Good Evening.
When considering any type of protracted negotiation or discussion that seems to be going on too long, there is a story that is always worth remembering– whether it is actually a true story or not as the case may be.
It is said, that heads of state all met at a congress in what is now modern Germany sometime after the Franco Prussian war of 1870-1871.The entire congress was being run almost singlehandedly by the then Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismark and he was keen to get all the necessary signatures on paper to seal some deal or other.
However, others at the congress were not too keen to sign up to certain elements of the proposed deal and so they hithered and dithered and in the eyes of Bismark they simply waisted time by concentrating on the minutiae- the little matters, with a view to ensuring their own interests were best served in these small areas– and did not focus on the big issue.
Having tried to talk these others round and educate them in his own beliefs and point of view on the bigger picture without any success, Bismark grew weary of the continuing delay and the posturing of his colleagues. All attempts at reason and diplomacy had failed in his eyes and so he decided to take a different tack.
Accordingly, it is said that whilst others were still inside debating endlessly on this matter or that, Bismark left the building and began simply shooting the windows in with the aid of a riffle which he just happened to have handy.
Those inside were naturally alarmed at this turn of events. They soon forgot about the minutiae under debate, they abandoned the previously expressed self interest and simply signed up so that they could get away from the mad chancellor and his house.
Job done so to speak.
Whilst I do not in anyway condone the behaviour of Otto von Bismark in this instance, and have no doubt that he was an autocrat, what I will say is that he believed that there was too much time being spent on the unimportant stuff and not enough time recognising what really needed doing– from his point of view of course.
Today– and it seems every day for months— we have endless debate about the future of Scottish Football. League reconstruction and the redistribution of footballing wealth has become a marathon– even before it has started.
Yet I believe that at the moment all parties concerned are not focusing on the radical reform that is fundamentally needed which is the creation of one, strong, properly structured and constituted body which is capable of the proper and ethical governance of Scottish Football and the business that surrounds football.
No matter what system you try, or distribution you agree, without proper sensible strong governance you are wasting your time.
Further, whatever body is set up, and whoever is chosen to be its CEO (or whatever the head honcho is going to be called), they must tackle the issue of corporate and fiscal compliance and the proper administration of any body corporate which actively takes part in Scottish Football– and that includes any such body or person who is involved in the running of a member club.
In addition, in so dealing with any corporate malfeasance or chicanery or whatever, the rules have to be applied with a rod of iron by an iron body.
As we can now clearly see, Football clubs and football in general is not, and never will be, immune from the effects of bad corporate governance and on occasion downright manipulation of facts, figures and contracts.
Whilst great play has been made of the fact that Gavin Masterton has handed over his shares in Dunfermline FC ( or its holding company ) the fact of the matter is that this in no way solves the problem faced by the football club. Whoever gains control of that club will still have to rent the ground from Mr Masterton’s company– and it is a rent that the club may just not be able to afford.
Ever!
It is only my opinion of course, but I am of the view that Mr Masterton has sealed a loan deal with his bankers which is of a type and duration which could not normally be achieved by other borrowers. The Loan has a lengthy period during which no repayments are necessary and interest can continue to accrue.
All very good you may say, but the level of debt concerned is not one that appears to be sustainable by Dunfermline FC and so whoever buys the club as a going concern ( if anyone buys it at all ) will have to pay an agreed rental to Gavin Masterton– and if the rental is not sufficient to repay Mr Masterton’s lenders, then I suspect that the end game here will be a search to find a buyer for the ground at some point over the next twenty years or so, with the hope that as part of the deal a space will be found somewhere for a new ground like New St Mirren park– the difference being that in that instance St Mirren were in charge of their future whereas Dunfermline are not.
The Governance of that club and the financial arrangements behind the club should have been looked at and examined by the SFA long before now– and the Dunfermline fans warned about the dangers of any such arrangements. Effectively those finance arrangements, should they continue, will probably mean that the club will have no option but to move from its established home!
All to suit one man!
Thankfully Dundee were spared a full takeover by Giovanni Di Stefano, however is it not a bit worrying that this man who has been jailed for over 14 years for various fraudulent acts, was allowed to roam around Scottish Football for a prolonged period?
Not so long ago Di Stefano did play a part at Dens, was in line to buy almost 30% of the shareholding, and was oft quoted in the papers and so on. The thing is that there were those who were prepared to give him a place at the Dundee table and in so doing invited him into Scottish Football.
Surely the SFA, had they been inclined to, could quite easily have pointed out that many of the claims of Mr Di Stefano were at least dubious if not completely incorrect? Yet nothing was being said at the time and silence prevailed.
Whilst not in the same calibre as Di Dtefano, Vladimir Romanov has now been at Hearts for a prolonged period. While I have no quibbles about the legality of Romanov’s takeover of Hearts, any money of a sizeable size which is transferred into Scotland from a foreign country will be subject to scrutiny by the Crown office to ensure that it is clean. Lithuania in particular is said to have a banking system which is governed loosely and sometimes does not meet the compliance standards expected in this country.
With his bank having gone bust, Romanov still retains the majority shareholding at Tynecastle, but there are questions still to be answered about what has happened at Hearts but life will be very different for the Edinburgh club going forward.
Again– could the SFA have done more to monitor the situation and could they have demanded clarity and detail from the Hearts owner as to his business dealings and the detailed arrangements with his bank?
At Ibrox, well things just go from the weird and inexplicable to downright astonishing– and all through a tremendous amount of smoke and mirrors.
It is clear that the SFA have no idea what to believe from Charles Green or for that matter Craig Whyte. On the face of it, there are clear links between Whyte and Green with the former paying over a six figure sum in return for absolutely nothing it would appear– with similar transactions going between Whyte’s colleague, Aiden Early, and Charles Green.
What is clear is that Green gave a clear undertaking to the SFA that he had nothing whatsoever to do with Whyte and would have nothing to do with Whyte going forward. Now, at the very least he is admitting that he met Whyte on several occasions, and whilst he may have made representations to Craig Whyte— these were all lies designed only to get Whyte to where Green wanted him.
This is hardly the act of someone who has been bona fides in his business dealings either with Whyte or with the SFA as the licensing body.
It is against this background that the Scottish Football Agencies need to wake up before they find the fans of the game ( at least those who want to stay interested in the game ) doing a Bismarck and panning in the windows of this whole house of cards.
Football Clubs, football fans, and indeed football itself needs protected from the financial and corporate shenanigans, and the governing body must be much more active and permanently vigilant in watching out for and if necessary anticipating the people and the transactions which have and will jeopardise clubs and the game in general going forward.
It is clearly no longer acceptable to rely on self regulation or mere declarations and undertakings from the clubs themselves. The Administrators must be much more active and employ far greater professional expertise in carrying out an almost constant analytical and reporting function in relation to club finance and corporate regulation.
All and any changes in funding, boardroom changes, investor changes and anything else major should be the subject of immediate and proper scrutiny by the SFA and there should be fair, immediate and stiff sanctions for non compliance, and any type of dilatory behaviour on the part of club officials who would seek to conceal the truth or who fail to properly disclose vital matters which should be out in the open.
Further, the funding detail– such as the never ending loan re Dunfermline should be a matter of public record in all its detail so that fans and investors can make information based value judgements when dealing with any club.
Such stiffer regulation should not develop into anything like a corporate witch hunt or any kind of draconian big brother syndrome, however the need for change given all of the current troubles is obvious to one and all.
Further, the attempted fudge surrounding Rangers league status last summer and the ongoing disquiet surrounding the position of Campbell Ogilvie does nothing to boost faith in and the reputation of Football Administration in Scotland.
Things are far from clear and there appears to be continual dithering and fudging. No one has any idea where the Nimmo Smith Report has gone nor what import it is to have— if any. Why is that?
Dithering and bumbling over detail is no longer an option. Strong clear governance is required to protect the game from being hijacked by those who have their own corporate and financial agendas.
Such people cannot be allowed to determine the way Scottish Football runs or to conduct themselves in a fashion that leaves football and everyone involved in limbo.
It is time for Scottish Football to find its own Iron Chancellor! There is a need for someone who will, if necessary, come along and shoot the lights out of any club or Company Director who wishes to play fast and loose with the game of football.
