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.
A bit of daft name calling creeping in again folks. If you want to refer to individuals, please do so by their names. Those are long established rules that some people continue to ignore.
Also conspiracy theories on the judiciary? That needs to go somewhere else – preferably a place that doesn’t lead to my front door if you don’t mind.
Please folks, let’s keep the heid!
StevoCFC@9:08
Journalist and Jackson are two words which should never be in the same sentence. Go stand in the corner Stevo.
As Resin says Slim your post was easy reading and summed up everything, brilliant an absolute cracker of a post.
neepheid says:
January 15, 2014 at 10:02 pm
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Fritz Agrandoldteam says:
January 15, 2014 at 9:20 pm
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essexbeancounter says:
reminds me of a nickname we had for a maths teacher we had…in that school opposite the old womens’ prison in Duke Street, Glasgow…!
“Scourge” indeed…wait till I tell my pals…!
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I don’t remember him!
====
Mr Macalloon
______________________________
Possibly, but then there were so many thugs teaching at that place – and some absolute gems like Harry Finnegan and Paddy O’Neil
Truth, once lost, is, like Shergar, difficult to find. (apologies to all horse lovers offended by that last remark)
Now now slim,no need to be facetious.
Scotsman Football @scotsman_foot 41m
Tom English: Wallace must shake up Rangers http://bit.ly/1aITZyk
Tom English: Wallace must shake up Rangers
Charles Green may have exited Ibrox but the club still reverberates to the sound of his old cronies feeding at the trough. Yesterday we learned the identity of the person who sold 2.2 million shares in Rangers International Football Club plc – Richard Hughes of Zeus Capital, one of Green’s chums right from the start and a former commercial director of the club.
You know that old stock exchange warning about how a share price rises and falls? Well, that doesn’t really apply to the likes of Hughes or anybody else who bought into the club at 1p a share. When you’re in the door at 1p then there’s really no way you can lose. The Rangers share price has tanked with a devastating speed leaving those who bought at the top end in a hole to the tune of God knows how much, but the only relevance of a share price collapse to Hughes is that his profit is not as large as he thought it might be. He sold up and walked away with a return of more than half a million pounds. Another one who has done very nicely out of Rangers, thanks to Green and chums.
The steaming mess that is Rangers’ financial plight has now been dumped on to the desk of Graham Wallace, the Rangers chief executive. As an outsider, Wallace must be incredulous at the freewheeling ways of his predecessors, not just the way they sanctioned a first-team wage bill of £7.8m while in the Third Division (contributing to a financial picture so bleak that it made the eyes water) but also the apparent inability of some to accept that things needed to change profoundly.
One of these characters was Walter Smith, a man who brought huge glory to Ibrox when he was manager but whose attitude to the finances, during and after his stint as chairman, belonged to the distant past when Rangers thought they had money, when in actual fact all they had was credit and mountains of debt, most of which they torched. At the risk of dredging up events of the past (the recent past, albeit), it’s worth recalling what Smith said in the wake of the Rangers accounts being published last autumn. Commenting on an operating loss of £14.3m including payments to Green of more than £930,000 with £825,000 going to Ally McCoist and more than £400,000 going to finance director Brian Stockbridge on top of that first team wage bill of £7.8m, Smith almost shrugged.
He said: “People come out and say ‘Ah, it’s not necessary for them to have those players in that division’. But it’s not just the division that matters at Rangers, it’s the fact that you have 45,000 people coming to watch something on a football pitch…they are still losing money. But when you make a decision to be involved at Rangers, there is no common sense to it. The financial bit of Rangers Football Club and common sense don’t often go together.”
Why not? What makes Rangers so different that financial common sense has no place at Ibrox? Smith’s analysis was plucked from the David Murray era; freakonomics born of hubris. No common sense? He’s right, there hasn’t been. That’s not to say there shouldn’t be or that there can’t be. There must be. It’s just as well that Wallace has arrived and seems determined to cut costs. Somebody had to shake the club out of its economic time warp and bring certain people to their senses.
It is estimated that Rangers are losing about £1m a month and that come April they will have just £1m in the bank. Around that point they will be going to the supporters looking for season ticket money for 2014-15, a support that they are continuing to refuse to engage with despite their lofty talk at the agm last month of some new spirit of openness. There hasn’t been any contact, unless you count a letter from a lawyer acting on behalf of some board members to a fans’ group. The upshot of the communiqué was that the Sons of Struth supporters’ lobby felt they had no option but to shut down their Facebook page.
Somebody should be talking to the fans. Wallace, you can forgive, because he has so many other things to be doing, most notably speaking with McCoist about cost-cutting. The questions are obvious but the solutions are less straightforward. According to their website, Rangers have 56 full professionals or professional youth players on their books. According to Celtic’s website, they have now got 50, including their newest recruit Stefan Johansen. Wallace will, no doubt, be asking about this. “Why are there so many players here? How many are worth what we’re paying them? How many can we lose?”
Why are there so many? That’s one for McCoist. In the summer he signed Steve Simonsen as his reserve goalkeeper. Simonsen is a fine goalie and proved as much at Dundee last season, but Rangers didn’t need him then and they don’t need him now. They have Cammy Bell and they also have Scott Gallacher, a 24-year-old who has been at the club since 2006 and who has played only a handful of games. For the less than arduous task of sitting on the Rangers bench and, very, very occasionally, covering for Bell in matches, why not go with Gallacher and save yourself the expense of Simonsen? We don’t know how much Simonsen is being paid – more than Gallacher for sure – but whatever it is, it’s money for old rope given that his sum total of minutes played since joining Rangers stands at zero.
It’s easy to envisage Wallace going through the Rangers squad and continually asking a simple question. Steve Simonsen – why? Emilson Cribari – why? Dean Shiels – why? David Templeton – why? Richard Foster – why? Steven Smith – why? Ian Black, on those wages, why? All of these, and others, are on more money than they could expect to get elsewhere and won’t be in any great hurry to leave. So, for now, Rangers are stuck with them because they can’t afford to make them redundant. This is the legacy of the club’s scattergun accumulation of players they didn’t particularly need to meet the challenge they were faced with. Namely, the Third Division last season and League 1 this season.
Wallace is having to deal with the consequences of such financial waste. He is surrounded by “money men” at the club – Stockbridge, Ken Olverman, Andrew Dickson and the accountancy firm Active Corporate – but he has gone outside Ibrox for a financial advisor in the shape of Philip Nash. On one level that looks like more waste. On another, given the state of the club, you can understand why he’s looking for fresh thinking on the fiscal front. The incumbents have not exactly covered themselves in glory.
For years, Rangers celebrated men – Murray et al – who spent vast amounts of money and improved the team. The guy they should be celebrating now is the one who calls a halt to the financial waste and makes the club face its reality, even if his actions run the risk of putting him in conflict with his manager.
