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.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25736543
And so it begins….
Bang on again Phil you must be using that fine reporter’s Jackson’s crystal ball. Be interesting the spin the papers put on this, the we told you so theme ridiculous.
Oldcobrokemyheartbycheating says:
January 15, 2014 at 12:04 am
Indeed. I would be lost without the clairvoyant assistance of Mr Jackson…
So the austerity begins….
justshatered says:
January 14, 2014 at 10:54 pm
‘…How much could you sell storage land 7 miles from Glasgow Airport, 35 miles from Prestwick Airport, rapid access to the M8, M74, and M77 motorways to transport goods all over Scotland and to Northern Ireland. So if you were a cargo, or shipping, company how much would you pay for this land…’
——–
And it is not too fanciful to imagine that our USA trucking man might have been thinking along the same lines. A cheap way into the European haulage market.
I kinda liked that guy,too.
justshatered says:
January 14, 2014 at 10:54 pm
MP, 38 acres in Milngavie.
I know, protected, aye right, when East Dunbartonshire cooncil are £300 million in a hole with uncounted pension liabilities on top of that. Probably not until after the referendum, but then everything will be for sale.
Laxey may have enough clout with banks to force this and planners and Holyrood will be more than happy to support our vital property bubble industry. I’ve always thought MP was the more easily liquified asset and it may mean TRFC can rent Ibrox at a more affordable rent short term if laxeys can get some quick cash from MP sale. Maybe.
I think it is going to be very difficult for TRFC to cut the player wage bill to a sustainable level. How many of the players will get a better deal elsewhere? Very few I’d imagine. It may be easy to get the fans to part with their cash but I’d doubt the agent advised players would be such an easy task. Loan deals and selling off the few prized assets maybe, but that would make them a pretty poor team to compete in the challenges they have ahead of them.
TSFM says:
January 15, 2014 at 11:59 pm
‘…I think we have paid Paul the greatest of respect with this tribute .’
———–
And, indeed, a tribute indicative of the understanding of most of us that Paul’s approach to the ‘saga’ was the essence of fair-mindedness and balance, looking at how actual facts sat in relation to Articles of Association and SPL rules, and the many contradictory , blustering utterances of those whom the rest of us agree in calling shysters and spivs.
He was Ciceronian.
That makes him a good guy, in my book. Worthy of emulation.
fara1968 says:
January 15, 2014 at 12:41 am
Time is short for all of this to come into alignment.
Possible, but a very tight schedule.
PhilMacGiollaBhain on January 15, 2014 at 1:15 am
1 1 Rate This
fara1968 says:
January 15, 2014 at 12:41 am
Time is short for all of this to come into alignment.
Possible, but a very tight schedule.
——————————————–
Indeed it would be very tight. Unless of course they do business another way in the ides of February.
With all due respect Phil – I now only look at attributable, named quotes wrt TRFC.
The linked BBC article references:
“A spokesman for the Rangers board told BBC Scotland:”
No quote from the CEO. No quote from the manager.
On face value – I take this BBC story with a pinch of salt.
…although of course, it is a no brainer that McCoist has to cut his playing – and coaching staff – costs drastically.
StevieBC says:
January 15, 2014 at 2:07 am
Sorry, but that’s a very quick way to burn a source.
Sometimes you have to run the story without an attributed quote.
fara1968 says:
January 15, 2014 at 2:06 am
0 0 Rate This
There are issues with going the controlled insolvency route-but that’s for another day 😉
Currently sat offshore thinking if the changes to Loan players rules which changed very recently have been done because Austerity is about to hit a first division clumpany?
@TyroneSTV: STVNorthSport tonight Dundee Chief Exec Scot Gardiner launches stinging attack on the SPFL over lack of clarity of its rules on loan players
@TyroneSTV: Gardiner says they were penalised under the old loan rules, saying the decision to change them during the Jan window was ‘inexplicable’
Seems our good friend Stuart Regan just cannot help himself………….
The Clumpany @TheClumpany 5h
The back page of the Record is an insult to all 41 non-Sevco teams in the SPFL
http://twitpic.com/dsa91q
Edit to add
Also in Scotsman…….
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/regan-backs-wallace-to-sort-rangers-finances-out-1-3268644
SFA chief executive Stewart Regan has backed his counterpart at Rangers, Graham Wallace, to get the club back on a sound financial footing, admitting that he hopes the remedial work at Ibrox is successful for the sake of Scottish football.
Wallace has undertaken a 120-day business review charged with establishing ways to plug the holes that are resulting in monthly losses that may be as high as £1 million. This week the former Blackburn Rovers chief operating officer hired Philip Nash, who was financial director at Liverpool for five years until last February, as a consultant.
Regan said yesterday he had met Wallace at matches and spoken to him informally on numerous occasions since his arrival at Ibrox in November. Their next correspondence could be of the formal variety, as all SFA member clubs must submit audited accounts to Hampden by 31 March as part of their application for a licence for next season.
The SFA tried to help Rangers after the oldco went into liquidation in June 2012 by recommending to the now-defunct SFL that the new incarnation of the club be granted permission to re-enter the game in the second, rather than fourth, tier. That plea fell on deaf ears but Regan remains acutely aware of the value to the product he oversees of a Rangers resurgence.
“As far as Rangers’ position is concerned, clearly there is a lot of work that Graham Wallace is putting in place to get the club back to a stronger place and I sincerely hope he’s successful, as it’s good for Scottish football to have the club back on a firm financial footing,” said Regan yesterday.
“He needs all the support he can get to get that in place. It’s a big challenge. But Rangers together with the other 41 clubs in the SPFL will go through the audit process. The audit takes place at the back end of the year and they then have a licensing meeting at the back end of March and by 31 March they have to have submitted all the audited management accounts and so on in order to comply.
“We’ll wait and see what comes in. I know Graham’s got a big job on and I hope he can get the success that he obviously requires. We’ve spoken to Graham in the way you would speak to most of the clubs that have got challenges ahead of them, and I’ve seen him at games. So we’ve had an opportunity to talk about some of the challenges he faces. You can’t underestimate the work he’s got ahead of him.”
More from Stuart Regan on his favourite topic…….
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/not-the-end-of-the-world-at-least-as-he-knew-it.23179317
Not the end of the world, at least as he knew it
Michael Grant
Chief football writer
.
Wednesday 15 January 2014
WHEN Stewart Regan was yesterday invited to give a state-of-the-nation appraisal of Scottish football as it enters 2014, it was safe to assume the Scottish Football Association chief executive knew which quote might boomerang back at him.
It was on July 4, 2012, the day newco Rangers failed in their attempt to be voted into the Scottish Premier League, that Regan came out with the words for which he is always likely to be best remembered. He spoke of Armageddon, social unrest, and the Scottish game withering on the vine if Rangers were consigned to the anything beyond the old first division. They were not of course – instead of dropping one division as Regan wanted they fell into the fourth tier – but the game survives.
In hindsight he misread the situation. There was no social unrest and no Armageddon. The game is hardly buoyant, but nor can it be said to be withering on the vine. Or more accurately, its established and long-term decline has not been accelerated by Rangers’ implosion.
“We’re in a different place now,” Regan acknowledged yesterday. “From a Scottish FA perspective we’ve got a television deal and the league themselves have put their own plans in place and protected their own commercial position. So we’re in a different place. There’s been some very competitive matches, which have resulted in quite an exciting competition at the top of the Premiership, and there’s a number of emerging young players that have created quite a lot of excitement. Perhaps we’re in a better place than we might have been 12 to 18 months ago.