Auldheid,,
Can you clarify.
Membership of the SFA, either full or associate, can be transferred in the case of an insolvency. Such permission should not be unreasonably withheld by the SFA. See below.
” 16. It is not permissible for a member to transfer directly or indirectly its membership of the Association to another member or to any other entity and any such transfer or attempt to effect such a transfer is prohibited save as otherwise provided in this Article 16.
Any member desirous of transferring its membership to another entity within its own administrative group for the purpose of internal solvent reconstruction must apply to the Board for permission to effect such transfer, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed.
Any other application for transfer of membership will be reviewed by the Board which will have complete discretion to reject or to grant such application on such terms and conditions as the Board may think fit.”
Is a reasonable interpretation of this rule, that once an SFA membership has been awarded, as long as there is a successor business to continue running “the club” membership will transfer .
In simple terms, because Gretna and Third Lanark couldn’t get a new business to take over the club, the membership lapsed. Meanwhile as Rangers were able to the get a new company up and going , in that case the membership was transferred .
Or am I making this overly simplistic
Having just read HP’s post , it would appear we are using different versions of the articles.
I suspect HP’s is more current.
HirsutePursuit says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 17:17
Thanks HP. A comprehensive response. I shall read and digest at my leisure. Aulheid’s post just prior helped me understand the difference between the SFA/SFL membership and the club licensing (Dohh!!).
Please forgive my further ignorance but I get the impression that the SFA/SFL membership is subject to review if the circumstances of the grant of the membership alter. The club licence I perceive to be subject to a periodic review? The 30th April date was stated earlier as a submission date for accounts. Would the club licensing committe as a matter of course review such information at the start of a season or would this only occur if circumstances were deemed to have changed?
For many contributors these questions may appear trivial but there may be other readers out there who like myself, would appreciate a summary.
Whilst there would be an understandable reluctance to refer in an detail to Messrs Easdale on this forum I think it only fair to say that they provide Taxi services.
And should you be in the market for a new coach ,,,,
Stu Cosgrove has just wiped the floor with Spiers…..Again.
Cosgrove v Spiers/McIntyre on Radio Scotland now.
Spiers just spouts garbage and doesnt listen.-he cant compete on any level with Stuart.
To Stuart Cosgrove
Just in case you don’t read follow follow.
Mark “Grandmaster Suck” Dingwall has just started a thread specifically to describe you as a racist.
========================
Cosgrove the racist
Just pronounced Imran’s name as Achmed rather than Ahmad.
He’s of Pakistani origin not Arabic, Stoo.
Or do coloured people all look the same to you?
===========================
A few posts later the same sectarian bigot, who I believe actually managed to get his fanzine banned from Ibrox at one point (“Due to the elements within Follow Follow, Rangers Football Club do not wish to be associated with it.”), went on …
===========================
No Nazi like a Perth nazi.
===========================
So it would seem you are a racist and a nazi. You have been hiding that well.
mullach says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 18:08
“The 30th April date was stated earlier as a submission date for accounts. ”
This seems to a common misconception. Green changed the accounting date to 30th June, so that two lots of season ticket sales would be included in the first audited accounts, so making the results look less disastrous (on the face of it). From Deloittes report on the interim accounts to 31st December-
“The first annual audited financial statements will be prepared for the period to 30 June 2013”
The company has 6 months from 30 June to publish the accounts under AIM rules. I personally doubt that accounts will ever be prepared, but that’s just me being cynical.
Does anyone know when the “iamrangers” account was created? I know on some forums it tells you how long the poster has been a member.
I have no idea if it is a new or old account but If I was in the MSM I would be trying to find out. I guess the fact that they don’t is why we are all here.
Just returned from the game, a 4th tier local team with a healthy crowd of 551. The quality on show was not up to the standards I am used to but it was a good day with some great banter between fans (and even some players). The visitors were FC. Sankt Pauli U23 and it was evident they had a bigger team mentality and level, we still beat them although we did ride our luck on more than a few occasions. And it’s only a short walk from the house so very convenient.
While watching the game, a few things struck me (other than the fact the center back was built and looked like Bobo Balde) in relation to the current points being debated in Scottish football.
1. Alcohol
There were not many people around today that did not have a beer, at least it seemed that way. There were some “ultra” fans that had clearly more than one or two who were noisy and vibrant but were not bothering anyone; in fact, they were the only ones providing an atmosphere. There were many children there and the selling and consumption of alcohol did not seem to affect their enjoyment of the day.
2. Feeder Teams
The opposition today is a team who are understudy to a bigger team flirting between the top 2 leagues in Germany, next week they will play host to Werder Bremen’s feeder team. Does this cause a problem? Well no, they try harder against these teams and in a lot of occasions, are successful. It is also a chance for the players to be seen by coaches working for the top teams.
3. Quality/Standard
I don’t know the standard of this league versus the 4th tier in Scotland but if they are similar then credit to Rangers for pulling in 40k a week to watch this when you have been used to a much higher standard. In saying that, it did not lessen my enjoyment as the point of being there was to spend some time with friends and have a few beers and a laugh on a Saturday afternoon. The point of going next week will be to introduce my son to football, he doesn’t know any other standard so to him, they are all world class.
4. Costs
The crowd today was 551, the crowd at the last game was pushing 250. The first game of the season had so many people there they could not cater for them and space on the sidelines was limited. It must be extremely difficult for a club of that size to plan for a season without ticket season books to give an indication of minimum levels of income they will have, in fact, must be difficult for all clubs at all levels to control that. The important factor is that they live within their means; they do that quite successfully but it takes a lot of management and hard work by key individuals with the club. They do not speculate!
Entry €9, Beer €3, Steak Roll €2, Program €0 (Free).
5. Timing
Before today, I couldn’t tell you the last game I attended where the kick off was at 15:00hrs on a Saturday afternoon, this is without a doubt, the best time to watch football with friends.
So my message to you is this, if you are a loose end on a Saturday afternoon or just pissed off with the goings on over at the big hoose and need a distraction, why not go and support your local team, even for a day. You might actually enjoy it….
I will answer my own question.
Iamrangers, a member since 24 October 2011.
How does that work out??????
How long has imran been at rangers?
I smell a rat.
Btw 2min google search found me the answer.
neepheid says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 18:29
4 1 Rate This
mullach says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 18:08
“The 30th April date was stated earlier as a submission date for accounts. ”
This seems to a common misconception. Green changed the accounting date to 30th June, so that two lots of season ticket sales would be included in the first audited accounts, so making the results look less disastrous (on the face of it). From Deloittes report on the interim accounts to 31st December-
“The first annual audited financial statements will be prepared for the period to 30 June 2013″
The company has 6 months from 30 June to publish the accounts under AIM rules. I personally doubt that accounts will ever be prepared, but that’s just me being cynical.
=====
The 30th April clubs have to provide financials to the SFA, I think for award of license for next season
Can’t see how sevco will be able to provide accounts without going concern warning.
I hate Perth Nazis
bigsausagefingers says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 18:58
Maybe he was using one of Traynor’s old logins?
I would assume rangers media would be making a phorensic check on the ip addresses used on that account. Obviously the earlier posts were not from Imrans Ibrox pc.
Or better still maybe Imrans lawyer will get someone to do that.
Bit of a “I am the walrus” thought but who would benifit from the removal of Mr Ahmad? Accordingly that should disclose the perpetrator.
Any ideas anyone?
🙂
chipm0nk says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 18:22
To Stuart Cosgrove
Just in case you don’t read follow follow.
Mark “Grandmaster Suck” Dingwall has just started a thread specifically to describe you as a racist.
No Nazi like a Perth nazi.
————————————————
‘No Nazi like a Perth nazi”??????? What does that mean? Even google is stumped!
chipm0nk says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 18:22
8 0 Rate This
To Stuart Cosgrove
Just in case you don’t read follow follow.
Mark “Grandmaster Suck” Dingwall has just started a thread
specifically to describe you as a racist.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That is the weapon of a desperate ‘man’. Dingwall, like his fellow xenophobe Chris Graham, has lost every semblance of rationality. Both have exhausted every possible diatribe and been exposed as pathetic examples of the Ibrox support. Neither has any credibility amongst the wider Scottish football audience. They continue to exist only due to the fact that the Ibrox support are desperate to be told what they want to hear. Dingwall and Graham exploit that fact to the detriment of the decent fans and the club. How these two are allowed to continue their position of influence over sections of the Ibrox fans is one of the great mysteries of this story.