There will be bleating, but only by those who are mired in the past. Those who truly conform to that much-abused description of “having the best interests of the club at heart” would say bring on the cost-cutting to stave off disaster.
In trying to move on from the damage of the past, Wallace knows what the club needs to do. But it promises to be a tough and lonely journey for him.
Exiled Celt says:
January 16, 2014 at 1:53 am
At last, what many have been saying on blogs finally surfacing mainstream.
Seems Wallace thinks Einstein got it right. You cannot fix a problem with the thinking that created it.
Walter Smith the guy who spent £29million on players in 2007/08. More than enough to keep the wolves from the door.
john clarke says:
January 14, 2014 at 5:34 pm
Quote from Mr Regan ” Football relies on everybody in it being honest”.
Not a word about a bit of retrospection being applied, of course. Just from now on, when all the damage has been inflicted.
Who can believe a word that any of them now come out with, absent an apology for all that has gone before?
=========================================
The problem that the SFA (and UEFA) have is what to do when a club sets out to act dishonestly as a matter of policy?
What good are rules that rely on self certification which is quite common in club licencing and incidentally is why the SFA removed some of the confidentiality of the national club licensing rules when they introduced a bit of transparency, saying that key indicators like turnover, wages – ALL wages – and ratio of wages to turnover would be published on the SFA web site ( although I think we are still waiting on that one)
What good are registration rules requiring all payments to be part of details registered with SFA if a club decides to keep secrets. How do you find out if they are keeping secrets? How do you strengthen the rules?.
What do you do if a club embarks on a scheme of tax evasion? (which is what the wee tax amounted to)
By paying players in an illegal manner that other clubs could not use because of its illegal nature, a club doing this was using the equivalent of the cash in a brown envelope under the table routine.
It is bad enough if it was done and then stopped and is limited as it was in the wee tax case to two players, but if the UTT find for HMRC we are looking at the largest brown envelope job in the history of world football. Just how do you cope with dishonesty on a tidal wave scale?
In some ways I can almost understand Regan and Ogilvie et al wanting to put their fingers in their ears and sing la la la I cannot hear you. But whether they hear the wave or not, it will wash them away and leave those left behind with a major rebuilding job.
Auldheid says:
January 16, 2014 at 2:14 am
================================
That is a good article by Tom English. Not put quite as brutally as many on here have opined but the sentiment is the same. It is time someone in the media truly called McCoist out though. T.E points out there are 56 players on the books at Ibrox yet McCoist got away with the pathetic line last week he only had six fit substitutes. It was akin to a spoiled child going into a foot stamping tirade because financially challenged parents have said enough is enough.
Good Morning
A decent article by TE. Hope he doesn’t do the usual and come out with a piece of appeasement tomorrow. It is time the rest of the MSM poodles come out and tell it like it it.
Had the misfortune to hear SSB for ten minutes last night to hear Guidi dishing out the usual that the world cannot wait till the dark side get to the top. Moreover Celtic’s crowds are down because the fans are missing Sevco. NO they are not.
Even if you buy a season ticket it is still an expensive day out to go to the match. Despite the politicians telling us that it is getting better we are still in a recession.
There used to be a lot of fans come over from Ireland and do not do so in the numbers they used to for the same reason. I personally am aware of fans in Ireland who have a season ticket and one in particular has seen only one game this year.
So let’s debunk this myth that Scottish football is missing them.
How much does each club get from four games a year? Not enough to put up with the garbage they bring to your town.
Sevco will die. If this were any other business it would have been liquidated. It is unsustainable.
Where are our SFA and SPFL “Leaders” who are supposed to be pouring over the accounts and forecasts?
Turning a blind eye to a team which will probably collapse before the season ends.
To put matters in perspective about good governence and financial prudence it a reality that Celtic probably spent more on signing a player yesterday than Sevco have in the Bank to see them through the season.
If all the accountants at the debtdome cannot do the sums that a primary four child can do they should just turn out the lights and close the doors.
Society would thank them
slimshady61 says:
January 15, 2014 at 9:11 pm
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Magnificent Slim! Any chance you could read this, in its entirety, down the SFA integrity line?
ecobhoy says:
January 15, 2014 at 11:17 pm
ecobhoy says:
January 15, 2014 at 11:49 pm
Damille Investments II Limited
Having slept on my late-nights posts I think that Damille and RIFC could be a match made in Heaven. Damille is cash-rich with plenty of readies to invest in the right opportunity and RIFC is that animal.
Its Board has been riven with upheaval since inception which provides a powerful lever for inclusion of a couple of Damille-appointed directors. It also has its property assets which is a roasting pig dripping on the spit with an aroma shrieking: ‘Come and devour me and I will return value to the shareholders’.
Damille certainly seems to aim for at least 3% of the shareholding and is there or thereabouts with RIFC – I haven’t checked the exact figure. But it could well go above that by either buying out other shareholders or by the passing of Res 10 which obviously creates dilution but that might be a trigger to persuade some mystery shareholders to pack-up their kitbags with Wonga and disappear back to their offshored tax haven companies to fold their tents.
However I believe Damille will invest directly into RIFC so that deep-cutting can be carried out on TRFCL and its football activities. There will be a masterful PR campaign backed up by our SMSM with off-stage support noises from the SFA and SPFL and a cast of thousands of ex-Ibrox players and friendly establishment figures.
I doubt that Damille will dirty its hands with this footballing agenda because they have no interest in it whatsoever – they quite simply want a return on investment from the RIFC assets and TRFCL is all about liabilities.
I think the main thrust of the PR campaign will be some kind of nebulous promise that the Bears will end up in ‘control’ of Ibrox possibly through a perceived ‘Real Rangers Man’ but they will never own it although whether the bulk of the Bears will understand the difference is debatable IMO going on their past record.
There is also the bitter-pill of the cutbacks which I think inevitably means pay-offs with the compensation provided by Damille who will be generously rewarded for their support in due course by a load of RIFC shares. In a sense it is only fitting if this scenario plays out given that the Richard Hughes shares were issued in respect of the vital loan he provided at a critical time for Sevco at birth in 2012.
As a consequence of the cutbacks it will be explained to Bears that the journey may be delayed somewhat but I have a feeling that Ally will be the scapegoat here. Leaks to SMSM will excoriate him for buying players who were useless and not needed and who were never going to be good enough for Rangers when they arrived in their Rightful Place. He will also get the blame for wasting time by not producing and developing his youngsters and the criminal waste of resources expended at Murray Park through this failure.
His ‘One League at a time’ mantra will be shredded for the soiled throwaway tissue that it actually is and the fact that there seems to be no coherent joined-up plan to return a solvent Rangers to the top flight of Scottish Football will lead to him being lambasted. He could have escaped if he hadn’t gone above his pay grade 😆
But he left football behind and became embroiled in the business affairs of the club and I think he is as likely to put a helluva lot of Bears off buying STs. He has been protected by the PR-infested Bear sites who have valiantly been shoring him up but once the decision is taken to chop him he will be ripped to shreds just as the new manager will be lauded. Fans can be a very fickle bunch no matter what team they support.