“But the financial state of football generally remains a concern for everybody and not just in this country. You go to some of the smaller associations as I do on a regular basis and talk about the state of the game. Scotland is in a healthier place than a number of smaller countries where they don’t have the turnover we do and can’t make the distributions we make. Everybody would like more money. It’s like asking if they’d like a bigger pay rise, the answer is always yes.”
The SFA is working on a way to introduce Financial Fair Play rules for clubs to prevent unsustainable spending. A sub-committee of the SFA’s licensing group, which includes representatives from the Scottish Premier Football League, is currently trying to draft regulations which might be acceptable to the clubs at a vote.
“The game needs some degree of control,” said Regan. “You can’t argue with the principle behind financial fair play. There’s a need to avoid overspending particularly on areas where money is dripping out of the game. You need to be able to cover your costs, pay your bills, not be breaching your banking position or getting into financial difficulties.”
Those are exactly the sort of difficulties which continue to hover over Rangers, of course. Like all 42 of the SPFL’s member clubs Rangers must submit audited management accounts to the SFA by the end of March. The Ibrox club has admitted it is continuing to lose money, must make major cuts, and is the subject of a 120-day internal review under chief executive Graham Wallace, but that is not likely to cause any difficulty in terms of getting an SFA licence to play in 2014-15.
“As far as Rangers’ position is concerned clearly there is a lot of work that Graham Wallace is putting in place to get the club back to a stronger place,” said Regan. “I sincerely hope he’s successful. It’s good for Scottish football to have the club back on a firm financial footing.
“He needs all the support he can get to get that in place. It’s a big challenge. We’ll wait and see what comes in. We’ve spoken to Graham in the way you would speak to most of the clubs that have got challenges ahead of them. So we’ve had an opportunity to talk about some of the challenges he faces. You can’t underestimate the work he’s got ahead of him.
“From a financial point of view, until we get our new Financial Fair Play rules in place, we don’t really drill down to the management accounts and we don’t drill down into saying what a club can and can’t spend its money on. One of the proposals which is currently being debated is putting in place a measure which would restrict the amount spent on wages. That’s one of the elements being discussed.”
Regan downgraded his prognosis for the game from “Armageddon” to “challenging”. The SFA’s own financial health is robust because of sponsorships which run to 2016 and the UEFA centralised television deal which runs to 2018. “At a club level there are a number of clubs feeling the pinch, and it remains a tough environment. So that’s probably one of the biggest concerns.”
The merger of the SPL and the SFL into the SPFL was a positive, though, as were the introduction of play-offs for the end of this season, the formation of the Lowland League, and the progress made by the national team since Gordon Strachan was appointed a year ago today. “There are some encouraging green shoots. Gordon has made a big impact and turned around what was a very disappointing campaign and given us a degree of optimism for the qualifying draw next month.
“Everyone’s looking forward to France 2016. When you look at the emergence of young talent there’s some very encouraging prospects starting to come through the system. I guess it’s the classic school report card syndrome, isn’t it? ‘Progress has been made, but still a lot of work to do.'”
And musings on the shares and austerity package……….
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/shares-are-selling-but-will-players-have-to-be-sold-as-well.23177405
Shares are selling but will players have to be sold as well . . . ?
Richard Wilson
Sports writer
Wednesday 15 January 2014
The Rangers International Football Club plc share price has been falling steadily since the annual meeting of shareholders last December.
Yesterday, 2.5m shares were sold at 24p, a new low (the launch price was 70p), with a further 250,000 sold at 25p, the largest single day trading volume in more than a month.
At the same time as the share price has been falling, the chief executive Graham Wallace has been conducting a review of the business, with significant cuts expected to be implemented to bring costs in line with income. Here Herald Sport looks at the state of play at Rangers.
Who sold and who bought the shares?
We may not find out, at least for now. The shares were sold in batches of 1m and 250,000, so it could have been multiple sellers and, in theory, multiple buyers. Anybody who takes their holding above or below 3% needs to notify that fact, but it can take several days to be posted on the Stock Exchange. In total, the five transactions accounted for around 4% of the RIFC shareholding.
So what is the significance of the recent share price drop?
For investors, it means that they have been losing money, unless they were among the small number to receive 1p shares. Until yesterday, the volume of shares sold was small, suggesting that the price was falling because investors were looking to sell their stock but there were no buyers. The share price rebounded to 28.5p at the close of the market, but it is widely thought that the net asset value share price is around 25p, making that a significant value for the market price to dip below.
Might a takeover be imminent?
That is unlikely. The arrival of a buyer on the scene would push the share price back up. Investors would need to be willing to sell their holdings, although those who voted against the re-election of the board members last month – around 30% – may be less inclined to retain their shares. Private deals can be struck, of course, but Rangers’ business model needs to be streamlined so any price would be discounted to take into account the need for further investment.
What is the state of the club’s finances?
Wallace, by his own admission, needs to cut the costbase. Rangers are thought to be losing somewhere in the region of £1m per month, and Wallace is currently conducting a review of the entire business. He stresses that this will also identify areas requiring investment, but it is clear that cuts will need to be implemented first. The club expects to have around £1m cash left by April, but there are issues to address.
Such as?
It is not so simple as just identifying, for example, players who are peripheral to the team and telling them to find a new club. Emilson Cribari has barely played this season, but is believed to be content in Glasgow and adamant that he will stay until the summer. If he cannot match the wages he is on, there is also no incentive for him to leave.
What about selling players?
There are some who would attract bids from other clubs, but Lee Wallace, for one, is also adamant that he intends to remain at Rangers and has no interest in pursuing a career in England. David Templeton has not featured much this season, but would need to find a club willing to match the wages he is on at Ibrox.
So how does Wallace reduce the costs?
He might seek redundancies, although they would also require severance packages. Hard decisions may be made, but there are costs that can be cut on the business side.
Is there no alternative?
No. Rangers intend to seek fresh investment, but the business needs to be brought to an even keel first. A share issue is possible in time, and Dave King is ready to lead that fresh round of investment, but Wallace will not begin that process before he has redeveloped the business model. By then, he will also have identified the areas – such as scouting – that require investment.
If costs are being cut, why is Philip Nash, a consultant, being brought in?
Given that Wallace is a chartered accountant, that Andrew Dickson, the head of football administration, is a chartered accountant, and that Rangers have a financial director in Brian Stockbridge, a finance controller in Ken Olverman, and an accountancy firm in Active Corporate, another accountant seems superfluous. Nash was finance director at Arsenal and Liverpool, so knows the business of football, and it is conceivable that his remit is to source new revenue as much as contribute to the business review, but it may be Wallace wants fresh and independent analysis.
So what happens next?
More uncertainty, probably, with the share price and with events inside the club. While the transfer window is open, players can be sold or moved on, while other areas of the business will also be cut. Wallace faces a difficult task to balance the books without fundamentally affecting the ability of the team to continue progressing up the leagues
Re the SFA setting up an integrity hotline. Here are some potential calls for it
1. ‘I’d like to report that an SFA member club approached senior SFA officials in October 2011 and admitted it was insolvent and was not paying its bills or taxes. Apparently the SFA officals did nothing and allowed the club to continue in the league as if everything was normal. Can you look into this further for me please.’