If Imran or Charles really wanted to go on the T’Rangers forums they couldve used one of my logins 😉
dreddybhoy says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 18:59
The 30th April clubs have to provide financials to the SFA, I think for award of license for next season
Can’t see how sevco will be able to provide accounts without going concern warning.
+++++++++
Since what is required is the audited annual accounts ending within 2012, RIFC/TRFC simply can’t comply. They can apply for a derogation- from the SFA handbook on licensing:
“3.4
Applications for Derogation
In accordance with the process map at 4.1 of Section 4 of this Manual, clubs may submit applications to the Licensing Committee for derogation where there are variances with the criteria at the level of award applied for. These applications shall be submitted by the club using
a form prepared by the Scottish FA. It will be a matter for the Licensing Committee to determine whether to accept such an application on such
terms as the LC specifies or to refuse the application, acting reasonably at all times.”
In these circumstances, there is no doubt that derogation will be granted. So don’t expect to see any accounts before December, if the wheels stay on that long (unlikely).
neepheid says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 19:41
This assumes that the SFA are requiring a full years audited accounts. I would say that the SFA would be happy to take accounts from the date of acquisition of the business to present, as a prerequisite to once again waiving the 3 year accounts rule. AFAIK the 3 year accounts rule is still in effect, and that rule will have to once again be waived during this years rounds of licensing applications.
The 30th of April is an SFA deadline. The 30th June accounting deadline is a companies HMRC legal rule. One has nothing to do with the other.
If rangers were granted a license without having to display some sort of financial documentation to assure the SFA. and through them the other participants in the competition in which they wish to be admitted, that they were in a position to fulfill the fixtures of the coming season then the SFA could, IMHO, be liable for losses incurred by teams if rangers were unable to fulfill any given fixture due to financial collapse.
Mike Ashley storms out of St James’s Park shouting:
“Thank God I’ve put my money into Rangers”!
A Total Lack of Trust
Okay, I admit to some initial glee and more than a touch of schadenfraude when the brown smelly stuff began to hit the big swirly thing down the Copland Road. Sadly, however, that feeling has long since given way to one of gobsmacking disbelief at what I was watching unfold in front of my eyes.
While I was trying my level best to understand how ‘the authorities’ had managed to allow the situation to get to that stage, my attention was continuously being diverted towards the ongoing shenanigans in sunny Govan which was swiftly turning into a psychedelic freak show befitting of a 1960′s acid trip. From the sorry tale of Mr Custard the Bluenose Clown and the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund through to Brave Bomber Brown’s valedictorian speech on the steps of Ibrox (oh how I laughed!).
However, this whole Rangers/Sevco saga has now, quite literally, gone ‘beyond a joke’. In fact, it’s just not funny anymore.
Anyone who follows my blog or has read my posts on RTC or TSFM will know how totally disillusioned I am with the ongoing pretence of any ‘governance’ of the game in Scotland. http://theinternetbampot.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/hanlons-razor/
The recent restructure debacle where the SPL were set against the SFL and the big clubs set against the wee clubs to argue over a clearly unworkable and ill-considered solution to the ‘apparent issues’ in the game has shown us exactly what we are up against in this regard.
Henry MacLeish described the SPL club’s inability to come to any agreement or compromise as “a simple lack of trust”. While that sentiment is certainly evident in today’s game, this distrust is only a symptom of the corporate malaise which has infected Scottish football these past two decades. As I see it, the real reason that this dis-ease has been allowed to run rampant through our game is down to a ‘total lack of leadership’.
However, there are some other dynamics at play which I believe need to be recognised before we can truly move on from this shambles to a place we all want to be. Where analysis of the football on the park takes precedence over the machinations of the boardroom. Where rules are followed, sanctions implemented and where institutional bias and corporate press coverage no longer has influence on results.
First, we have to remember that Scotland is in the middle of a historical political debate, where an understanding of the ‘division of citizenry’ is key to the electioneering strategy of all of the political parties. Football fans represent a powerful demographic. Realise this, if every fan who attended a football match on a Saturday voted on a Thursday, the turnout would be the highest the country had ever seen.
There is no doubt that the influence of the Rangers’ historical affinity with ‘The Union’ and Celtic’s presumed affinity with the ‘unions’ will be well appreciated by the major parties’ chief whips and spin doctors. Let’s face it, no political party wants to be associated in any way with the demise of Rangers FC. At the same time EUFA and FIFA have a predilection toward the self-governance of National Associations, while the MSM are no more than mouthpieces for corporate sponsors and advertisers. As a result, all potential ‘higher authorities’ simultaneously averted their gaze from the evolving Rangers car crash like a flock of flamingos in a mating dance.
Secondly, when cool heads and carefully reasoned debate and analysis over issues as big and potentially divisive as these was required, it clearly suited the SFA and their cohort to play up the potential for ‘civil unrest’ should they not be allowed to ignore their own rules and shoehorn an unqualified ‘replica’ club straight into the top leagues to act as though nothing had happened.
It may well have appeared to be ‘a good idea at the time’ but, as recent history has shown, it actually turned out to be the worst of all the potential solutions.
The simplest and most obvious answer to the crisis facing Scottish football had been right in front of their faces all along. Hidden in plain sight. It wasn’t even complicated or technical, in fact it was the ‘only’ solution available to them under the rules and it could have stopped this charade in its tracks once and for all. They could simply have said, “The old Rangers is dead but Scottish football needs a NEW Rangers”.
As long as the SFA had recognised the serious wrongdoing that had occurred within the boardroom of Rangers FC, I believe that the majority of football fans would have accepted a New Rangers being given a ‘puddy up’ to SFL3 . Simply stating the facts would also have brought much-needed ‘closure’ to the many decent fans who had been lifelong supporters of the old club and who’s emotions had been put through the mill in the previous year. It would also have provided those same fans with the opportunity to access the information necessary to allow them to decide how they would move forward.
With a bit of leadership, these real fans could easily have banded together to buy the assets from D&P (particularly Ibrox and the Rangers brand) that they held so dear to them. They could have examined new and sustainable business models, perhaps even considering a fan ownership model. As it is they have now contributed more than double what ‘Sevco Something or Other’ paid for the old clubs assets in the first place. Most of which has probably gone straight into the offshore bank accounts of people who do not have their best interests at heart.
Sure, they would have been forced to acknowledge their status as a new club, however acceptance of the truth would have been the first step towards reconciliation and would have helped the real fans to move on and make a fresh start. Without doubt there would have been enough supporters of this New Rangers to safely pay and play its way through the leagues in jig time and they could have kept their supposed ‘dignity’ while ridding themselves of some of their toxic ‘history’. If only someone had displayed a bit of leadership.
Instead what we got was the fraud that is ‘The Rangers’, the ethereal ‘club’ and the ‘Then, Now and Forever’ fantasy of Messrs Dingwall and Graham, growing animosity and antagonism amongst fans, distrust of and between the clubs and the authorities, the confusion over ownership of the assets, the disappeared IPO money and a kaleidoscopic conveyor belt of ‘colourful’ corporate characters including the Blue Knights, Google-eye Whyte, Del-boy Green and any other amount of infected, infested, conflicted and convicted individuals waiting their turn to feast on Rangers cadaver.
So let’s cut to the chase. Rangers as we knew them are dead. They cannot be ‘cleansed’ and there can be no ‘fresh starts’. The sooner everyone comes to terms with that fact , the better. This new club plying their wares in the lower divisions of the SFL is an aberration and no more than a shadow of a once venerated sporting organisation. The Walter and Ally resurrection roadshow is a busted flush and they need to be careful that they don’t turn into the Laurel and Hardy of this tragi-comedy.
However the SFA is still very much alive and continues to preside over this unmitigated disaster for Scottish football. These so-called leaders have facilitated the wanton destruction of what was once a proud Scottish Institution and, at the same time, they have allowed a never ending parade of corporate chancers the autonomy to continue to skim the hard earned cash from the loyal supporters of the old club. They have let those fans down, they have let all football fans down.