So the Bears will be brought into the fold with a new manager who actually knows something about managing a football team and might even have a grasp of basic footballing tactics. What he will have is the ability to do as he is told and realise he is an employee and just there to keep the Bears happy in footballing terms and most of all he will be told from Day 1 that the Rangers Way is now austerity.
Just broad-brush speculation on my part and I haven’t even attempted to paint in the detail and neither do the Spivs because they hire accountants, lawyers, consultants, PR Spinners to ensure the main objectives of the Master Plan is achieved. And we all know the role to be played by the SMSM as well as the SFA AND SPFL.
However the latter bunch of stooges better be careful what they say and do because we will be watching because at some stage it is quite possible that football might not be played at Ibrox. Let’s hope that the Scottish Government doesn’t get tangled-up in State Aid by financing a new stadium for version whatever of Sevco now that we know the European Commission are happy to take on board the ravings of anonymous complainers which appears to be based on sectarian and racist motivation.
One thing for sure – and I might be totally wrong – but this saga has a long way to run with much drama and illusions and an ever-changing cast of characters strutting across the stage. The trick is to identify the unseen fire-proof special effects men with the smoke and mirrors slinking in the shadows and hidden from direct view veiled by the asbestos stage curtain.
Rebecca Gray @Rebecca__Gray 1h
Exclusive in today’s @TheEveningTimes: #Rangers fans’ site probe is dropped by police. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/mobile/news/fans-site-probe-is-dropped-148431n.23179207 …
Fritz Agrandoldteam says:
Possibly, but then there were so many thugs teaching at that place – and some absolute gems like Harry Finnegan and Paddy O’Neil
==============================================================================
Fritz…you have PM…all revealed…you were close though!
Sorry TSFM no more OT!
neepheid says:
January 16, 2014 at 9:05 am
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Neepheid…sorry I missed your post…PM copied you via as to Fritz…almost on the mark!
Ecobhoy, i’ll take your broad-brush speculation every day of the week….
upthehoops on January 16, 2014 at 6:03 am
……called McCoist out though. T.E points out there are 56 players on the books at Ibrox yet McCoist got away with the pathetic line last week he only had six fit substitutes. It was akin …….
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I thought it was a pathetic gesture by McCoist to have an empty space on the subs bench. To me it lacked maturity.
There must be a young player (fit or otherwise) at TRFC who would have Benifited greatly by being involved with the first team and taking in the whole experience from the first team technical area. This could have been an ideal moment to reward a young player who has been trying hard. Just to show him that this is what awaits him if he keeps up his endeavours. But sadly this was not Ally’s way of thinking.
I can’t fathom out if it was bad management, rabble rousing, a feel sorry for me plea to the compliant press, whatever it was I think it was a bit of a selfish act and the target audience must be considered a bit stupid if Ally believes it would fool them.
New shareholder in Rangers
Apparently able to provide required cash.
Loans to Rangers with fees / cheap shares to be supplied in return, giving them a large slice of the company / ownership of the assets. Resolution 10 required to do pay out in 1p shares ?
Company / Club continues to operate, fans largely unaware of how it is happening and care even less.
It would really just be the Richard Hughes scenario over again
Auldheid says:
January 16, 2014 at 2:14 am
——————————————————
Walter Smith the guy who spent £29million on players in 2007/08. More than enough to keep the wolves from the door.
—————————
Of course Auldheid, in 2007/08, as the published decision of the FTT makes clear, HMRC were desperately trying to get information from Rangers on the EBT enquiry but were being frustrated at every turn by Messrs Red, White & Blue at MIH.
The Revenue were being fobbed off since 2003/04, there were long delays before obfuscating replies were received and it was denied by MIH that there were any side letters for the EBTs.
Had Rangers/MIH dealt with the HMRC enquiry as any responsible taxpayer/reputable agent would have done, matters would have come to a head by 2006 at the latest so that the FTT ( or Commissioners Hearings as they were called pre-2009) ought to be have been held in 2007. No reputable finance director would then have sanctioned the expenditure of nearly £30M on fast-depreciating assets – players – with a potential tax bill of several tens of millions looming.
Instead HMRC and the rest of us were all kept in the dark and the MSM, TE included, duly lauded Walter for his shrewd investment to win back the league title and stop Celtic’s making it 4 in a row.
Although TE’s article is good, he could, as you have done, gone on to look at the timescale within which this all happened whic reveals all.
And ultimately of course the side letters only came to light because the fraud squad raided Ibrox and seized players’ files that no-one had had the chance to “redact”.
Decent article from Tom English. He once again shows he is the minority voice of the SMSM willing to tell a few truths.
While I wondered what the point of Nash coming on board was, TE probably calls it right that they really do need to clear out the old dead wood and the ‘spend, spend, spend’ attitude.
I and many others have said similar on here and on RTC that the only way forward for the club was to jettison Smith, McCoist and probably even players like McCulloch to develop a progressive club fit for the 21st century.
The trouble is that the Spivs needed to play to the ‘traditions’ and ‘Rangersness’ so as to fleece their marks.
CEO Wallace could be the man to put the club on the right path, the question is will the finances and the Spivs let him?
essexbeancounter says:
January 15, 2014 at 8:09 pm
bobcobb74 says:
January 15, 2014 at 11:49 am
– 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?) ================================================================================
Superb ass/dissimulation bobcobb…!…but “scourge”…?…reminds me of a nickname we had for a maths teacher we had…in that school opposite the old womens’ prison in Duke Street, Glasgow…!
“Scourge” indeed…wait till I tell my pals…!
********
I had a right good laugh at that EB. As it happens, my observations are an insider’s view as I could be considered one of your “pals” – I earn my corn by sharing your beancounting burden (for my sins) so I would be a part of that “scourge.”
A “scourge” is actually the collective noun for a swarm of mosquitoes. It must have been the reference to blood sucking parasites that made me think it an appropriate term for the accountants at Ibrox. On a more sombre note, I have been disgusted at the way some of our professional “colleagues” have conducted themselves throughout this entire affair.
However, the less said about your old Maths teacher the better, methinks!
I agree with Ecobhoy that the arrival of Damille will mark a major change in direction at Ibrox. As he says, these people have zero or less than zero interest in football. They are only interested in money, and getting a good fast return for themselves and their backers. Having had a look at their track record, I think they are a totally different class of investor from Charles Green and his ragbag collection of spivs and outright chancers. RIFC now has real professionals in charge, so I’m guessing that’s goodbye McCoist. These guys will see through the cheeky chappy in about 30 seconds.