2. ‘In 2012 a newly formed club was trying to gain entrance to the senior Scottish leagues. Apparently, senior SFA officials attempted to allow that club straight into one of the top two leagues, against all the rules. Can you look into this further for me please.’
3. In 2011 it seems senior SFA officials granted a club a licence to play in Europe when it had an overdue, undisputed debt to a tax authority, which should have meant it did not get a licence. Can you look into this further for me please.’
Forres Dee 3:00
Of course they were and so will anymore changes made recently .
I predict that we will begin to hear of rules that will be of immense use to the newest club in our game and once scrutinized they will be rules decided upon very recently .
IMO the peepil ru(i)nning our game will have been fully briefed on what will be happening down Ibrokes way regarding the football team and have been very busy brain storming (stop laughing at the back ) to come up with ways to ease the new teams pain .
Integrity hotline ,it would be laughable if it were not so disgraceful
Exiled Celt says:
January 15, 2014 at 7:01 am
==============================
Stewart Regan may as well have said ‘We will talk to Graham Wallace and if he can find a way, any way, to finance Rangers and get them back to the top of the game he won’t get any hassle from us as to where the money is coming from’.
Good Morning.
Just seen the back page of the Daily propogandger.
I would not even bother to read to see if Regan actually said this or if it is another piece by JI.
NO. It cannot go on any longer . Scottish Football is in a healthier state without Sevco in the top division. Any attempt to manipulate or ignore the rules and get them back to where the think they are entitled to be must be stopped.
Just what are the chairmen of our clubs doing here. We do not need Sevco. Society does not need Sevco or the bile , bullying and intimidation that they bring to the table.
The leeches at the SFA who are sucking our game dry do not have a clue how the fans feel. They must be stopped we must be vigilant and keep up the campaign for integrity in our game.Surely someone among our chairman must raise their head above the parapet and start the wheels in motion to get rid of Regan, Ogilvie and Doncaster.
Not once have Sevco shown any regret for what happened to the creditors and that should not be forgotten.
On another note whatever happened to the investigation by Lord Hodge into the machinations of D&P?
Has it been swept under the carpet or is the silence linked to the work being carried out by BDO?
I predict shares suspended, Craigie boy to raise the ante, MP and debtdome to be reclaimed and several spivs eating porridge in the not too distant future.
Sevco mark 3 must never be allowed to rise from the dead.
Regan….. Scottish football… Not Deathcon 1 (Armageddon) anymore now Deathcon 3 (Challenging)…
The biggest challenge for those who care about Scottish football is pretty much having to listen to the nonsense coming from the leaders of Scottish football and I use” leaders” in it’s most ineffective, inept and unjust way. Just my opinion..!
So TRFC are in need of life saving major financial surgery.
A situation known and understood by many for some time.
Yet they continue to pay large sums for consultancy, running costs, staff, players etc
And they have already ‘burned’ 50% of the transfer window without any outward sign of activity & minimal rumours on specific moves. A player sale would be the desired option – cash in, wage bill down – yet there appears to be no activity here? Why?
Next option is redundancy for high earners. Very effective in reducing ongoing costs minus the benefit of a fee. But again why no activity as of yet?
I really would love to hear Bryan Jackson’s assessment of this car crash.
I can’t see past a second calamitous event. A liquidation.
I kinda hoped devilishly for a 2nd admin, which was a ‘hope’, became a ‘likelihood’ and now looks like a raging certainty – for starters.
Regan has met Sevco’s Wallace at games.What’s this,another wee move to make allowances for them when everything goes belly up? Again.
@TSFM My daughter briefly met up with Paul’s youngest last night, picking up school stuff from her pals from her stayover the night before.. Strong wee lass it seems and cheery enough, I hope TIME (the healer) helps the family sufficiently to get over the trauma.. RIP PMcC….Sadly missed.
My charity push is cancer research this month, my next project in March will be for the BHF (in memory of Paul)… I will enist the support of some of the patrons I know fromf the Blantyre club he often frequented with some other famed bloggers. I will target a similar figure to the one you gained.. Well done, brilliant of you to do that.
“Dave King is ready to lead that fresh round of investment”
More unsubstantiated crap from the pen of Richard Wilson. No wonder the Herald is racing Sevco to be the first into administration.
Dave King doesn’t have the money necessary to “save” Sevco and he is not the kind of guy who sits easily round the table with others. He couldn’t even sit with just David Murray – viz the pending court case between the two.
Entrepreneurs like control – control at Sevco is now tightly held and won’t be let go in part. It’s either a straight sale or a land deal, The Easdales and their friends are not going to be diluted by some short term cash injection (because let’s face it, even £20M is short term in any Ibrox context).
It’s a sorry indictment that so many of the press and FOS (friends of Sevco) hang their hats and aprons on a sugar daddy/saviour/convicted criminal to come to the aid of their beloved.
I urge all RFC(IL) supporters to tune in to Coronation Street next Monday – there will be a helpline at the end of the programme to offer assistance to those affected by/involved in assisted suicide. It would be sensible if Sportsound and Sportscene carried a similar message each week –
“If you have been affected by some of the issues in this story, and in particular by the issue of Rangers’ liquidation, consider calling Bears In Need on 0845 1873 2 2012….someone will be there to take your call, you needn’t leave your name and the whole process is entirely voluntary”
54 (days to go, at most)
With Regan lifting his head over the parapet and some of the MSM reporting bad news about The Rangers (I will gloss over the reference to TRFC falling down into Div 4 as we all know they were given a punt up), I think this could be the first non-bam pot sighting of the cracks in the dam.
As Phil Mac points out, things are very tight and unless that wage bill comes down now, they are toast I reckon.
£1 Million in the bank as of April doesn’t cover May’s costs and do we really think that all the ST money can be taken in a month in the current climate around Govan?. Only two things can stave off an insolvency, a big transfer fee being paid (unfortunately Souness isn’t around though) or a share issue but that will probably take an EGM and the Board managing to get a majority. Can’t see either happening…
slim shady at 8:55
Slim, I enjoy your posts but I would have thought suicide,assisted or otherwise shouldn’t be the subject of humour.
upthehoops says:
January 15, 2014 at 7:13 am
31 0 Rate This
Re the SFA setting up an integrity hotline. Here are some potential calls for it
1. ‘I’d like to report that an SFA member club approached senior SFA officials in October 2011 and admitted it was insolvent and was not paying its bills or taxes. Apparently the SFA officals did nothing and allowed the club to continue in the league as if everything was normal. Can you look into this further for me please.’
2. ‘In 2012 a newly formed club was trying to gain entrance to the senior Scottish leagues. Apparently, senior SFA officials attempted to allow that club straight into one of the top two leagues, against all the rules. Can you look into this further for me please.’
3. In 2011 it seems senior SFA officials granted a club a licence to play in Europe when it had an overdue, undisputed debt to a tax authority, which should have meant it did not get a licence. Can you look into this further for me please.’
========================================================================
and…Sevco (brfore they changed their name to – The Rangers Football Club LTD,
were given a Licence that is not in any SFA rule book – thus breaking the rules.
…so which Club held the players registrations on the day that Sevco played Brechin City?
Re the recent buying / selling of shares, my money is still on Laxeys being involved. These guys tend not to make mistakes. The “Cost cutting” exercise will be much harsher than predicted. The Daily Ranger kinda gives the show away.