This travesty has now gone far beyond the abilities and remit of the SFA and it’s time for those ‘higher authorities’ to step in. Regardless of their motivation, Campbell Ogilvie and Stewart Regan have stood back impotently and watched as a parade of two bit hustlers and ten bob tycoons pecked at the mangled carcass of this once mighty club while running roughshod over the rules and denigrating any notion of sporting integrity. They have turned our game into a farce and made a mockery out of a sham. It is an absolute disgrace and I, for one, am sick and tired of it.
Scottish football is in compete disarray and change is certainly required. However, what is the point in debating the relative merits of league reconstruction, when the agenda is being driven by the same few individuals that allowed the game to get into the sorry state it is now ? It’s time to either clear out or disband the SFA and form a new football authority. One where sporting integrity takes primacy over corporate considerations and where rules and reconstruction could be implemented without fear or favour. That is the one thing which has the potential bring the much needed leadership and vision back to our game. It would be a game changer.
Albert Einstein said, “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.”
In my humble opinion, Scottish football doesn’t need ‘The Rangers’, Scottish football needs a new Governing Body.
Senior says:
Tuesday, April 9, 2013 at 22:40
45 5 Rate This
My gut feeling is Green will be gone by next Monday. He’s done for.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Apologies to my fellow posters, I predicted Green would be gone Monday 15th, alas, he held on for four more days, he jump ship on the Friday.
Had a chat with a certain little bird about this erroneous tip-off, she said she was sorry, explaining she is in the middle of building a nest (in the Bill Struth main stand at Ibrox) and has promised it won’t happen again.
P.S.
Cardigan is next out the door!
27 seconds…the distraction strategy…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQb84PNxu5A
dreddybhoy says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 18:59
2 0 Rate This
neepheid says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 18:29
4 1 Rate This
mullach says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 18:08
“The 30th April date was stated earlier as a submission date for accounts. ”
This seems to a common misconception. Green changed the accounting date to 30th June, so that two lots of season ticket sales would be included in the first audited accounts, so making the results look less disastrous (on the face of it). From Deloittes report on the interim accounts to 31st December-
“The first annual audited financial statements will be prepared for the period to 30 June 2013″
The company has 6 months from 30 June to publish the accounts under AIM rules. I personally doubt that accounts will ever be prepared, but that’s just me being cynical.
=====
The 30th April clubs have to provide financials to the SFA, I think for award of license for next season
Can’t see how sevco will be able to provide accounts without going concern warning.
================================================
Even with a “going concern” issue they could be assigned a National Club Licence at “Silver” level – if they can provide 3 years audited accounts by 30th April (that’s this coming Tuesday btw). In reality they can’t even provide one year’s audited accounts because their financial year doesn’t end until 30th June.
However, they do now have the newly inserted get out:
So, the new club – if they currently meet the “certain conditions as set out by the Licensing Committee, at its discretion, from time to time”, and are still around at the start of next season -, could be given an “Entry Level” National Club Licence.
The chances of all 35k season tickets being renewed is diminishing by the day, distrust, very poor football, boredom, uncertainty, higher pricing will all come into it and without any big name players being bought then in my opinion the rangers will be very lucky to sell 25k season tickets next season.
This is still a lot and easily the second highest in the country but even with an increase of say 30% to buy them, they will still bring in less than this season and they are losing 1 million a month just now.
The only big money player off their books will be alexander but possibly Gion will be back and there is also Dally and the other 9 players ally wants.
The question I ask is why?
The Rangers with any cheap experienced manager and even cheaper assistant would win the division with the existing squad, in fact they could sell two or three like wallace, tempelton, black and, properly managed, would still get promoted, so why throw away millions and millions of pounds that was supposedly raised through the share issue?
There is no business reason whatsoever, they are deliberately going through (or appearing to go through) what money they have in their invisible bank account.
The only outcome is to give the “club” to someone like the blue knights and take the rental on ibrox and murray park along with the car park and offices they have just bought while dumping their 1p shares for whatever they can get for them.
Is there any other way this can end ( with the exception of a new Asda/Tesco )
jerfeelgood says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 19:54
2 0 Rate This
neepheid says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 19:41
This assumes that the SFA are requiring a full years audited accounts. I would say that the SFA would be happy to take accounts from the date of acquisition of the business to present, as a prerequisite to once again waiving the 3 year accounts rule. AFAIK the 3 year accounts rule is still in effect, and that rule will have to once again be waived during this years rounds of licensing applications.
The 30th of April is an SFA deadline. The 30th June accounting deadline is a companies HMRC legal rule. One has nothing to do with the other.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The 30th April is the date by which the SFA require clubs to submit their annual audited accounts ending on their accounting date in 2012. They are therefore giving clubs a minimum of 4 months (assuming that the accounting date is 31 December) to have audited accounts prepared. That is quite tight, believe it or not, but I believe most clubs actually have a 30 June accounting date.
30th June is not a deadline, it is the date to which the company has chosen to have its accounts drawn up. The AIM deadline for publication of those is 31 December. The HMRC and Companies House deadlines for submission are later. It used to be 9 months after the accounting date, but I believe it is now less for a PLC.
So the SFA cannot possibly get audited accounts from TRFC by 30th April, and audited accounts are what the licensing regulations require. So TRFC will get a derogation, but the SFA may make that conditional on them providing some information short of audited accounts..
The SFA has a general right under its own rules to seek financial information from any club at any time. From its articles of association-
“12. Financial Records
12.1 All clubs and recognised football bodies shall keep and maintain for a minimum period
of 5 years detailed financial books and records in connection with their trading activities,
including details of the ground and stand admissions, members tickets, turnstile
arrangements and all other related activities.
12.2 The Board may arrange for an inspection of, and may require the relevant club or
recognised football body to provide copies of, all such books, records and details for any
purpose, including but not limited to Club Licensing. Such inspection may be conducted
by the Board, or by such authorised employees of the Scottish FA, the Scottish FA’s
auditors or other professional advisers duly appointed by the Board on giving to any club
or recognised football body reasonable notice of its intention to do so.”
So if the SFA are interested in the current financial health of TRFC, and my goodness they should be, then they have the powers to find out. Whether they choose to use those powers or not will be revealing.
The SFA will not ask Sevco to provide anything other than a promise they will last another season
Sevco will promise it and the SFA will gladly hear it and put their heads firmly back in the sand
they are absolutely petrified of having to bring Sevco account
look at the request for clarification on Whytes involvement – Sevco have said we’ll look into that and get back to you…. end of the matter
as soon as Sevco go bust again, i hope the clubs finally realise teh SFA is not fit for purpose and also call for changes (hahahaha, i made myself laugh at even the suggestion)
Share trading will be suspended soon, surely. The main assets are being contested and the fraud office are involved.
Season tickets will not be on sale quickly due to uncertainty over the stadium.
Even if Whyte claim is settled out of court or dismissed, BDO are awaiting with keen interest to launch their gratuitous alienation of assets claim on behalf of rangers creditors, Sevco zombies will die fairly soon and third rangers will be formed, they may and I mean may get a game in sfl3 next season.
Just my opinion.
With regard to formal audited accounts for TRFC not being available for perhaps another six months I’m not sure that this is really a problem.
It will obviously have been clear to the SFA that this would likely be the case and doubtless they are now awaiting unaudited management accounts from Ibrox for the period.
This kind of arrangement is common in industry where a bank, for instance, will want to keep a close eye on company performance when they have an active overdraft facility or a loan outstanding.
I cannot imagine for one moment that TRFC do not have such management accounts produced for their Chief Executive and Board. Otherwise how can you manage the company?
So TRFC and the SFA have no problem here – just have the latest management accounts and projections submitted by 30 April so that a clean bill of health can be given and a new licence issued.
Finally and with regard to Mr Mather I am a little bemused by his apparent insouciance. It does somewhat remind me of the saying that “If you can keep your head while all those around you are losing theirs, then perhaps you have misunderstood the situation.”
Regarding the SFA
Is there an appetite ACROSS Scottish football fans to join forces and take legal action against SFA with the sole aim to get an association fit for purpose?