Damille have the ready cash and the expertise to extract full value from RIFC. They will then walk away. The questions are, how long will they stay, and what will they leave behind when they go. The answer to the first part is easy. This lot do not pretend to be long term investors. They pride themselves on getting in and out fast, so things will move very quickly. I don’t think these guys need 120 days to analyse a £20m company. They will have finished that job already. Now they will become activist shareholders, and they will get what they want, because they intend providing a very carefully controlled flow of cash, provided on very favourable terms (to themselves). I think that they will want to walk away in less than 2 years, say 18 months. That is the way their whole business model is structured.
As to what they leave behind, who knows? Getting RIFC out of football altogether has to be an option, especially if they see this as a property punt- and I honestly can’t see any other way of looking at it. I don’t see any of the other investors, such as Laxeys, having any problem with that.
On the other hand, they might be prepared to keep the football side going, but only on a strict break even basis. These guys put money in to get more money out. They are not interested in dropping a million a month into the Ibrox money pit, so ably supervised by McCoist. And they have absolutely no interest in “the journey”, or dreams of Champions League glory in 3 years time. These guys won’t be around in 3 years time, and they surely aren’t interested in providing football’s worst manager with a warchest large enough to overcome his inadequacies and allow him to finish “the journey”.
So if football is retained at all, it will have to entail a manager who can fight it out on a limited budget. As long as the losses are stopped, I doubt these guys will care about cups, promotions, and stuff like that. This is not Sheikh Mansour arriving with bags of cash. It is almost the opposite. Are the bears going to be happy? Well, no, but then does anyone else care? Not their new shareholders, that’s for sure.
And just a final thought. Doesn’t this mean that Dave King has missed the boat (yet again!). Looks as if the bears might have to wait a bit longer for their true saviour to arrive.
neepheid says:
January 16, 2014 at 10:45 am
I agree with Ecobhoy that the arrival of Damille will mark a major change in direction at Ibrox.
===============================================
Well that’s a first 😆
I’m sure you are wrong, neepheid. In the next few days we will see huge articles in the DR and other assorted newspapers detailing interviews with Rhys Cathan Davis and Brett Lance Miller reminiscing about when their dads took them to their first old firm game and how they became regulars at Ibrox. These are REAL Rangers men through and through
“I might be Welsh/English, but Rangers are in my blood! I was brought up to view the Old Firm game as the pinnacle of club football and fell in love with the boys in blue”
Yeah, okay. Maybe not
wottpi, given that Mr Wallace is the company’s man, I assume he’ll do as those who control the company tell him. More of the same. No leopards changing spots, no Pauline conversions for Laxeys or Damille. They’ll do what they do and that isn’t the same as what BDO Administrators have done at Dundee, Dunfermline and, hopefully, Hearts.
After watching Laxey progressively increase their stake, the arrival of Damille II only seems to confirm what will be another stage in an ongoing process. Given that Laxey were agreeing share deals with Green in October 2012 I think Laxey had a good idea where this was going.
How do Laxey and Damille intend to make money?
How does the Easdale Fronted block fit into the plan ?
They are all shareholders in RIFC.
With the exception of Damille, they all have representation and control on both RIFC and TRFC.
An upturn in share value is possible but has it’s limitations and risks.
An approach from a buyer willing to pay a premium and then spend on the club is uncertain.
Running a football club is fraught with unpredictability.
I think the path with the least resistence and longterm potential for problems would be a heavily spun transfer of assets from club to company and subsequent sale of the club.
neepheid says:
January 16, 2014 at 10:45 am
12 0 Rate This
… so I’m guessing that’s goodbye McCoist. These guys will see through the cheeky chappy in about 30 seconds.
———–
@neep,
Where do you see Jack I. in this latest twist? Going the same way as McCoist?
Btw, pity it wasn’t DeMille, that would have given the upcoming movie a production name of biblical proportions 🙂
Slimshady
Yup at the very time they should have been making provision for the btc bill, Smith and Murray were digging a deeper hole, aka grave, for their club.
On concealed side letters and ebts, even after their collapse the Rangers administrators carried on the Campbell Ogilvie tradition of not revealing all and failed to pass on information relating to the original ebts paid to Moore (who did not have a side letter in terms of none being uncovered) and De Boer and Flo who most certainly had and which were concealed from HMRC in 2005 when enquiries were made.
Had the information been passed on when requested not only would it have made it difficult if impossible for LNS to rule as he did, it may even have seen the charge of failure to provide ebt payments in the contracts registered with the SFA changed to something more serious than match fixing i.e illegal payments to players.
The FTT decision provides relief from that charge but if UTT find for HMRC, there is no way the matter can be viewed in any other way than illegal payments made to induce players to sign contracts.
The fallout from that and the realisation that the situation has arisen because of continuing duplicity, will be too great for an msm that is starting to realise the truth is the road to their redemption, to ignore.
DP
They very much need Mediahouse and their experience of the club and support to help sell whatever they are to do. It’s a weak spot that the support should try to push now as cuts loom.
essexbeancounter says:
January 15, 2014 at 8:09 pm
10 0 Rate This
Superb ass/dissimulation bobcobb…!…but “scourge”…?…reminds me of a nickname we had for a maths teacher we had…in that school opposite the old womens’ prison in Duke Street, Glasgow…!
“Scourge” indeed…wait till I tell my pals…!
———-
OT
Isn’t this global forum a small world. Sometimes little references like that bring back a flood of visual associations, not to mention scents from the nearby brewery.
Fag Packet Strategy
Joining all the visible dots – this is how I imagine Damille sees a quick profit from RIFC shares.
• Properties already transferred to RIFC in lieu of RFCL debts to avoid accusation of preferential treatment
• Richard Hughes bails out – he has football interests and doesn’t want to be connected with what is coming.
• Resolution 10 passed
• Admin avoided by loans in lieu of generous share issues – 70p investers diluted to irrelevance – more pie for the spivs.
• Win Div1 – the journey continues
• Get ST money in early – double the price – support the journey
• ST money paid to RIFC in lieu of debts
• Massive redundancies and cost cutting to avoid Admn – “we did everything we could” cover story – but irrelevant
• RFCL into Admin – still owing RIFC millions
• Rangers Men piss around “saving” their club (RFCL) during the summer
• SFA and SPFL break rules they haven’t even made yet to help the Rangers Men – all the King’s horses etc. Maybe rename Hampden as New Ibrox
• RIFC can take or leave RFCL sale. Continued football means cash for debt from administrators as major creditor and on-going rent – but considerable hassle.
• RIFC works on property value growth for a year or two (eg MP planning permission, Ibrox development, Edminston/Car Park sale/repurpose)
• RIFC offloads assets to a property company – with or without football – spivs cash out.
• If RFCL survives it will be as a tenant (maybe temporary) with minimal funds and real world prospects.
• the end
Wondering if the team and bench put out on Monday night at Forfar could be an interesting indicator of what is to come?
Greenock Jack says:
January 16, 2014 at 11:59 am (Edit)
2 0 Rate This
DP
They very much need Mediahouse and their experience of the club and support to help sell whatever they are to do. It’s a weak spot that the support should try to push now as cuts loom.