The Peepil are being primed for (really) bad news. News which in real terms they are completely powerless to change.
So not only has Armageddon failed to materialise, but the financial situation for Scotish Football has improved since the dark days of summer 2012.
Can it possibly be true that the heid bummer at the SFA has openly acknowledged that Scottish Football has improved since the demise of oldco? Whodathunk?
Clearly the message for the future is that Scottish football can withstand the loss of any club.
The SFA also appears (and I mean appears) to have realised that FFP rules are necessary for the future of the game to be secured.
Mibbee they will bear that in mind when the next liquidation event arrives down Govan way.
Mibbee they will add up these factors and reach the conclusion that an overspending Gers-clone is unsustainable and bad for Scottish football.
It is going to be harder than ever to justify propping up the unsustainable edifice in Ibrox (in so many ways).
Mibbee it just isn’t worth it for them anymore?
Really. It never was worth it.
Hoopy 7 says:
January 15, 2014 at 7:24 am
On another note whatever happened to the investigation by Lord Hodge into the machinations of D&P?
Has it been swept under the carpet or is the silence linked to the work being carried out by BDO?
================================
To allow sufficient time for the SFA to “negotiate” the transfer of RFC’s membership to Sevco, the entry of RFC into liquidation had to be delayed. Lord Hodge’s intervention provided the required delay. Without LH’s intervention, RFC would have entered liquidation immediately after the CVA was rejected. At the point, RFC’s SFA membership would have terminated, and so Sevco would have to apply for a new membership, which they couldn’t have within the rules, as a newly formed company.
So Lord Hodge’s intervention provided (no doubt many will say, fortuitously) the time desperately required for the the scheme to keep a “Rangers” playing in senior football to work. There was no investigation as such, D&P were simply given 3 weeks to report back on their own potential conflict of interest (no laughing at the back, boy!), when the 3 weeks were up, Lord Hodge happened to be on his holidays, so liquidation was delayed by another 4 weeks, the report had to be “considered” by LH on his return, so overall about 10 weeks delay in RFC’s entry into liquidation.
Nothing more will ever be heard from Lord Hodge regarding his “investigation”. He has done what had to be done, nothing further required..
BDO will follow their own lines of enquiry, but they will get nothing from Lord Hodge because he has nothing to provide, except a slip of paper from D&P saying something like “Dear LH, we confirm as requested that we were not conflicted, yours D&P”
The words “farce” and “pantomime” come nowhere near describing the performance that the fans of Scottish football were obliged to watch unfold before their eyes during the summer of 2012. All long forgotten now, of course, except by a few monomaniacs like me. And please don’t get me started on the appointment of D&P in the first place- yep, you’ve guessed it, Lord Hodge again!
Richard Hughes was a busy boy yesterday, then.
Random musings
1/ Regarding King, if he has the financial wherewithall I can actually imagine him in both camps tbh. Owning the property having purchased from RIFC (I’ve always been of the opinion that he was promised this at the outset) with the only complication being is it Ibrox, MP or both. If he has the money of course! Plus his entrpreneurs brain will not have missed the golden egg that is MP and the melting chocolate egg that is Ibrox.
At the same time he clearly wants the messiah status afforded to whoever is stupid enough to publicly lead (I was going to say finance but lets be honest history is not on their side in this particular respect) TRFC.
2/ Nash’s appointment. One for the oldies. Why was Clint on the plane with Richard Burton? Remind me?
3/ Michael Grant’s piece. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here. Note they did not fall down to div 4. They fell into Div 4. Got that one past the editor Michael!
4/ Richard Wilson. Richard needs to learn that if he’s going to copy and paste JI articles he can’t then add in his own little wish list snippets to embellish it further. What is it you can’t polish again?
5/ Stuart Regan. This is nothing but shere pettiness on my part. I am interested how many other 3rd Division games Stuart has attended meeting their CEO’s informally along the way. Hope he didn’t have to move seats 😉
6/ Regarding assistive rule changes. Still nobody asking what was discussed at the SPFL board meeting on Monday then 😉 😉
7/ Zilch says:
January 15, 2014 at 9:36 am
I would put his (SR’s) transmogrification down a slightly different route. Football remains challenging but a little more balanced referring specifically to the top league APART from the simple problem that he now has a single behemoth dominating proceedings as opposed to the apparently more acceptable two behemoths. I think it is fair to say that he has realised that there isn’t a simple solution to his new problem as we all now see that one flagship was more accurately a pedalo with fancy flags. Secondly, he has clearly been made aware that the pedalo is fatally holed beneath the waves and is struggling to hold onto the end of the convoy. So what does he do with his destroyers exactly? Not what he should do, that’s for sure!
[Slim I suspect the answer target practise will be deemed unacceptable so don’t go there! ]
Tales from the Tabs;
• MSM focus on Graham Wallace
• MSM focus on Regan
• MSM focus on Graham Wallace and Regan meeting
Ergo: Subliminal message planted connecting integrity to financial propriety
.
Fortunately – here in Scotland we are all now completely immune from such deviousness
No-one but no one believes there is a scintilla of `Integrity` around Hampden. And no-one but no one could associate the assorted miscreant’s behaviour as having anything to do with financial propriety at all.
.
Of course I could be wrong – there might be someone – somewhere – [doubt it tho] 😉
Disagree with you that there is ingrained hatred Jack, the somewhat bizarre Coronation Street/suicide line reference is untypical of the individual’s posts on TSFM. Shame as it certainly detracted from the main point being made in deconstructing yet another effort at Dave King as Blue Knight mythology.
The mystery of the shares sales yesterday is now solved –
Richard Hughes has disposed of 2.2M shares and now has 0 holding. Another spiv cashes in their chips.
beatipacificiscotia says:
January 15, 2014 at 10:12 am
—
Paul McConnell (RIP) said in the summer that Richard Hughes was unlikely to hang around now that his pals are off the scene.
Is there an internal integrity hotline at the SFA?
Green sitting sipping the chilled chardonay in France
Imran gone
Hughes sold up.
How long before Stockbridge exists stage left, job done, leaving a clusterfeck behind him?
Still have my money on Laxeys being the main players and trying to protect their shareholding by getting their hands on the assets after the austerity measures have taken place.
Another expert with Saga fatigue !
RE: Richard Hughes share sale
Seems as though pressure is getting to all involved.
David Low the financial expert announced on Twitter that RH had bought the shares.
After being quizzed on his initial take, he has come back and corrected himself.
Even I knew the annoucement referred to a sell 😯 😆
https://twitter.com/Heavidor
Fresh spivs come and go whilst observers go stale ?
I see Ally HAS been told to make cuts. I assume he has been given a target to achieve.. That will mean the rest of this week we will see Ally’s comments in the papers issuing warnings to the board, playing to the rangers masses whilst continuing the ‘oh poor me’ mantra.. Just a normal week then.
Ally ‘Get me 9 more players’ McCoist is either living in cloud cuckoo land or is grandmaster of the ‘Rangers in denial’ society… He needs to wake up and smell the steak-bakes…
With what seems like official word breaking on the financial plight of the rangers how long before we see Imran and an ex-rangers Goalie attempt to ring fence funds.. Aren’t the SFA owed £250k also although I guess they could put this down to a footballing debt and get this back plus interest in the next ‘n-way agreement’ when the time comes.