Legal action is possible, based on some basic investigation.
so from neepheid and redlichtie:
The accounting information should be available and the rules permit them to go in and have a wee gander.
So one would presume that a granting of a license for 2013/14 would be the SFA, in effect, signing off on a clubs ability to provide for a team that will have the finances and projections in place to complete a seasons worth of fixtures barring any unforeseen events.
I am starting to become confused.
From a corporate responsibility point of view. If one was a director (or board of directors) of a publicly traded institution, and were to sign off on a capital expenditure (payment of a dividend, purchase of capital assets i.e. players), which would in turn in some way knowingly push the institution into insolvency, would one be legally responsible for these actions? Would such a decision create a liability to customers who purchased a product in good faith where the decision jeopardized the delivery of the product.
As a complete aside. Is anyone here irritated by the internet convention to use American English in these types of forums. It constantly irritates me that the spell checker keeps telling me I’m spelling words wrong in proper English when I know I’m not. Is there a way to change the dictionary in wordpress to UK English…..
tomahawkid says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 22:21
——————————————-
I’m sure everyone will heed your advice just as soon as it becomes clear that it is also not an Anti-Celtic forum. It works both ways.
BJMAC67 ✅ (@bjmac67) says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 20:55
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Can we start simpler? No expensive legal action, we just need political motivation. We simply lobby to have ALL of their government funding stopped and given to someone else until they become open and accountable about the way they operate.
The president of a publicly funded body REFUSES an interview request from Alex Thomson, despite having serious questions to answer over potential conflicts of interest? How dare they even consider that this is in any way acceptable!
If one of the experts on here could come up with a suggested text, and then we use the ‘they work for you’ website to write to our MPs demanding action…with a simple click of an e mail. Check out the succesful libel reform campaigns and the way 38 degrees campaigns have operated to see how easy and effective this approach can be.
Once the press get hold of it, (I mean the real press) it pretty much forces the SFA to speak out publically.
My prediction is the SFA would understand the threat at once, and they would give us exactly what we asked for, whilst pretending that is was what they had been doing (instead of just what they should have been doing) all along! The approach certainly seemed to work for Charled Green after all!
Not The Huddle Malcontent says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 20:48
The SFA will not ask Sevco to provide anything other than a promise they will last another season
Sevco will promise it and the SFA will gladly hear it and put their heads firmly back in the sand
===========================
In my humble opinion you are correct. Very sad state of affairs. 🙁
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4906034/4-reasons-why-Lennys-not-ready-to-play-with-the-BIG-BHOYS.html
This might well be the most useless piece of writing I have ever saw, after the SNP’s sectarian bill of course. I wonder what Conte’s, Kloppe’s and pelligrini,s wage bill’s were this year? The opposition they face week in week out. Transfer budjets non withstanding Malaga’s (though they did spend huge previous summers ala Sevco style). In short Hannah a fanny from a long line of fanny’s, I go for an Irn Bru.
Good evening all.
Been a while since I last posted (in the aftermath of the LNS “result”).
However, I have been following this forum closely since.
Like @Humble Pie at 20:08 my disillusionment in Scottish football has been total.
My last post was my letter to Duncan Fraser explaining why I will not be back in an SPL ground until the appropriate punishment is handed out to the car crash that is Rangers FC.
Anyway, something struck a chord in Humble Pie’s very downbeat post this evening that I felt I had to echo.
HumblePie spoke about “higher authorities”.
Given the FTT and LNS “results” I have been left with a sinking feeling that the highest of authorities is involved (allegedly).
Alex Salmond and his merry men!
Like Bomber Brown I have no proof.
However, it feels like the decree from on high is (imagine serious looking judge-type guy pointing finger) “there will be football played by boys in blue in Govan at all costs and to hell with the collateral damage that is inflicted on the rest of Scottish football”.
You see, the social unrest from the support of the establishment club should said club cease to exist is too horrific to contemplate so SFA, SPL, SFL , Judiciary you know what to do …..
The car crash that is going ahead in front of our eyes will only end one way ….. same as it did last summer …. sigh!
Back in my cage now ….. keep up the good work lads – if it wash’t for erstwhile posters on this site the truth would never out….
Sunday Ranger claiming an exclusive with Stockbridge and ownership of Ibrox in tomorrow’s rag. Will this be an indication of what they will tell the SFA. Nothing to see here move along please.
HirsutePursuit, thanks for all the info. Its more than I can absorb but it provides assurance that you have a more than passing familiarity with the licensing rules. Undoubtedly the blog benefits from expertise such as yours and others (Neepheid, Auldheid et al) and as a result there are reliable information sources available for the casual enquirer.
Humble Pie says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 20:08
HP, I like the cut of your jib if I might be so bold to profess. Generally the absence of leadership leads to rebellion and possibly revolution.
Perhaps TSFM should raise its standard in such a feebrile atmosphere to act as a rallying point. To announce our arrival on the scene (I know, I know, tonnes of you have been in on this to a far greater extent than I, so I stand only as a pretender), perhaps we could carry out a wee metaphorical guerilla raid. A nice soft underbelly we can poke at. The Main Steam Media is what I’m thinking.
They’ve just had their prestigious award ceremony where they’ve taken the opportunity to congratulate each other on their professionalism (‘no laughing at the back’ is the standard punctuation at this point). So perhaps we could have our own award for best sports journalist.
I’m thinking this would be split into two categories :
1. Popular
Stuart Cosgrove
Richard Gordon
Jim Spence
2. Investigative
Mark Daly
Alex Thomson
Phil Mac Giolla Bhain
Paul McConville
Perhaps contributors would like to suggest a few more (not too many).
A ‘Thumbs up’ poll could then be taken by posting a series of comments, each headed ‘Popular journalist’ or ‘Investigative journalist’, followed by one of the nominated names. TSFM bloggers could then vote for (one vote per person per category please – don’t know if the moderator could police this).
I suspect that the individual emerging pre-eminent in each category might feel a certain level of satisfaction since such an accolade was bestowed without fear or favour.
Every great journey starts with the first step.
When churnalists like Hannah,Spiers,et al start by saying” I really like Neil Lennon” you can rest assured they will go on to have a go at him.You get the impression that they spend their waking hours praying for some little thing they can slag him off for.Strange they don’t expend as much energy into the sevco issues.I wonder why.Oh,let me think….
mullach@0.58
I would suggest a more direct approach.Let The Scottish Football Monitor be the rallying point for a march on Hampden.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
https://twitter.com/Sunday_Mail/status/328283591844974593/photo/1
Stockbridge has accused Whyte of holding Rangers* to ransom
claims he is deluded and shows title deeds to prove Craigy will lose.
Every penny of the IPO went into Rfc* accounts,still in double £m digits
Green in line for 6 fig pay off and Imrahn will also be paid off
Defends decision to appoint Deloittes ,claims he won’t walk away
and he isnt toxic
Yup he’s Greens puppy dog alright
A quick summary of that front page
Blame Craig Whyte – forgive David Murray -we now have truth tellers in charge
and we don’t know how to spell unleashed
lagerbeer says:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 00:24
So your argument is Wee Eck is spending sleepless nights plotting to keep the most visible symbol of Unionism and Britishness ,the most virulent and vocal anti -independence lobby in Scotland alive and kicking .Hmm ,not sure I follow your logic there .
If there is a grand conspiracy to Keep Ibrox and Co on the go ,I rather suspect its the pro union establishment that’s behind it.
Who holds the deeds isn’t relevant.
What is relevant is whether Green and Ahmad committed a fraud against Whyte and Earley to get those assets.
The evidence so far indicates that they may well have. Should Rangers ,or Green and Ahmad , have been able to categorically prove Whyte was “howling at the moon” then you can bet they would have done so by now.
I haven’t seen the article in the Sunday Mail , however the piece of paper Stockbridge should have been showing everyone was a print of the closing balances in all Rangers bank accounts as at 4 pm on Friday
The other documents he should be providing is the P&L and balance sheet for the period ending 31 March 2013. He needs to provide some evidence that costs are being brought under control , and that Revenues are growing.
I doubt either is the case, and heavy losses continues at a rate that will burn through the remaining IPO cash fairly rapidly. The interim accounts to end December showed 7 months operating costs (excluding non recurring costs) of £16.7 million
That’s £2.4 million per month.