———–
I can see what you mean, but I get the impression he is tainted goods in the eyes of many.
mcfc
I think they might have bother doubling season ticket prices.
If I remember right the tickets for the third division (as was) were 33% less than the previous club had charged for the SPL (as was). If that’s right then a 50% increase would take them back to the same level (ignoring inflation).
A 100% increase, with a much reduced squad etc would be really difficult to justify.
DP
Irvine takes a back seat and Ramsay Smith takes over running of account on a reduced retainer.
Tif Finn says:
January 16, 2014 at 12:20 pm
A 100% increase, with a much reduced squad etc would be really difficult to justify.
================================================================
It’s not a big part of the plan – STs in first before cost cutting hits – so the team is not depleted (YET).
This is the last time the fans will be fleeced so why not push the limits – we are spivs after all.
We all know the Trigger’s broom analogy to the current rangers fiasco. Sounds like the great man has passed away… RIP
Actor Roger Lloyd-Pack, who played Trigger in Only Fools And Horses, has died aged 69, according to his agent.
Something all TRFC supporters should make themselves aware of is that the significant newcomers, Wallace, Nash and Damille, have not come in to sort out a football club. They are there, in the case of Wallace and Nash, to make money for themselves by way of a salary and, perhaps, bonuses by making the company they are paid by, RIFC, more efficient financially (no doubt their costs being met fully, or largely, by TRFC). Damille are there because they see assets that they have managed to buy a share in cheaply, and intend making as much money as they can from those assets. Should their combined efforts lead to a better run TRFC, one which might have a future as a football club, they will be quite pleased with their efforts. Should their efforts lead to TRFC disappearing, or ending up as a crippled wee club in goodness knows what league, and they still make the same profit for themselves and the shareholders of RIFC, they will be just as pleased.
In each case they will say publicly all the words they know they should say to keep everyone they can use onside. They will appear more dignified than Green, similar to how Whyte first appeared to those who didn’t dig into his true history, but in reality will be just as spiv-like.
JimBhoy says:
January 16, 2014 at 12:47 pm
Actor Roger Lloyd-Pack, who played Trigger in Only Fools And Horses, has died aged 69, according to his agent
===========================================================================
Very sad – heard him on the radio just the other day talking about Trigger and a possible repris of Only Fools. He sounded a very positive, likeable chap who had enjoyed his life and career.
I was really meaning depleted compared to the squad the previous team had.
What you are really talking about is charging considerably more than that team was, but with the current squad (seriously inferior), playing in a lower league.
How many season tickets do you think they would sell. There’s every possibility it would be less than half of the current amount, making it counter productive.
m.c.f.c. says:
January 16, 2014 at 12:25 pm
Tif Finn says:
January 16, 2014 at 12:20 pm
A 100% increase, with a much reduced squad etc would be really difficult to justify.
================================================================
It’s not a big part of the plan – STs in first before cost cutting hits – so the team is not depleted (YET). This is the last time the fans will be fleeced so why not push the limits – we are spivs after all.
=====================================================
They will be lucky if they shift a few players I reckon in this transfer window but if they are going to make players redundant they can do it at any time as long as they pay the compensation. STs will be April at the earliest and I think the Board have to make real and significant cuts before then to show AIM that they are serious otherwise the share price will be heading for Antartica IMO.
The sugar for the Bears is that the Board will show they are bringing in new investment to save the club and complete The Journey and therefore the Bears willy have to once more get their shoulder to the wheel and buy STs. They aren’t making a financial decision but an emotional one – not sure they would invest in a fresh share issue but I don’t think they’ll get the chance anyway.
I’m sure it could work – there might a bit of a drop-off in numbers but with a price-hike ST income could still be up which helps the fiction that the club is doing well financially, has turned the final corner and is within sight of its Rightful Place.
And I really believe a new manager and announcing a brand-new plan to use and develop the youngsters will be seen as the way to the Promised Land. And never ever forget the weight of favourable SMSM dross which will be shovelled even without JI lifting a finger. I don’t think we can imagine the rallying to the flag which will take place – it will surpass anything we have seen previously 🙄
As TIFF pointed out, at the lending fees/rates Mr Hughes had, anyone still on the inside with money to spare would jump at the chance to make similar loans. That may be where SE/JE/new share buyer come into things. Free up some of the budget for repayments (cull, loan and limp to ST time), which saves you from the duped queue, (may explain the amount of accountants on board, one for each spiv, trust no one ). Still a year or two of that left in it, unless the fans have had enough already. The bears really are between a rock and a hard place. JI can play it to the bears as a return to normal practice, like the scenario that SDM had with Ticketus, in the days when Mr Muir represented the bank that began to say no, and I’d say they would have to buy into it, even if they see through it.
ecobhoy says:
January 16, 2014 at 1:01 pm
And never ever forget the weight of favourable SMSM dross which will be shovelled even without JI lifting a finger. I don’t think we can imagine the rallying to the flag which will take place – it will surpass anything we have seen previously 🙄
=============================================================================
Agree – and to me that it still an amazing social phenomenon – a group so eager to maintain their established beliefs that they will contort any new information to fit – despite real and recent negative consequences of doing just that. Long live the Easter Island Forestry Commission.
RIP Roger Lloyd-Pack, whose performance of the “Trigger’s broom” reworking of the Ship of Theseus paradox provided us with an apt description of the Ibrox debacle.
One of the funniest blokes on the telly in his various roles.
Ecobhoy
If prices double the news will have to be delivered against the background of a new PR campaign using both big stick and a carrot of credible size.
That way the reduction in numbers caused by a price hike will be minimised to make it a more attractive risk than a 50% price hike.
It will also require a lifting of the veil to convince supporters the spivs are not waiting to cash in again.
The second tier SPL could be a cracker competitiin wise, so that will be an incentive to pony up and I think supporters will.
Funnily enough the SFA could help by saying The Rangers will not be granted a licence unless they can prove that the wages to turnover ratio is being brought under control.
This would probably be done in stages to ease the pain of the shift down whilst not damaging the shift up the divisions, but whilst Regan’s statement about applying UEFA FFP principles to domestic competitions is an indication of the general change of attitude underway, a specific statement with regard to how the SFA will police compliance at The Rangers would be worth as much if not more than appeals from the usual suspects who are being viewed with ever mounting suspicion.
@Eco Interesting thoughts on Ally and developing youth.. Both could be a bit of a taser like reception to the majority of bears… Said for years results could actually kill the rangers, if they get on a bad run in Div 1 or whatever it is called these days I think it will do more harm as the supporters voice their ire and generally walk.. Stemming that flow/avalanche would be a major job.