On the issue of Richard Hughes selling-up always worth remembering that before Brian Stockbridge was employed as Rangers FD he worked with Zeus Capital which Hughes is the boss of. Imran Ahmad also worked at Zeus at the same time as Stockbridge.
Richard Hughes was a pivotal investor in the original Sevco 5088 consortium and without him and his loan Green might not have pulled things together.
Funny he waited for so long to go and only got 24/25p a share. OK still good money when you only paid 1p a share but he could have got 90p a share just over a year ago. So why did he wait and why wait so long. This guy isn’t stupid and by delaying so long he lost a lot of money and I wonder why.
There were another couple of Zeus employees with small shareholdings which from memory were £100k and £50k. I wonder if they went yesterday as well although that wouldn’t require notification.
So if they went there is apparently no longer any connection with Zeus Capital except through Stockbridge – I wonder if that connection is also about to be severed ❓
Firstly, one quote from Mr Regan’s interview with Mr Grant at the Herald stood out for me:
“We’re in a different place now,” Regan acknowledged yesterday.
“From a Scottish FA perspective we’ve got a television deal and the league themselves have put their own plans in place and protected their own commercial position.
So we’re in a different place…”
The implication screaming from that quote is that the SFA see the wellbeing of the game in Scotland as dependant on the commercial position.
Put simply, this speaks volumes.
The crux of the issue that is causing the ailments of Scottish Football is that the Integrity of Association football is and was undermined or ignored in favour of the commercial imperative.
In a scramble to protect the ‘commercial interests’ the rulebook governing fair play had little importance.
Rules are rules until enough beggars, beaks and brogues are making enough money.
Then the rules can go hang.
It appears little will have changed in this regard going by Mr Regan’s view.
Mr Regan is in essence a commercial manager, as is his counterpart Mr Doncaster.
I would suggest that the promise of youth discussed later in the piece is more about the commercial talent that can be exploited in future than anything else.
Is this where we want the game to be?
This leads me to query again what is my interest in the game any more? Is it worth the money, time and effort if its basically being/has been hugely over-commercialised to the extent that fairness, and sporting integrity can get stuffed?
The short answer is that I remain interested whilst the rules are applied reasonably, justly and fairly to all participants.
IMO the last few years must have turned so many away from the game, because the game’s governors dont know what justice or fairness are, so long as noses are maintained in troughs.
21. smallchange says:
January 14, 2014 at 10:26 pm
Can anyone explain to me how it is possible for an organisation that has lost its credibility, to run an Integrity Hotline.
===================================
Maybe they’re hoping someone will phone in and tell them how to get some.
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=11834364
Interesting that Hughes hadn’t proxied his shares to the Easdale camp for voting purposes according to the AIM Notice.
neepheid says: at 9:54 am
To allow sufficient time for the SFA to “negotiate” the transfer of RFC’s membership to Sevco, the entry of RFC into liquidation had to be delayed. Lord Hodge’s intervention provided the required delay. Without LH’s intervention, RFC would have entered liquidation immediately after the CVA was rejected. At the point, RFC’s SFA membership would have terminated, and so Sevco would have to apply for a new membership, which they couldn’t have within the rules, as a newly formed company.
So Lord Hodge’s intervention provided, (no doubt many will say, fortuitously) the time desperately required for the scheme to keep a “Rangers” playing in senior football to work. There was no investigation as such, D&P were simply given 3 weeks to report back on their own potential conflict of interest (no laughing at the back, boy!), when the 3 weeks were up, Lord Hodge happened to be on his holidays, so liquidation was delayed by another 4 weeks, the report had to be “considered” by LH on his return, so overall about 10 weeks delay in RFC’s entry into liquidation.
Nothing more will ever be heard from Lord Hodge regarding his “investigation”. He has done what had to be done, nothing further required.
BDO will follow their own lines of enquiry, but they will get nothing from Lord Hodge because he has nothing to provide, except a slip of paper from D&P saying something like “Dear LH, we confirm as requested that we were not conflicted, yours D&P”.
The words “farce” and “pantomime” come nowhere near describing the performance that the fans of Scottish football were obliged to watch unfold before their eyes during the summer of 2012. All long forgotten now, of course, except by a few monomaniacs like me. And please don’t get me started on the appointment of D&P in the first place- yep, you’ve guessed it, Lord Hodge again!
___
Morning Neepheid – Lord Hodge 😉
SFA membership was terminated – and Sevco did have to apply for a new membership. [Still don`t understand how a ‘new’ membership can be ‘transferred’]
D&P were buying time for sure – it was they and they alone who could apply to end the administration – as appointed to do. It is also true that delay was helped by the Courts being on ‘holiday’.
Agreeing now 100% -The Criminal Investigation into the ‘Takeover` ordered by the Crown Office / Procurator Fiscal has been left unresolved – why? – And LHs requirement for the duffers to be ‘independently investigated` by the IPO was unsatisfactory [ I suspect that one may come back – but to be sceptical that any justice or recompense will be applied is warranted]
LH is off to sunnier climes via promotion. His Successor at the Court of Session probably entered their new chamber to be greeted by a pile of thick blue folders [akin to St Trinian`s at the Education Department] – decided to have a spring-clean – and sent the piles of to storage marked ‘not to be opened for 100 years – and then only after incineration’ – Now that is possible.
Yes it is a Pantomime Farce – but important it is not forgotten and your principles correct.
Overall – believe LHs performance was disappointing. He did play it by the book – probably to the letter to minimise engagement. More forceful application of his powers would have helped minimise if not stopped the mess in the long run. But their Judgeships Judge – as paid to do – and there could well have been other background influences – Like not having enough jail space – as example 😉
More to the point is who is LHs successor – who do BDO report to – and how will those interim liquidation reports be assessed – how will the final liquidation report be assessed or accepted in Court eventually & will it be made public?
Overall – the Courts, Police, Authorities have mishandled this badly – spivs have been given space and time to spiv – and it is corrosive – and continues to corrode – until decisive action is taken in bringing those responsible to book without fear or favour.
Carl
I’ll cut Regan some slack here. You can’t have a league that is either fuelled by integrity OR by commercialism. It needs to be both with each having significant sway. [I’ll need to sit down in a darkened quiet corner to decide the exact proportions]
Of course the league is not the publicly funded, morally responsible, time honoured custodian of the people’s game. I thought the SFA were. They certainly still need to be. They currently aren’t. Over to you Chairmen as to how perhaps you could change this perception….again.
Blu
Sadly, I don’t think ingrained hatred is that unusual in the WOS, it’s part of the landscape.
It’s one of the reasons why spin doctors can be so successful and that the MSM, especially the tabloids don’t need to up their game.
Nothing much to contribute to general discussion so thought I’d just post this (apologies if I’ve missed it elsewhere):
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/14/bobby-collins
I note one comment that later in life he had to work as a messenger/driver whereas players today with his talent would have retired as multi-millionaires. The sad thing is that players with less than half his talent do so these days. (BTW of course it’s good that players – well some – get a good wage these days but at the very top level it’s become obscene and needs re-adjusting)
“ … the MSM, especially the tabloids don’t need to up their game … .”
—
Do you mean they are enjoying the race to the bottom in terms of revenue and readers?
Esteban
That particular unavoidable race is mainly down to technology.