There was £24.4 Million in current assets of cash and money owed to Rangers. From that to arrive at a sensible estimate of current cash you need to subtract the £3.7 million Rangers owed in current liabilities , £2.4 million in property purchases , and I think £400 K in football debts.
That leaves a cash balance of £17.9 million.
From that you need to subtract 3 months of operating costs at a total of £7.2 million, that leaves just over £10.7 million plus whatever Rangers have generated in cash since January 1 . That’s not clear what that is likely to be as the interims don’t split season book income from individual game tickets.
Assuming an average of 6,000 tickets sold on a match day @ £12 each then that’s £60,000 (nett of Vat) times 9 home games making a total of £540,000 . If you round that up to £1 Million by including catering and other commercial cash sales , then there’s a decent case for saying the cash balance right now should be around £11.7 million.
If there wasn’t any other income at all,other than the last home game, then that would see them through to roughly to July/August
Which shows how absolutely vital season book income is, and that will only last if accompanied by drastic cost cutting , as serious revenue growth isn’t going to happen .
Finally one part of the interim accounts strike me as strange.
3. Revenue
7 month period
to 31 December 2012
Gate receipts and hospitality £6,411,000
Sponsorship and advertising. £381,000
Broadcasting rights. £391,000
Commercial. £552,000
Retail. £941,000
Other operating income. £848,000
Total. £9,524,000
Current assets
Trade and other receivables. £3,268,00
I’m probably missing something obvious , as its an unearthly hour here and I have a very early start, but how do you get to be owed £3.3 Million out of £9.5 million sales, when most of your sales are for Tickets , Catering and retail which will be paid in advance.
timtim says:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 01:40
A quick summary of that front page
Blame Craig Whyte – forgive David Murray -we now have truth tellers in charge
and we don’t know how to spell unleashed-
=============================
That “front page” looks like a photoshop, possibly based on the Rangers News, or whatever their periodical is called.
chipm0nk says:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 07:59
That “front page” looks like a photoshop, possibly based on the Rangers News, or whatever their periodical is called.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nope. It’s on their website, including the odd spelling
http://www.thefootballlife.co.uk/post/49073617384/chaos-theory
On a high concept: What is the Darkest Timeline?
Without spoilering it, IMO, it involves Minty not selling.
Is the £1m penalty kick been won yet?
For the avoidance of doubt…unLEEshed is clearly a pun, a really poor one notwithstanding.
Anyway, regardless of how much IPO cash there is, the real story is that it beggars belief that so much of it has been (is being) burned to win SFL3. And Stockbridge has been there during all that time.
y4rmy, you’re correct. The ‘unLEEshed’ was a pun. One of the poorest in the history of churnalism.
By the way, are we meant to be running scared of Lee MacC’s wee fists? lol, pathetic!
y4rmy says:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 08:12
1 0 Rate This
For the avoidance of doubt…unLEEshed is clearly a pun, a really poor one notwithstanding.
Anyway, regardless of how much IPO cash there is, the real story is that it beggars belief that so much of it has been (is being) burned to win SFL3. And Stockbridge has been there during all that time.
—–
@y4rmy
Yes, the same front page appears on their app. DR is indeed the home of grievous puns 🙂
y4rmy says:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 08:12
For the avoidance of doubt…unLEEshed is clearly a pun, a really poor one notwithstanding.
Anyway, regardless of how much IPO cash there is, the real story is that it beggars belief that so much of it has been (is being) burned to win SFL3. And Stockbridge has been there during all that time.
—–
A pun, but ‘clearly’?
Back page. Not sure if this link will work:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Sunday_Mail/status/328283874880782336
Listening to the Sportsound Extra podcast this morning.
Firstly it was good to hear Stuart Cosgrove calling out the written media in general and Graham Spiers in particular over the notion that ‘Walter and Ally’ are the good guys who are beyond reproach and who will be the saviours of Rangers. Cosgrove basically handed Spiers his arse on a plate.
Secondly the general theme of negativity towards Celtic, in particular Neil Lennon, and to a lesser extent Peter Lawwell. Apart from this seemingly endless Lennon bashing campaign over the POTY comments, Spiers followed his typical ‘I like Neil Lennon’ opening gambit with several assurances to a caller that Lennon frequently thinks of leaving Celtic. It was notable that the honorable notion of ‘Walter and Ally’ thinking only of Rangers and being there for the long haul did not extend to Lennon and Celtic. The conversation then went on to mildly lambast Peter Lawwell for ‘thinking only of the pound signs’ in terms of selling alcohol at games. It is nice to know that others will be doing it for some more altruistic reason should it ever come to pass. After all, as Tam Cowan pointed out yesterday, Motherwell’s Leanne Dempster made the same point before Lawwell did – did she want to make money for the club or just do a nice thing for the fans?
jerfeelgood says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 21:27
“If one was a director (or board of directors) of a publicly traded institution, and were to sign off on a capital expenditure (payment of a dividend, purchase of capital assets i.e. players), which would in turn in some way knowingly push the institution into insolvency, would one be legally responsible for these actions? Would such a decision create a liability to customers who purchased a product in good faith where the decision jeopardized the delivery of the product.”
You make some good points. Firstly, the directors’ responsibilities- here is a good summary :
http://www.stca.co.uk/factsheet_general_1.htm
In particular-
“You must act in such a way that you feel would be most likely to promote the success of the company (i.e. its long-term increase in value), for the benefit of its members as a whole. This is often called the ‘enlightened shareholder value’ duty. However, you must also consider a number of other factors, including:
the likely long-term consequences of any decision
the interests of company employees
fostering the company’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others”
So acting in the way you suggest, effectively driving a company into insolvency deliberately, would be a breach of the Companies Act, and a crime.
In the case of TRFC, there really must be a legal problem with this company selling season tickets for next year on its present business model. By next week, there will be about £7m left in the bank, if we take at face value all the figures in the interim accounts. Outgoings are £2.4m per month. So to make it through to the end of next season, say 31 May 2013, the company needs 13 x £2.4m, which comes to over £31m. Take away the £7m now in the bank, and the company has to find £24m to see next season out. Trading income can’t possibly be more than £15m, so leaving a £9m (minimum) funding gap. I would suggest that unless the directors know where that money is coming from right now, then they should not be selling season tickets, because they know the company will have run out of cash and have to cease trading by Christmas.
The directors must surely be taking legal advice on this. Taking money for goods or services that you know in advance you can’t deliver is simple fraud, nothing to do with the Companies’ Act.
Of course they could cut costs in half and survive, but that it is by now very difficult to achieve in the short term. A real CEO would have taken the axe to this lot last August, but of course Green was too busy cultivating Dallas Cowboys, Apple Inc. and his 500 million worldwide fan base to bother about stuff like that. And any real CEO would never,ever have put Ally and his boys on eyewatering contracts that will, in the end, almost certainly bring the company crashing down.
I often wonder whether this has in fact been designed to fail from day one. I would just love to see a copy of the business model submitted to the SFA last July. I wonder who in the SFA reviewed the figures? Ogilvie?
Think their supporters still waiting to hear what really happened – is that two weeks since all these promises? – And all they`ve had is faction smearing and posturing in what passes for media in this country.
But Looks like the Sunday Mail has completed its `independent investigation` – so no more from them then 😉
Blimey
Not to call Lee McCulloch cynical in his timing of his chat with the Sunday Mail, but he does have a book to sell.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simp-Lee-Best-Autobiography-Lee-McCulloch/dp/1845026063/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367135610&sr=1-1&keywords=lee+mcculloch
BJMAC67 ✅ (@bjmac67) says:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 20:51
32 7 Rate This
Share trading will be suspended soon, surely. The main assets are being contested and the fraud office are involved.
Season tickets will not be on sale quickly due to uncertainty over the stadium.
Even if Whyte claim is settled out of court or dismissed, BDO are awaiting with keen interest to launch their gratuitous alienation of assets claim on behalf of rangers creditors, Sevco zombies will die fairly soon and third rangers will be formed, they may and I mean may get a game in sfl3 next season.
Just my opinion.
