it’s basically just loads of negative stories, or more to the point hatchet jobs, about Celtic or people who are connected with Celtic. Far removed from anything newtz posted on here, the complete opposite in fact.
It’s hard to believe this could be the same person, but then when it comes to Sevco and it’s accolytes, nothing is ever as it seems.
seminal says: (16)
January 9, 2014 at 11:46 am
Perhaps not impossible for a better run Rangers on a cusp of a return to the top flight?
===========================================================================
Seminal – well reasoned – but if the intention of the RIFC owners (known and unknown) was to run a tight-ship, sustainable football club, they would have controlled costs from the outset – not wait until the verge of Administration. I agree it was possible – but difficult – in my opinion it is now past the point of difficult and would require a miracle.
I think you need to look at the evidence of the owners’ basic motivation as witnessed by their actions – and that should send a chill through the heart of every bear – because all the signs are that football is the last thing on their list of priorities.
One unforeseen outcome from the furore around the EU Investigation may well be that, PL starts to apply the same rigour he brings to his duties at Celtic, to his duties at the SFA.
Now that would be good for Scottish Football
Bauhaus says: (24)
January 8, 2014 at 11:42 pm
Whoever this nomark Jack Irvine is – and he has no profile south of the border whatsoever – he must absolutely LOVE the status you guys are affording him on here, making him out to be the dark lord who pulls the strings of Scottish society. To an outsider, it really does look like communal delusion
———————————————————————————————————
@Bauhaus
As you probably know – once the journo or media spinner actually becomes known and part of the story then their usefulness/effectiveness declines. Think Coulson and Clifford. People involved in the kind of work that Jack does operate well under the radar for obvious reasons which usually centre round the anonymity of their client and often a need for secrecy for their activities.
To label JI a ‘nomark’ is interesting considering you profess to know basically nothing about him. I might not agree with a lot of what Irvine does but he’s good at his job although sometimes it can be very difficult to disentangle from outside just exactly what his task actually is and who he primarily represents.
I think the fairly recent publicity which winged his way courtesy of CF material has greatly damaged him professionally IMO but he can still be useful to a ‘damaged’ Ibrox company.
However don’t fret and believe yourself to be an ‘outsider’ because as you proclaim yourself to be a Celtic Supporter then you are automatically a member of the ‘Celtic Family’ and as such a part of the wider Scottish Football family some of which truly suffer a ‘communal delusion’ these days but they tend to be Bears.
And just for the record there is a difference between according someone ‘status’ and recognising their capabilities for good or evil. Most informed Scottish football fans are well able to make that distinction wrt JI and strangely enough that includes the vast mahjority of Bears who, on that issue, are at one with what you refer to as a ‘communal delusion’.
Matteo Galy says: (48)
January 9, 2014 at 11:58 am
ecobhoy says: (2201)
January 9, 2014 at 11:02 am
Surprised at this myself. Had a quick look at that site and it’s archive material and it’s basically just loads of negative stories, or more to the point hatchet jobs, about Celtic or people who are connected with Celtic. Far removed from anything newtz posted on here, the complete opposite in fact.
It’s hard to believe this could be the same person, but then when it comes to Sevco and it’s accolytes, nothing is ever as it seems.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I had a browse through some of the posts on there. It is clear the author of them has very little grasp of basic accounting rules or the principles of land valuation, likes hyperbole and has an agenda against Celtic. I could list and analyse the various deep rooted misunderstandings which underlie most of the posts I read but I won’t waste your time. I’m surprised Celtic haven’t gone legal as many of the issues raised could impact on the share price.