Ally still has his fans and the bears are used to instant success, buying that when required. Developing youth and relying on a mix of developing talent and some more experienced Pro’s would be a major culture shock and would inevitably take time. Would 3 seasons in Div 1 turn the fans off..? I think the SB monies, sponsors cash and merchandise sales ( if worth anything more than a few £100k under Ashley) would maybe just keep the wheels on, not really allowing much more to the manager to better his team…
Question
If T’Rangers do make it to next season in the Championship who do you fancy?
The Austerity team full of youngsters who have been bench warming
or
The battle hardend Tynie youngsters who have the experience and game time earned fighting for their lives in the top division.
I think the following extract from a Neil Doncaster email at 5.57pm on Friday 27 July 2012, when the authorities were rushing round like flies trying to shoehorn Sevco into the league, is the perfect example of the surreal mess that we find ourselves in but also lays bear – sorry, bare – the reality that Sevco is a new club and not the old club/clumpany/co/company/institution/business:-
“Rangers oldco is now seeking consent of the SPL Board to re-register each of these players. The consent is necessary because Rangers oldco are in administration and the registrations of these players with the SPL lapsed when their contracts expired. The Board has the ability to give this consent both because the players are essentially replacing themselves and also because a number of players have left Rangers oldco and these players would represent replacements for those players.”
Yes, he actually writes “because the players are essentially replacing themselves”.
How can you replace yourself? How can I replace myself? I can’t – either I’m me or I’m not.
If I’m me, I don’t need to replace myself with me and would find it difficult to do so anyway.
If I’m not me, well I don’t care who replaces me because it’s not I. Clear on that? I’m not sure what TSFM would do if I slagged off me in a post; does that constitute personal abuse? How can it if I am me?
Needless to say the SFA board approved this byzantine request and, 18 months on, Ogilvie, Doncaster and Regan continue to lead our game. Now if only we could replace them……
54 to 54 (essentially 54 is replacing itself)
PS Apologies to anyone offended by this post – fly-lovers, bear admirers, teleportation enthusiasts etc.
As Wallace seems to be the topic of the day, here is a reponse I just put on the LSE (not the LSE proper) to a sevco supporter:
you say Wallace has a very impressive background in running a football club. I disagree. He was only at Manchester City for 4 years and I would question how impressive that was. He oversaw a record loss of £197m in one year (2010-2011) – according to Guardian the wage bill was £21m higher than the total revenue!
He did say at the time “Our losses…will not be repeated on this scale in the future”, which was true. Man City only lost £97m the following year. They lost £121m the year (Wallace’s first with the football club. Any football club in fact, having joined from a sports media company).
So in summary, in the 3 years of his entire career running a football club, where accounts are available, Wallace oversaw a losses of £415m. I anticipate that when Citeh announce their most recent results shortly, they will also have incurred a loss.
Now it is of course the case that Shiekh Mansoor was willing to wear those losses to fasttrack Manchester City’s route to the top of the league (where, I am sure, their fans believe they belong) but I’m not sure any of this indicates “an impressive background in running a football club”, rather it is more like the “fantasy football” games in the newspapers. Can he make cuts when needed? No evidence of that yet.
OK lets do the arithmetic again chaps.
£12m deficit to be dealt with to break even.
Assume a 50% increase in Season Tickets, Matchday Tickets and Hospitality and assume all levels are maintained with those increases.
That’s around £6.5m additional income.
Assume Ally McCoist has taken the salary cut and three top players (£7k / week each) are let go and there is no severance required, that’s savings of about £1.5m
So we have £4m left to find. Where are you getting that from, what do you cut to get the club to break even. Or is it loans at onerous terms, or maybe even being repaid with 1p shares.
I really do think that is the rosiest picture I can paint, so how would you deal with the additional funds / cuts required if you really wanted RIFC / TRFC to continue as a football club. Bearing in mind some people are not entirely convinced that is what the shareholders are really aiming for.
slimshady61 says:
January 16, 2014 at 1:50 pm
1 0 Rate This
================================
slim
whilst i get teh “replacing themselves” bit….what i would like clarified is “WHO PLAYED BRECHIN IN THE CUP?”
if the players were having their registrations with oldco renewed – then the players were registered with OLDCO
So, did OLD or NEW co play brechin
if it was newco – then they had the players who were ALL registered at OLD CO – and why would newco need permission to register players, they weren’t in administration.
And if it was oldco – well, how did they qualify to play football, they had already ceased to be a club and had sold it’s assets and had no stadium etc.
can we get this clarified?
jockybhoy says:
January 16, 2014 at 1:53 pm
============================================================================
In fairness to Mr Wallace, it must be said that these losses were run up as a specific strategy to accelerate City to the top of the Premiership. For any bears watching, this is what happens when you have an owner with billions on the radar (and under the ground) who is prepared to spend his small change on football. They don’t reflect badly on Wallace – but as you say – they also do not present any evidence of a man able to turn around a basket case via austerity.
I know it was said in jest – but this bit misunderstands the psyche of long-term City fans “Now it is of course the case that Shiekh Mansoor was willing to wear those losses to fasttrack Manchester City’s route to the top of the league (where, I am sure, their fans believe they belong) ”
Instead we feel like lottery winners who still think there may have been a mistake and the cash will be called back any day now – so let’s enjoy the ride while we can. We’re the noisy neigbours – bring a bottle.
The general personality of the City fans is one of stoic pessimism and childish enthusiasm mixed with gallows humour – best represented by a comment by Jason Manford – I paraphrase “City 4-1 up at Old Trafford with ten minutes to go – we could still lose this you know”. (edit – btw we won 6-1 🙂 🙂 🙂 )
Or to put it another way – I still mark the day when City reach safety from relegation with the magic 40pts – since you ask – 28th Dec 2013, 1-0 home to Crystal Palace.
JimBhoy says:
January 16, 2014 at 1:46 pm
@Eco Interesting thoughts on Ally and developing youth.. Both could be a bit of a taser like reception to the majority of bears… Said for years results could actually kill the rangers, if they get on a bad run in Div 1 or whatever it is called these days I think it will do more harm as the supporters voice their ire and generally walk.. Stemming that flow/avalanche would be a major job.
============================================================
Hi Jim
I think this is possibly the crunch issue when looking at Damille or even Laxeys and their modi operandi. To them it doesn’t actually matter what activity takes place at Ibrox as their focus is on unlocking and releasing asset value to the shareholders.
But neither are stupid and will realise that in football, fan expectations are high and there’s an almost irresistible urge to pur cash into buying star players and paying them more for better on-field results.
Damille talk about investing for the medium to long-term although that isn’t defined. But even teams at the very top of any League are at best short-term bets IMO because of the nature and vagaries of the game. OK if you have a fabulously wealthy vanity owner the wrinkles can be smoothed out.
But that isn’t the case with Rangers and most certainly not the case with the new breed of investors coming to the fore at the club.
So if the asset value can be removed quickly in the short-term before the results start to suffer through severe cuts will these investors care a jot what happens on the park and are they actually worried about the couple of million surplus that might arise out of ST sales if the income and outgoings are balanced.