=======
all will happen in the close season, was nice of whyte to wait wasn’t it otherwise it would have been very messy
barcabhoy says:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 03:39
I’m probably missing something obvious , as its an unearthly hour here and I have a very early start, but how do you get to be owed £3.3 Million out of £9.5 million sales, when most of your sales are for Tickets , Catering and retail which will be paid in advance.
++++++++++++++++++++
My assumption is that a lot of this figure relates to late receipt of IPO money, after all the IPO was just before Christmas. I agree that it is unlikely to all be trade debtors, which should be minimal.
Don’t read any of the daily/weekly publications but some headlines on TSFM would seem to suggest that someone at Ibrox has shown title deeds to the press. Is this correct?
1. If so, and if it was ever so simple to put their hands on these deeds, why was this not done long before now?
2. Holding some paper deeds and actually owning the property to which they relate are 2 very seperate things.
Carfin’s Finest says:-
Nail on head with your second point – show us the INSIDE pages of said deeds!
scottc says:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 08:02
==============================
Apologies, I didn’t mean to imply that it was a “photoshop” version. Just that it looks so much like a copy of the Rangers News, even with the posed photograph of Big Jig.
In other considerations.
Are you chaps who are doing the calculations on how much IPO money might be left making an adjustment for what Cenkos would have got as part of the deal.
As I recall that was something like a couple of million pounds, but that could just be nonsense I came up with myself.
By Tom English
Published on 28/04/2013 00:00
Spoiler: click to toggle
IN THE cast of characters in the recent history of Rangers, the unreliables have come to outweigh the upright with near Apocalyptic consequences. Paul Murray can be counted in the second category, a guy you could hang your hat on to do what is right for the club or, to put it another way, an endangered species in this brutal saga.
The former director has plenty to say about what is happening at Rangers. The damage caused by Craig Whyte, the desperate uncertainty created by Charles Green, the role of the administrators Duff and Phelps in allowing Green in the door in the first place and the changing fabric at Ibrox. Among other things, Murray suggests that when – or, perhaps, if – calm is restored in the club then a new constitution should be drawn up to make clear what Rangers ought to be about. Some of that has been lost along the way.
“Whoever is involved going forward has to look after the club’s interests first and their own interests second,” he says. “You are a custodian of the assets and you’re passing it through the generations. That’s your role. They should actually write a new constitution for Rangers which says that everybody who goes on the board has to agree to core values and if they don’t they can’t join. It sounds preposterous in some ways but I don’t think it’s a bad idea.
“All of these people arrive and talk about global brands. We’ve heard all this stuff before, for years and years and it’s not there. I’m a Rangers supporter and I’ll defend the club against anyone, but Rangers are not Manchester United, let’s be honest. It’s good to aspire to be, but we’re not. It’s a different financial landscape altogether. So all these guys who arrive and talk about global potential and brands…Get your feet back on the ground and look at the reality.
“The club should be run on a break-even basis based on domestic revenues. What you raise from domestic football you invest in the club and if you generate funds from European football you use that money to invest in the playing squad and the infrastructure. We should also get back to some of the values that were there under Bill Struth and William Wilton and the club’s founders where you had a bit of decorum and a bit of dignity in the club. It will be a long time to rebuild that after everything that’s happened, but we should try.”
Decorum and dignity, alien concepts in these dog-days when a fraudulent former owner is running amok, when a former chief executive and self-confessed liar embarrasses the club with a racist comment, when a now former commercial director is rumoured to be an abusive secret contributor to a website and when the entire institution is seemingly in jeopardy because of the actions of chancers.
BDO, Deloitte, Pinsent Masons are all delving into various strands of this horror show to try to determine who owns what and who ought to go on trial, and possibly, jail because of what has gone on at Ibrox.
“You have Charles Green who said he had no involvement with Craig Whyte and that was patently not correct,” says Murray. “The problem is that when you get found out on these things you then start to question other things. And one of the most important things in all of this is the SFA. The SFA sought very direct and specific assurances that Whyte was not involved and Charles Green gave them those assurances and I’m not sure that was actually correct.
“If Charles Green had a set of documents that proved that Whyte is lying then this thing would have been put to bed in two minutes, but it was then discovered that what Whyte was saying was broadly true. Then you start thinking, ‘Hang on, if that’s true then what else is true?’ I’m not saying he does, but say Whyte owns the assets but on the other side he’s just lost a multi-million pound claim to Ticketus. Are we saying that Ticketus would then own the assets by default? And if they own the assets they’ll want to be paid in order to give the assets back to Rangers, but how will the club do that bearing in mind that it had an IPO [Initial Public Offering of shares] that is potentially not valid? It’s a legal mess and it all needs to come out in the open, even if it’s bad news.”
Murray spoke to the Rangers’ liquidators, BDO, for the first time last November. BDO and the police, too. Their original intention was just to examine the circumstances surrounding Whyte’s purchase of the club from David Murray and his subsequent activity at Ibrox but now that web will have to widen, says the former director. Paul Murray, of course, was part of the Blue Knights consortium that was defeated by Green. The events of last year have never sat well with him. They don’t pass the “smell test”. In this regard he’s talking about the performance of the administrators Duff and Phelps, another key player in the wretched situation of today.
BDO asked Murray for his thoughts on Duff and Phelps. He said he was very surprised that they were allowed to take the job in the first place given that one of their partners, David Grier, was involved with Whyte in the takeover of the club and was one of the people alongside Whyte on the day they marched triumphantly through the door at Rangers with the acclamation of the support ringing in their ears.
“Then lo and behold, Duff and Phelps get appointed administrators,” says Murray. “Every insolvency practitioner I spoke to in Scotland was absolutely staggered that they were made administrators. They had a conflict of interest. It’s been reported that the only time that people within Rangers ever saw Craig Whyte panic was when he thought Duff and Phelps would not be appointed. That sums up the whole thing.
“When I was involved in getting a bid together last year the administrators said to me almost every day for four months that HMRC would be sympathetic in terms of a CVA as long as Whyte wasn’t involved, that they were sensitive to Rangers socially and culturally, that I wasn’t to worry about it. That wasn’t the case because HMRC said later they never had any intention of voting for the CVA. And Duff and Phelps also said to me, every day almost, don’t worry about Craig Whyte, he’s an irrelevance and that was patently not right. It doesn’t pass the smell test.
“Duff and Phelps’ conduct will be looked at by BDO. They had a conflict of interest at the start and the role of David Grier has to be looked at very closely and his relationship with Craig Whyte and the allegations that Craig Whyte has made in terms of Sevco 5088 and Sevco Scotland and all these transfers. Pinsent Masons will be looking at that as well.”
Murray stated last weekend that there are only two people on the current Rangers board that he trusts without reservation – the chairman Malcolm Murray and his old chum, Walter Smith. Malcolm Murray, though, needs to talk more, he says. “Malcolm has said that the money from the IPO is still there and there’s no cause to worry on that front and I trust Malcolm. He has Rangers’ interests at heart, no question, but I do think that he ought to communicate more with the media. The problem with this is that there has been a massive vacuum created and when you have a vacuum you have gossip and innuendo and rumour and anxiety and panic and so I think he needs to be a bit more communicative. I know it’s a public company and there are certain restrictions but that doesn’t prevent other public companies being open and transparent in terms of telling customers (or supporters) what is going on. That’s something he should do a bit more of.”
In the interests of transparency he would like an independent chairman sitting above the current commission, a retired QC or chartered accountant that has no link to Rangers and who the commission would report to. It probably won’t happen, but he thinks it should. “The issue is not just about being independent but about being seen to be independent.”
This was a concerned Rangers man talking, a former director but above all, a fan. Just like John Brown is a fan. “Bomber” re-iterated his views on the Green takeover on radio during the week, saying that he knew Green was a “conman” and that he went to key personnel inside Ibrox and told them what he knew, but they did nothing about it. He spoke to Walter Smith and Ally McCoist. Nobody did anything.
“I know John quite well,” says Murray. “He’s a great guy who cares for the club. When I saw him giving that speech outside Ibrox last summer I was a bit bemused. I had the same concerns about Charles Green. The circumstances surrounding Charles Green suddenly appearing on the scene were very, very strange. So I had concerns about who was involved with him, but I had no proof. I had a high level of suspicion about Duff and Phelps but I didn’t have documentary proof that Craig Whyte was involved.