Overall I think that the Rangers saga has helped slow it down slightly.
ecobhoy says:
January 15, 2014 at 10:44 am
————————————————————————————————————————-
it could well be that there just wasn’t a willing buyer until the price fell to a more realistic level. who in their right mind would have bought Hughes’ shares at 50p with the chaos that’s been going on and the ever falling share price? Having 1p shares is all well and good but you still need to find some mug to offload them to.
Jack, I’m sorry to hear that you guys are all raised to hate each other and the MSM and JI play to that but I offered an opinion on the basis of posts I’ve seen on TSFM from the individual concerned. It was a departure from the norm.
Smugas says:
January 15, 2014 at 10:00 am
15 0 i Rate This
2/ Nash’s appointment. One for the oldies. Why was Clint on the plane with Richard Burton? Remind me?
*****
I never realised that I now qualified as an “oldie” but that is one of my favourite movies.
In all seriousness, you raise a good point re Nash in the context of that film. But does this not assume that there is a desire to make a success of TRFC as oppossd to RIFC? (Unless of course Wallace has yet another agenda/remit.) I remain unconvinced that the former is indeed the case. Nash’s appointment has puzzled me from the start – there are so many CA’s at Ibrox that I think we will soon need a collective noun for them. (A dissimulation of Accountants, maybe? A scourge?) So your suggestion is indeed a good one. It still doesn’t hint at the end game though.
“Broadsword calling Danny Boy. Broadsword calling Danny Boy…”
Greenock Jack says:
January 15, 2014 at 11:38 am
—
Of course it’s avoidable, or was. Tabloids want to titillate and this has meant avoiding telling the stories that matter. Some things are important, some aren’t. Rupert Murdoch mastered the art of “telling the people what they want to hear”, which appears to be inanity and distraction from the heavy stuff. Fine, but this doesn’t make the heavy stuff go away, it just makes the people involved in the heavy stuff far less accountable than they should be.
Serious media are about accountability. The BBC should be about accountability. The Herald and The Scotsman, even today when their corporate bahookies are hanging out of their stripy trousers, should be about accountability. Chase the tabloids to see who can provide the best distraction and the accountability diminishes. This is damaging. It means spivs, liars, sharks and so on can get away things they ought not to.
When considering Richard Hughes it is worth going back to the RFC Limited board minutes from 31.10.2012. Section 9 covers Zeus Capital and Richard Hughes.
9.1 It was noted that an undertaking of £2,000.000 was provided by Zeus capital to the Administrators of RFC 2012 plc on 13 June 2012 to ensure the Company complied with the obligations under the Offer Letter (the “Zeus Undertaking”). In addition Zeus Capital Limited provided a loan facility on 12 June 2012 to the Company of £590,000 to enable the Company to pay the consideration due under the APA (the “Loan Facility”). The terms of the loan facility were agreed orally but not documented and with funds being advanced with an arrangement fee of £50,000 per week).
9.2 In consideration for the provision of the Zeus Undertaking, the Company agreed on 13 June 2012 to the allotment of 2,200,000 new ordinary shares at a placing price of £0.01 per ordinary share which were subscribed for and paid for in cash (the 2Undertaking Consideration Shares”). The Company produced to the meeting a board resolution from Zeus Capital Limited dated 17 October 2012 confirming that the Zeus Undertaking had been underwritten by Richard Hughes personally and authorising Zeus Capital Limited to make the necessary arrangements with the Company. The Company reported that it had received instructions by email from Zeus Capital Limited dated 17 October 2012 to issue the Undertaking Consideration Shares to Richard Hughes.
9.3 It was acknowledged that the Zeus Undertaking was released in full by the Administrators of RFC 2012 plc following completion of the APA and that the balance of the Loan Facility together with the arrangement fee had been repaid in full on 14 August 2012.
So how much as Richard Hughes made?
The loan was provided for 9 weeks @ £50k per week so that’s £450,000.
In return for the guarantee, and if I’m reading this right, Richard Hughes received his 2,200,00 shares for 0p. These were sold at 24p making £528,000.
So that’s £978,000 less tax and expenses.
Chapeau to that man!
Blu
Opinion, levels of perception and sensibilities can vary.
edit.
I would add that I’m not particularly offended by what Slim said, I made an observation and a bit of ‘counter-humour’. There are IMO too many people who look to be offended these days and there follows disproportionate fall-out.
wopanda says:
January 15, 2014 at 11:21 am
Morning Neepheid – Lord Hodge 😉
SFA membership was terminated – and Sevco did have to apply for a new membership. [Still don`t understand how a ‘new’ membership can be ‘transferred’]
=====================
I think you are confusing SFL membership and SFA membership. The five way agreement was all about the transfer of the existing RFC membership to Sevco. So Sevco never applied for new membership of the SFA. They simply didn’t qualify, as a newly formed company, but the SFA Board have absolute discretionary power to transfer memberships. Once the 5 way agreement was signed, they transferred the RFC membership from Oldco to Sevco.
Sevco did apply as new members to the SFL, and were voted in to SFL3. However that SFL membership was conditional on Sevco acquiring SFA membership within 15 days, or somesuch. Sorry if any of this is wrong, it’s all from memory, so no doubt someone will correct me.
Ally McCoist could go into cost-cutting mode and demand an additional 7 new players instead of 9. In Rangersnomics terms, problem solved!
Jack, I’m generally sympathetic to your posts calling posters out for airing views based on personal philosophy or bias rather than dealing with facts and providing some balance in an environment that is weighted against your team. But this latest is all a bit gnomic for me, in fact it reads a bit arsey, unfortunately. I’ll leave it there.
So I thought Big Daly was doing well at the bears, ok forget the talk from the weekend’s game about the fans with a tricolour… I thought the big guy banging the goals in, not blessing himself etc would have had the majority of fans praising his point winning ways.. However not according to this learned poster who is expressing his views on Ally’s player moves.. 😕
— “Cribari, Perry, Smith, Hegarty, Simonsen, Foster, Peralta, DALY (for obvious reasons!), Black aswell. Get rid. “
Some more interesting reversals from Spiers on Sport.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/opinion/spiers-on-sport-regan-admits-to-an-armageddon-no-show.1389790318
Wednesday 15 January 2014
Like everyone else during Scottish football’s shambolic summer of 2012, Stewart Regan found himself being caught out in terms of his “reading of the situation”.
With Rangers FC in administration (and soon to face liquidation) Regan offered hints that he believed the fires of Hell were about to be unleashed on the game and consume everything in their path.
In Scottish football terms, Regan thought he saw the end of the world, an utter wasteland, in front of him.
With a reborn Rangers starting from scratch in the bottom tier, and going three years in the wilderness before a Premiership re-appearance, the SFA’s chief executive believed all hope was lost.
Scottish football was kaput. It was, infamously, Armageddon.
Well, 18 months on, Regan has recanted. It has not all been bad, he admitted this week. Notwithstanding the Rangers tragedy, some good things have happened to revive the Scottish game.
“We’re in a different place now,” said Regan. “We’ve seen some exciting games and there’s an emerging pool of young talent. We’re in a better place than we might have been 18 months ago.”
I’ve learned you have to tread carefully in this context. There is a residual anger and bitterness among Rangers supporters – some of it justified – over events of the past two years. And one of the unfortunate upshots is this: if you are seen to enjoy Scottish football currently, it is interpreted as a slight, a barb aimed at the Ibrox club.
It is viewed as gloating, as “sticking the boot in” while the reborn Rangers clambers up from the lower reaches. So Regan, and the rest of us, sometimes find ourselves walking on eggshells.