I just don’t think they’ll care – why should they? Running a football club is very time-intensive for owners/shareholders as well as being very expensive with the potential – even for the top performers – of turning into a money-pit in any season. And there is always the risk of the glare of publicity.
I could be totally wrong but I just don’t see this continuing once the assets are stripped-out. I think at that stage we will have another ‘plan’ released via the trusty SMSM. It could be one of a number of different scenarios and even the Spivs might not yet have decided their best option after the next phase – already underway – is finished. We might have a complete change of investors and management and this could continually repeat and the football would be affected and fans would eventually walk.
But I have the feeling they are good for another season yet of milking 😆
One thing I am certain about is that they won’t put a penny into keeping a team in blue playing at Ibrox unless their cash plus interest plus fees is guaranteed to be refunded to them. That’s the way they play ther game and football is no different to them than investing in diamond or gold exploration land parcels or canning beans.
Danish Pastry says:
January 16, 2014 at 12:09 pm
OT
Isn’t this global forum a small world. Sometimes little references like that bring back a flood of visual associations, not to mention scents from the nearby brewery.
——————————————————————-
Or from the Molindinar – depending on wind direction……………………..
Phil Mac implying a hefty cut is on the way
Tom Hennessy @TomGoalie33 22 mins @Pmacgiollabhain won’t be his decision Phil…45% cut on the way & you’re right as it will include backroom & coaching staff…
Phil MacGiollaBhain @Pmacgiollabhain 6 mins @TomGoalie33 That wasn’t the figure I was given but very close
The question of WHO played Brechin is in my view the best point that encapsulates the whole mess and shows the SFA at its worst.
A company called Sevco persuaded the SFA to allow it to pretend to be a licensed registered football club without a membership of the appropriate association to play a cup game.
That this was done before the start of the league season and was obviously done to help that team go far in that competition regardless of which league it might end up in.
Unnecessary as well as complicit. Reckless and negligent actions that football now faces the consequences of since the company maybe never really wanted to be a football club anyway, or can the SFA show us the business plan etc that justified their membership, registration and licences?
No football club played Brechin that fateful day, but integrity died in the rush to maintain the appearance of the status quo.
I have just seen that Damille2 have purchased Richard Hughes shares…..old news now I agree but I have to make a living…..the interesting bit for me is that the Chairman of the company is Richard Prosser. It is interesting because he is a director and equity holder in Appleby Trust which is also a 50% shareholder in none other than Allenby Capital. I have pasted an extract from a very old post of mine which concluded then, and therefore now, that Imran Ahmad was still working with John Patrick Brennan of the notorious Hoodless Brennan who owns the other half of Allenby……………Imran is back! My money is still on administration for the club who will start again and lease Ibrox. Murray Park, despite the current planning issues, will be the jewel in the crown and the club will have to find a new training base as these boys will want to maximise their asset and not for training Ally’s 56 players.
” Imran left Hoodless Brennan to form Allenby Capital and had 80% of the share capital having invested £200k. He was quoted at the time as “wanting to do things differently”. A fair enough comment given the reputation of twice FSA fined Hoodless Brennan.
So I thought I would have a look at the Allenby portfolio and measure its success. Firstly however I was interested why Imran had sold his company. Companies house now reveals the two new joint owners of Allenbey as being HB Markets PLC and Appleby Trust Jersey……..HB is short for Hoodless Brennan…..and Coybig revealed yesterday that Mr John Patrick Brennan was on the board of Simply Stockbrokers who are handling Rangers internet share dealing. I conclude therefore that Imran and Hoodless Brennan are still associated and working with each other.”
Welcome back Imran!
Rangers – The Disney Years
There’s your Toffee Apple, Macaroon bar, Spearmint Chewing Gum DoTheBouncy (Weblog) 10:36
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Sport/Football/Scottish+League+One/Rangers
There’s no pulling the wool over the eyes of these guys !!!!
in fact, if it was OLDCO that played brechin, then why are newco allowed to simply take their place in the competition?
have we just franchised football?
so, players registered to old co, newco given a made up status, old co was effectively no longer a club having sold it’s assets (did it have an agreement with new asset owners to use facilities) and were oldco registered/licensed to paly teh whole football season – if so, in what league. if old co played brechin, on what grounds, if newco played brechin – did they loan ALL the players from old co? were the players registered, what was the name of both old and new co, when were players transferred between clubs, why did newco get oldco’s place in the competition
the list goes on and onl
PhilMacGiollaBhain says:
January 15, 2014 at 10:38 pm
29 3 Rate This
Tif Finn says:
January 15, 2014 at 9:49 pm
I get all of that-the hubris the lack of financial common sense that WS alluded to etc.
However, revenues and outgoings could be made to meet in the middle with competent management at CEO level.
Of course the customer base wouldn’t like it, but at some point someone has to level with them.
———————————————————————————————————————————–
You would think…but the previous behaviour of those in charge at Ibrox suggests the opposite.
More thoughts on the day. (Some cracking analyses chaps and chapesses, keep up the good work)
Re Damille2 – there isn’t a short answer I know but who’s money is actually behind it and does that matter?
Re the carrot and stick approach mentioned for season ticket sales. The carrot is easy – pick a profile player, and/or even a manager and ‘season well.’
The stick is a more interesting one. In the timeline above , TRFC struggle on financially speaking to the end of the season winning the league and continuing the journey. There is, of course, the small matter of any points deductions for administration, or worse, a possible relegation or at least non-promotion for an insolvency event rectified via a newco solution.
Or at least there may be depending on if it was voted on the other day (I’m assuming not).
Even the points deduction would be interesting though since assuming the new shareholders didn’t want to throw good money after bad once the ST funds run out next season the deduction would kick in when the club least needed it, as they scrapped it out in the first division.
Depending on Wallace’s austerity I still don’t believe admin will come about, Damille via share issue will ensure that the life support system is kept running, just. But, interestingly, the people deciding the likely footballing fortunes of the next 18 months are going to have two key characteristics – no interest whatsoever re footballing results on the park, and the simple fact they’re the guys who’ll be setting the ST prices.
Hello Mr Teddy, do you want to renew your season ticket on that rock, or over there on that hard place.
Ayr United’s Michael Moffat has been banned for six games with immediate effect for betting on football matches.
wottpi says:
January 16, 2014 at 2:55 pm
That is exactly what I am implying.
If the SMSM don’t ask Ally McCoist questions about budget cuts tomorrow then lamb is on the menu.
My sources tell me that Ally KNOWS what budget cuts are required.
He knows the percentage reduction that has to be delivered from his budget.
100BJD says:
January 16, 2014 at 3:28 pm
The situation at Allenby Capital has moved on as both the Appleby Trust and Hoodless Brennan have been bought out in a management buy-out in October 2013.
http://www.investegate.co.uk/allenby-capital/rns/purchase-of-shareholding-from-hbholdings-completed/201310280700164827R/
I think that the link to Imran Amhed may have been broken.