“So John stood up and was quite specific about things but after the speech there was nothing produced in evidence. John didn’t step forward and say I have four documents that prove that Whyte is still involved in this thing. Had he done that it would have been a completely different story, but he didn’t, for whatever reason. That was probably why Walter and Ally didn’t do anything. What action could they have taken? You can’t make allegations without documentation. I’ve spoken to John subsequent to that. It might turn out that he was absolutely right. The frustration is that if he had something at the time then he probably ought to have stepped forward with it.”
The only people that need to step forward now are Deloitte, Pinsent Masons and BDO. After two years in the fog, Murray longs for the clarity their reports will bring.
This is a good read besides all the Struth nonsense and dignity etc he questions Duff and Duffer, asks what the SFA will do, calls for Murray to speak out etc
Spoiler: click to toggle
Decisions, decisions –
Sunday 28 April 2013
Rangers remain a club of deep uncertainty, with several interested parties moving into place with a view to buying a stake in the coming months.
The members of the consortium that bought the club last summer can sell their shares in June. Charles Green and Imran Ahmad, who have both left, are unable to sell their stakes – 7.79% and 3.38% respectively – until December, 12 months after the club was launched on the Alternative Investment Market. They appear, though, set on offloading them to James Easdale, the owner of McGill’s buses with his brother Sandy. Up to 30% or more of the club could become available, effectively a controlling stake.
The directors are anxious, given Sandy Easdale’s spell in jail after being convicted of fraud in 1997, but his brother has contacted the Scottish Football Association about the terms of their fit and proper person criteria for directors. Yet Dave King has sought reassurance again from the governing body that he could return to the club. King invested £20m under Sir David Murray, and lost that money when Rangers Football Club plc went into administration. King, a Glaswegian who lives in Johannesburg, could not make an offer for Rangers last summer, but in November his overseas assets were unfrozen when he won a case against the South African Revenue Service (SARS), and last month he reached an agreement over a tax dispute that had lasted for more than 10 years.
“I believe there will be a change of control in the near future,” King told the Sunday Herald. “I am concerned about the financial position [at Ibrox] but believe it can be resolved before there is a real impact. A self-sustainable business plan must be the long-term objective, but for the next approximately five years, soft funding will be required to negate the unfortunate legacy left by David Murray and HBOS. I am reasonably confident the club will end up in the right hands.”
Rangers’ closing share price on Friday was 56p. If the £1m Craig Mather invested last year is a guide, the pre-initial public offering shares could be valued at about 55p. Once the share price reaches that figure the market value of the club will be the same as the total sum invested – £35.2m – meaning shareholders will start to consider selling.
There are other interested parties. The Sunday Herald understands that one is considered a frontrunner, and involves the businessman Jim McColl, although he denied last week having any intention of buying Green’s shares. It is unlikely a full takeover will be launched, and nobody will make a move until the club’s independent examination has established whether former owner Craig Whyte has a legitimate claim on the assets, although King is adamant he does not.
The past week has been fraught for Rangers, but it might also allow for a period of respite. More revelations may emerge about the dealings between Whyte, Green and Ahmad. The board split was not entrenched, and there is the opportunity now for a greater sense of co-operation.
Leadership is required in the boardroom, but there are people at the club trying to bring progress. The independent examination by Deloitte and Pinsent Masons began last Monday – files and computers have been pored over all week – and a verbal report will be delivered to the directors tomorrow.
In the meantime, the willingness of the finance director, Brian Stockbridge, to support the likes of Walter Smith and Ian Hart on the board has been significant, as was Mather’s appointment as permanent chief operating officer and interim chief executive. He will meet Ally McCoist this week to discuss plans to improve the squad, and the manager might feel vindicated for staying on under Green, yet a good sale is essential to the clubs’s rebuilding plans
“It’s far easier fighting on the inside than on the outside,” McCoist said. “I will continue to do my best for the club. I am in a stronger position doing it while being in the workforce of the club than not. That was always important to me.”
McCoist’s urging of the fans to buy season tickets last summer helped prompt 38,000 supporters to back the club. The manager was also warned by his friend and former team-mate John Brown over Green’s potential impact.
“John just about spelled out what was going to happen,” McCoist said. “He had some documented evidence. But it was very much [Brown’s opinion]. I was nervous last year about [promoting season ticket sales] and I’ll be nervous again. There are things to happen before we ask them to give up their hard-earned cash. We have to find out the results of this inquiry, what league we’re going to be in and are we going to get some new free-transfer players in.”
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/decisions-decisions.20923132
Danish Pastry says:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 08:37
1 0 Rate This
Back page. Not sure if this link will work:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Sunday_Mail/status/328283874880782336
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They may have a piece of paper entitled ‘Deeds to the Big Hoose’, but that doesn’t necessarily make then valid. Clearly the good folks over at the Worthington Group would appear to be disputing the fact.
bect67 says:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 09:36
Carfin’s Finest says:-
Nail on head with your second point – show us the INSIDE pages of said deeds!
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Even better, show them to someone independent, who has experience of property transactions and legal knowledge and can verify them.
I used to work for a big office who, whenever a big client came in, took an old document out of its binding, went to the photocopier and ran off the required thickness of ‘new’ document, then put a new cover on it and had it bound. Clients always checked documents by looking to see if their name and project was on the cover, then thumbed the pages to see if it ‘felt’ right – literally. They were always too embarrassed to check the contents in case they showed their ignorance of the details and made a fool of themselves. Never failed. (Not that I’m suggesting for one moment that the Mail’s journalists would be either gullible or complicit enough to be duped in this way.)
Regarding deeds. I’ve lived in my current house for ten years.
I was sent the deeds just after moving in. Its an interesting collection of documents dating back from 1939, when the property was built.
I suspect that these documents should be residing in a solicitors office somewhere, but I just filed them away in a drawer.
I could post a nice photo of me with my deeds today. But the reality is that I need to pay another 15 years mortgage payments before I can claim that I am in full ownership of the property.
A shot of Stockbridge in a shirt and tie and a folder means nothing. Even if he has the paperwork, it doesn’t answer any questions about who has ownership.
If I can stop paying my mortgage on the basis that I hold the deeds, I will do so. Maybe I can claim back my last ten years mortgage payments too. But I suspect that it don’t work that way
I would imagine that there is a lot of behind the scenes activity going on at Sevco 2012 as they will have realised that the new creation is deteriating rapidly and the life support machine will be switched of after the last ball of the season has been kicked.It is who are all involved in this activity is what needs to be known ,as for sure it will not be the cleansing that everyone else would expect it to be ,there will again be distrust among the hordes as they are fed the same b#llshit from a different plate and will devour this new appetite filling sh#t and spout the same old diatrab of how they are the peeple and everyone else will pay for their failings to back them in their times of trouble,how many follow ups of the movie ,The Shinning ,was there,this is going the same ,isnt it Jack.
A MacGuffin is a technique used by movie makers to make a plot plausible but if looked at closely it wouldn’t stand up. The most famous being the “letters of transit” in the movie Casablanca.
Sitting at a desk with title deeds to Ibrox is not the issue here. The issue is by which means they were obtained. By legal means or by fraud as Craig Whyte claims.
If the most wanted man in nazi Germany (Victor Lazlo in the movie) tried to use the letters of transit to escape they would not be worth the paper that they were written on. Neither will the title deeds to the big hoose if Whyte and Worthington successfully prove their claim.
Long live the MacGuffin and all those who never fall for it.
🙂
timtim says:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 01:40
A quick summary of that front page
Blame Craig Whyte – forgive David Murray -we now have truth tellers in charge
and we don’t know how to spell unleashed
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To be fair…was he an EBT recipient from big Davie (I’m gonna have a crack at Joanna Lumley) Murray? I mean how can you bad mouth a man that was giving away tax payaers money?
That photo of Stockbridge holding what looks like a ermmmm….a folder? for all we know it could be an estate agents sales brochure…
Where we treated to any close ups?…did he state who owns Ibrox? the only reason I ask is…I refuse to read a paper who sole aim is to assist and support the dishonesty being foisted on Scottish football…
As the season draws to an end…how many more will take a side exit left?