It is intriguing to recall again Regan’s position on the stricken Rangers. Frankly, if he’d had his way, the club’s punishment for falling into administration and then liquidation would have been pretty watery.
Regan’s first priority as the SFA’s custodian was not in applying punishment or a reasonable sanction on the Ibrox club – rather, he fretted for Scottish football.
So his instinct was this: yes, Rangers have done wrong, but we need them in the top flight, or if not, then out of the top flight for as brief a period as possible. Finance, not justice, was Regan’s Rangers game-plan.
On this, the rest of Scottish football duly kicked him and the SPL’s Neil Doncaster into touch. But it is worth recalling that the two men, in public and even more vehemently in private, wanted Rangers kept at the top.
I have some sympathy for Regan over the Rangers saga, because I tended to call it likewise myself.
My gut told me the SPL – now the Premiership – would be a waste of time without Rangers. I also believed the financial black hole left would do terrible harm to the game. In truth, I actually believed it might be an Armageddon of a sort.
Instead, what has happened? Yes, there is no title race, and Celtic have been diminished without Rangers. The Celtic Park crowds are sorely down. But other aspects have proved to be highly enjoyable.
Jackie McNamara and Dundee United’s season has been engrossing – a young manager with a flock of talented young players in tow. The Tannadice crowds are buoyant and, if you are an “Arab”, this is all great fun.
Aberdeen are revived, too. The arrival of Derek McInnes has been quite a tonic in the north-east, and for the wider Scottish game. One Aberdeen fanzine editor told me last week: “Dons fan are enjoying this football season more than they have done in years.”
Then you look to Edinburgh, and see Terry Butcher at Hibs. That, too, is a terrific story, with Easter Road’s biggest crowd in years at 20,000-plus taking in the New Year Edinburgh derby.
Butcher left behind a high-flying Inverness Caledonian Thistle side in the hands of John Hughes, and many want to see how that story pans out as well.
I don’t need to haver on. There is much that is still very enjoyable in Scottish football, not least in the rejuvenation among our other big clubs. There is a moral here for some of us: don’t be so Old Firm-obsessed.
Yes, Rangers have been afflicted. Not unrelated to this (and to a lesser degree) so have Celtic. Elsewhere, though, Scottish football has preserved its fascination
========================
No Graeme not “Like everyone else …” not everyone had the same view as people like yourself tried to portray in the media. Some of us even opined that not having a club which was systematically cheating and spending money it didn’t have in the top level of our game would actually be a good thing. Some of us even said that if that meant less finance available to the other clubs then so be it, everyone would have to adapt to the lowere financial levels.
For some of us it never was and never will be about how much money can be generated. It’s about the game and we would rather have a fair game, played on a level field, with no club being given favourable treatment over others. That is more important than the money.
Scottish football got along fine before Murrays madness and we will get along fine without him. The people who followed were and are a temporary blip.
But who is buying the shares? Normal guys (and Gals, sorry Brenda) would not shell out that sort of money on such a distressed company as there is likely to be no return and a big loss, so it must still be part of the “Spiv Central” plan. Who is gathering all the shares?
Wednesday 15 January 2014
“I don’t need to haver on. There is much that is still very enjoyable in Scottish football, not least in the rejuvenation among our other big clubs. There is a moral here for some of us: don’t be so Old Firm-obsessed.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well if you are not going to “haver on” Graeme then let me have a go.
In writing about how the game in Scotland has shown some signs of a revival you mention Aberdeen, Hibs, Runners Up Utd and ICT and completely ignore the consistently second best performing team in Scotland, a Motherwell based club called Motherwell FC and then you cry for the media to be less “Old Firm” obsessed. It might be good if you focused on the second best team a bit more. It’s like what McCall has achieved is some big secret. Havers over.
Also – although Celtic are running away with the title – points wise. They haven’t had that many easy games this season. The diddys are dragging them down to our level
Christyboy says:
January 15, 2014 at 1:38 pm
But who is buying the shares?
——
Seems to me that someone was buying a load of small amounts this morning so that they could offload that 250,000 at more than 25p around lunchtime!
Just going down the road to post this off to Regan:
“.Dear Sir,
The SFA abandoned all notion of integrity and fair play in football when it shamelessly threw out the rule book in order to protect and save a wholly delinquent club from the consequences of its footballing crimes- adjudged to fall just short of match fixing.
And continues to try to maintain the fiction that a new club is the same footballing club as a club that is in liquidation.
For it now to launch a ‘keep football clean’ initiative is nothing but hypocritical in the extreme.
You know it, I know it, and the rest of Scottish Football knows it.
The SFA Board has lost any kind of moral authority it may once have had, and deserves nothing but censure.
I am of the opinion that Scottish Football will continue to be ill-served as long as you and the present President remain in office.
I think both you and he must resign, before any level of trust in the organisation can begin to be restored.
Yours faithfully,
(name and address supplied)
Regan: Rangers meltdown hasn’t finished Scottish football, although wider financial concern remains
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/not-the-end-of-the-world-at-least-as-he-knew-it.23179317
” The SFA is working on a way to introduce Financial Fair Play rules for clubs to prevent unsustainable spending. A sub-committee of the SFA’s licensing group, which includes representatives from the Scottish Premier Football League, is currently trying to draft regulations which might be acceptable to the clubs at a vote.”
Well its only taken two and a half years
http://celticunderground.net/sfa-reform-one-down-three-to-go/
but finally the penny is dropping. Lets hope a professional Referee Service is next on the agenda..
Angus1983 says:
January 15, 2014 at 2:02 pm
1 0 Rate This
Christyboy says:
January 15, 2014 at 1:38 pm
But who is buying the shares?
——
Seems to me that someone was buying a load of small amounts this morning so that they could offload that 250,000 at more than 25p around lunchtime!
====================
I’m no expert, but it looks to me as if a broker or market maker bought in Hughes’ shares yesterday at 25p, and is now offloading at 28p. Nice work if you can get it!
I think that the likes of Laxey’s would generally buy through private deals, which would only involve AIM by way of statutory notification.
Of course, the real mystery is who bought 250k shares at 28p this morning. Maybe Kieran Prior (the off the radar IQ investor) ?
From “proactive investor” – just reporting what they said, not me saying they was a “takeover” etc….
Richards Hughes, the co-founder of small-cap broker Zeus Capital, has sold his entire 3.38% shareholding in Rangers FC (LON:RFC).
The investor was key in the takeover of the Ibrox club in February 2012 and dumped his 2.2mln shares.
He was embroiled in a tax scandal in 2012 when it emerged HMRC were investigating 17 firms he set up for tax evasion.
Since joining AIM in December 2012 at 70p a share, Rangers stock has more than halved to 28p.
It comes amid more cuts at the cash-strapped club, which is undergoing a review of the business to make savings wherever possible.
Manager Ally McCoist has been told he will have to trim the wage bill, which currently stands at £6-7mln a year.
Rangers shares dipped 0.9% to 28.25p each on Wednesday.
Is there a club where HMRC investigatees meet to exchange tricks and tiips and “opportunities” ?
Richards Hughes, the co-founder of small-cap broker Zeus Capital, has sold his entire 3.38% shareholding in Rangers FC (LON:RFC).
The investor was key in the takeover of the Ibrox club in February 2012 and dumped his 2.2mln shares.