PhilMacGiollaBhain says:
January 16, 2014 at 4:17 pm
0 0 Rate This
wottpi says:
January 16, 2014 at 2:55 pm
That is exactly what I am implying.
If the SMSM don’t ask Ally McCoist questions about budget cuts tomorrow then lamb is on the menu.
My sources tell me that Ally KNOWS what budget cuts are required.
He knows the percentage reduction that has to be delivered from his budget.
===============================================
Phil
how is this cut, be it 10% or 90% (or somewhere in between) to be achieved?
Are players going to be asked to take a voluntary pay cut?
Are players going to be released from their contracts (without getting paid up – otherwise, what is the point)
Are players going to be sold….and the question here is, if so…….who is buying? Lee Wallace might get a move to English Championship – and then it might be debatable about whether they’ll match/improve his money or even if he’ll go. But anyone else? They might be told to find new clubs with no fee expected – and even then, the players might want part of their contracts paid up if they can’t find clubs offering the same terms.
even a 50% cut only saves the clumpany 3.5M a year – they still have about £9m a year to cut to stem the losses (not repay any losses so far, not to put money into a warchest, but to stop the bleeding)
where is that coming from?
go look at Rangers 1st team squad and remove every second name from the squad and see what that leaves them with…..i’ll tell you what it leaves them with, a plucky championship team – for eternity!
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
January 16, 2014 at 3:33 pm
in fact, if it was OLDCO that played brechin, then why are newco allowed to simply take their place in the competition?
have we just franchised football?
so, players registered to old co, newco given a made up status, old co was effectively no longer a club having sold it’s assets (did it have an agreement with new asset owners to use facilities) and were oldco registered/licensed to paly teh whole football season – if so, in what league. if old co played brechin, on what grounds, if newco played brechin – did they loan ALL the players from old co? were the players registered, what was the name of both old and new co, when were players transferred between clubs, why did newco get oldco’s place in the competition
the list goes on and onl
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I did write to Brechin earlier last year, to ask what team name was inserted on the Govan club’s submitted team sheet. No reply received.
How about insurance for the players ?
Where these oldco/newco players playing under the insurance of oldco, [or was the policy cancelled / unpaid on the creditors’ list ?]
Where these players playing under a Sevco insurance policy, [although one would think that if the SFA player registrations couldn’t be sorted out quick enough – then the insurance would not have been in place either ?]
or how about…
Where the players of the Govan club playing without any insurance at all ?
Surely the SFA wouldn’t knowingly allow uninsured players on the park ?
[Neither would the Scottish PFA ?]
Just idle speculation on my part – but yes, a very murky period for Sevco & the SFA.
No1 Bob says:
January 16, 2014 at 4:18 pm
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100BJD says:
January 16, 2014 at 3:28 pm
The situation at Allenby Capital has moved on as both the Appleby Trust and Hoodless Brennan have been bought out in a management buy-out in October 2013.
http://www.investegate.co.uk/allenby-capital/rns/purchase-of-shareholding-from-hbholdings-completed/201310280700164827R/
I think that the link to Imran Amhed may have been broken.
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Thanks Bob an MBO at Allenby….well…… I did not know this although my original article predated this event by many months. I think Imran is still in this deal and probably organised the share deal for his ex boss Richard Hughes. It is too much of a coincidence when Imrans ex boss sells shares to a company who is chaired by a partner of another ex boss/partner/Rangers internet share dealer……too much coincidence for me so I will stick with property play and predict that Imran is back. BTW I enjoy your well informed posting.
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
January 16, 2014 at 4:31 pm
All good questions.
I don’t have the answer to any of them I’m afraid.
My best guess is that this cut to the football budget is part of an overall downsizing to get the Clumpany over the line until ST renewal time.
I think it is that short term and that desperate.
Danish Pastry says:
January 16, 2014 at 12:09 pm
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essexbeancounter says:
January 15, 2014 at 8:09 pm
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Superb ass/dissimulation bobcobb…!…but “scourge”…?…reminds me of a nickname we had for a maths teacher we had…in that school opposite the old womens’ prison in Duke Street, Glasgow…!
“Scourge” indeed…wait till I tell my pals…!
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OT
Isn’t this global forum a small world. Sometimes little references like that bring back a flood of visual associations, not to mention scents from the nearby brewery.
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DP…being a then teenage teetotaller (would that I was now!) my lasting nasal impression is that of the Molendinar “burn”, aka open sewer!
On a different topic can anyone here explain why Ian Black got a three match ban for betting (some against his own team) while Michael Moffat of Ayr United gets a six match ban although he did not bet against his own team. Completely baffled by this one. Surely the SFA are completely wrong here and I can hear the pro rangers commentary about to start any minute……
wottpi says:
January 16, 2014 at 1:50 pm
Question
If T’Rangers do make it to next season in the Championship who do you fancy?
The Austerity team full of youngsters who have been bench warming
or
The battle hardend Tynie youngsters who have the experience and game time earned fighting for their lives in the top division.
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You mean for relegation?
Of the two I’d go for Rangers.
😛
StevieBC says:
January 16, 2014 at 4:35 pm
“Just idle speculation on my part – but yes, a very murky period for Sevco & the SFA.”
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Could be the SFA’s murkiest period, ever, but are you suggesting that Sevco have actually had non-murky periods? I doubt the leading players in Sevco have ever been involved in anything not best summed up as ‘murky’, or worse! That apart, a good post, and good work done writing to Brechin, even though their ‘response’ spoke volumes 😉
100BJD says: January 16, 2014 at 4:37 pm
No1 Bob says: January 16, 2014 at 4:18 pm
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The MBO at Allenby is recent (28 Oct 13). Their last AR01 still had HB and Appleby Trust as shareholders (as at 24 Sep 13).
Richard Prosser’s Linked-In profile shows him as being a Partner in Appleby since June 2000. I think that it is highly likely that Ahmad is known to Prosser.
No further comment or explanation for Moffat’s six game ban from the SFA
http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=1961&newsID=13000&newsCategoryID=1
I expect that the SFA will, if pressed, point to the £7,500 fine (one week’s wages?) and a further 7 game ban (suspended) on Black, thus making the punishments equivalent.
Rangers: Players reject 15% wage cut plea by club
By Alasdair Lamont
Senior football reporter, BBC Scotland Rangers players have rejected the Ibrox club’s proposal of an across the board 15% wage cut.
Manager Ally McCoist had been told that he would have to make cuts to his playing budget.
McCoist has been in discussions with Graham Wallace as the chief executive undertakes a comprehensive review of the Ibrox finances.
The players’ wage bill at the League One side currently stands between £6m and £7m per annum.
Last week, McCoist signed off on a pay cut of around 50%, which he agreed to in October.
And consultant Philip Nash has been brought to Ibrox to help oversee the financial overhaul.