He was embroiled in a tax scandal in 2012 when it emerged HMRC were investigating 17 firms he set up for tax evasion.
http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/64886/zeus-capital-co-founder-hughes-dumps-rangers-stake-64886.html
Surely if Hughes sold 3.4% of the company, there should be 2 AIM notifications
1. him selling
2. someone buying
how long before this MUST be notified?
Here is a question I would like someone to ask Stuart Regan…….
At what game did he meet with Graham Wallace?
Quote
“We’ll wait and see what comes in. I know Graham’s got a big job on and I hope he can get the success that he obviously requires. We’ve spoken to Graham in the way you would speak to most of the clubs that have got challenges ahead of them, and I’ve seen him at games.
End quote
Reason I am asking is Wallace has not been here in Scotland very long – and since Willie Vass take photos of every TRFC game and always includes photos of the board and who is sitting next to whom etc, no where on the lens frame has been anyone from the SFA let alone the SFA CEO…………
http://willievass.photoshelter.com/
So simple question that would allow for the people like me that doubt every word from his lips…..
What game did you attend with Graham Wallace?
It may mean we can resurrect the old joke and amend it slightly………
How do you know when Stuart Regan tells lies?
When his lips move…………..
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
January 15, 2014 at 3:13 pm
0 0 Rate This
Surely if Hughes sold 3.4% of the company, there should be 2 AIM notifications
1. him selling
2. someone buying
how long before this MUST be notified?
====================
That is true only if all the shares have been bought by one person, or if the shares someone buys takes them over 3%. I don’t think brokers or market makers have to notify in any event.
and, the buyer is revealed
Rangers Int F.C. PLC (RFC) – Holdings in Company
RNS Number : 7536X
Rangers Int. Football Club PLC
15 January 2014
TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARESi
1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer
of existing shares to which voting rights are
attached: ii
Rangers International Football Club PLC
2 Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):
An acquisition or disposal of voting rights
Yes
An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached
An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic effect to qualifying financial instruments
An event changing the breakdown of voting rights
Other (please specify):
3. Full name of person(s) subject to the
notification obligation: iii
Damille Investments II Limited
4. Full name of shareholder(s)
(if different from 3.):iv
Schweco Nominees Limited (on behalf of Damille Investments II Limited)
5. Date of the transaction and date on
which the threshold is crossed or
reached: v
14 January 2014
6. Date on which issuer notified:
15 January 2015
7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or
reached: vi, vii
3%
8. Notified details:
A: Voting rights attached to shares viii, ix
Class/type of
shares
if possible using
the ISIN CODE
Situation previous
to the triggering
transaction
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Number
of
Shares
Number
of
Voting
Rights
Number
of shares
Number of voting
rights
% of voting rights x
Direct
Direct xi
Indirect xii
Direct
Indirect
GB00B90T9Z75
NIL
NIL
N/A
N/A
2,000,000
N/A
3.07%
B: Qualifying Financial Instruments
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Type of financial
instrument
Expiration
date xiii
Exercise/
Conversion Period xiv
Number of voting
rights that may be
acquired if the
instrument is
exercised/ converted.
% of voting
rights
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Type of financial
instrument
Exercise price
Expiration date xvii
Exercise/
Conversion period xviii
Number of voting rights instrument refers to
% of voting rights xix, xx
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Nominal
Delta
N/A
N/A
Total (A+B+C)
Number of voting rights
Percentage of voting rights
2,000,000
3.07%
9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the
financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable: xxi
Damille Investments II Limited holds 2,000,000 shares through Schweco Nominees Limited
Proxy Voting:
10. Name of the proxy holder:
N/A
11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease
to hold:
N/A
12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold
voting rights:
N/A
13. Additional information:
N/A
14. Contact name:
JTC Fund Managers (Guernsey) Limited
15. Contact telephone number:
01481 702 400
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
their website http://www.damilleinv.com says this is the board
Richard Prosser (Chairman & Non-Executive Director)
Richard is a Chartered Accountant, a partner of the Appleby Group and a director of its wholly owned trust company, Appleby Trust (Jersey) Limited, a corporate and fiduciary administrator authorised to conduct trust company business in Jersey. Richard is a director of a number of companies quoted in London and elsewhere, inlcuding property companies, hedge funds and investment management companies. He is Chairman of Threadneedle Investments (C.I.) Limited, Manager of the Threadneedle Property Unit Trust; and Director of Threadneedle European Property Fund. He has most recently been appointed as Chairman of Aberdeen Latin American Income Fund quoted in London and Damille Investments Limited a closed ended investment company listed on the Specialist Fund Market of the London Stock Exchange.
David Copperwaite (Non-Executive Director)
David retired as the Managing Director of Lloyds Bank Fund Managers (Guernsey) Limited on 31 December 1997. He is based in Guernsey and provides consultancy and advisory services to offshore fund management groups. He is the director of a number of regional, global, private equity and emerging market investment funds and has considerable experience in the management and administration of offshore funds.
Martin Tolcher (Non-Executive Director)
Martin is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (Chartered FCSI) and has been involved within the fund administration industry in Guernsey for over 20 years. He has worked at a senior level for three fund administration subsidiaries of Bermudan and Canadian international banks, gaining considerable experience in a wide variety of funds and private equity structures. Martin joined Legis Group in 2005 as a director of Legis Fund Services Limited and became Managing Director of that company at the beginning of 2007, a role he held until 31 December 2010 (he remained a director of the company until 30 September 2011). Martin is a non-executive director of a number of open and closed-ended Guernsey domiciled funds and associated management companies.
Rhys Cathan Davies (Executive Director)
Rhys is a General Partner of Damille Partners, which he established in October 2008 with Brett Miller (with each holding a 50 per cent. partnership interest). Rhys also presently serves as Executive Director of Damille Investments Limited and Damille Partners Limited.
Rhys serves as Executive Chairman of China Growth Opportunities Limited, an AIM quoted Guernsey registered investment company in which Damille Partners holds a 10.2 per cent. interest and Damille Partners Limited holds a 9.3 per cent. interest. Rhys also presently serves as the Non-Executive Chairman of Rapid Realisations Fund Limited and EIH plc. Rhys also presently serves as a Non-Executive Director of Loudwater Trust Limited.
Rhys holds degrees from the University of Wales, Cardiff, and Imperial College, London, as well as the CFA designation.
Brett Lance Miller (Executive Director)
Brett is a General Partner of Damille Partners, which he established in October 2008 with Rhys Davies (with each holding a 50 per cent. partnership interest). Brett also presently serves as Executive Director of Damille Investments Limited and Damille Partners Limited.
Brett is an Executive Director of China Growth Opportunities Limited, an AIM quoted Guernsey registered investment company in which Damille Partners holds a 10.2 per cent. interest and Damille Partners Limited holds a 9.3 per cent. interest. Brett presently serves as a Non-Executive Director of Rapid Realisations Fund Limited, EIH plc and Loudwater Trust Limited. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Pactolus Hungarian Property PLC, an AIM quoted property fund. Until its sale to Astaire Securities in July 2009, Brett served as the Managing Director and key shareholder of Ruegg & Co Limited, a London-based corporate finance boutique.
Brett graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) with a bachelors degree majoring in law and economics and additionally holds a law degree from the London School of Economics (after having relocated to the United Kingdom in 1988). He joined Nabarro Nathanson, a London based law firm, in September 1993 where he qualified as a solicitor and practised until December 1997.