Sweet Little Lies

Tell me all your sweet, sweet little lies
All about the dark places you hide
Tell me all your problems, make them mine
Tell me all your sweet, sweet little lies

The stridency of Scottish journalist/pundits, particularly coming from those on the BBC Sportsound platform from where they cry out for an investigation into what took place behind the scenes before and after the SPFL put forward a resolution to SPFL clubs, subsequently accepted by the majority, that allowed SPFL to pay out needed prize money to sides below the Premier level is, to quote an old saying, “the talk of the steamie”.

Whilst those cries are ostensibly in support of a demand led by The Rangers FC for a need to change the governance at the SPFL, it is not clear if they mean the way the SPFL conduct business or the way individuals inside the SPFL go about the conduct of that business.

During on-air interviews, questions are being put to clubs about the degree of confidence they have in individuals rather than the processes, systems and structures. This suggests it is individuals who are being placed under scrutiny, and not the dysfunctional processes and structures themselves. A pity, since there is little doubt the governance is dysfunctional.

SFM has long been asking questions about the system and processes of governance and in fact tried to elicit the help of a number of journalists (in 2014) after information which had not been made available to the then SPFL lawyers Harper MacLeod during or after the LNS inquiry had surfaced.

Information that had it been made available would have changed the charges of Old Rangers’ mis-registration of players contracts, and to the more recent and unresolved matter of their failing to act in good faith to fellow club members (which the SFA Compliance Officer made in June 2018 in respect of non-compliance with UEFA FFP regulations relating to tax overdue in 2011).

Following the last Celtic AGM a detailed independent investigation by an accountant was provided to Celtic who passed it to the SFA where the matter has been overtaken by world events but not forgotten. That report can be read here.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NeNzADsUAXkcFQ6QtehK5QqNsFa6he8V

It only adds to the mountain of evidence on https://www.res12.uk that suggests the need for reform of both governance bodies, their structures, systems and process.

Instead the media have given us a narrow head hunt to remove individuals for reasons that can only be guessed. This from individuals in the media whose motivations are as questionable now as they were in 2014, when they and their organisations ignored stronger evidence of greater wrong doing than has so far been presented by those currently advocating change.

The current media clamour for heads on a plate carries with it more than a whiff of hypocrisy.

During week commencing 22 September 2014, some volunteer SFM readers posted a bundle of documents that had surfaced to a number of journalists. SFM had previously sent these documents to Harper MacLeod, the then SPL lawyers. These were important documents pertinent to Lord Nimmo Smith’s inquiry into Rangers use of EBTs, documents which had not been made available to Harper MacLeod by Rangers Administrators Duff and Phelps despite being requested in March 2012 as part of the commissioning of LNS.

Earlier SFM blogs provide the details of communications with Harper MacLeod and can be read from the same link(s) provided to 12 Scottish media journalists in the draft below.

Some of the addresses may have received more than one copy but apart from one for whom only an e mail address was known, they should have received at least one hard copy of what Harper MacLeod/SPFL had been provided with which the latter passed to the SFA Compliance Officer in September 2014 according to their last reply to SFM. It is unlikely none were received by the organisations they were addressed to.

The draft to the journalist which the volunteers were at liberty to amend said:

I am a reader of The Scottish Football Monitor web site and attach for your information a set of documents that Duff and Phelps, acting as Rangers Administrators in April 2012, failed to provide to the then Scottish Premier League solicitors Harper MacLeod, who were charged with gathering evidence to investigate the matter of incorrect player registrations from July 1998 involving concealed side letters and employee benefit trusts by Rangers FC as defined in the eventual Lord Nimmo Smith Commission.

The failure to supply the requested information in the form of the attached documents as clearly instructed resulted in incorrect terms of reference being drawn up by Harper Macleod and a consequent serious error of judgement by Lords Nimmo Smith in his Decision as regards sporting advantage.

The information in the attached was provided to Harper MacLeod and the SPL Board in Feb 2014 and it was pointed out in subsequent correspondence that SFA President Campbell Ogilvie had failed to make a distinction in his testimony to Lord Nimmo Smith between the already confirmed as irregular Discount Option Scheme EBTs paid to Craig Moore, Tor Andre Flo and Ronald De Boer from 1999 to 2002/03 under Rangers Employee Benefit Trust (REBT) and the later loan EBTsfrom 2002/03 onwards under the Murray Group Management Remuneration Trust (MGMRT), having initiated the first DOS EBT to Craig Moore (as shown in the attached) and being a beneficiary of a MGMRT EBT as widely reported in national press in March 2012 at the time investigations commenced.
The complete narrative was set out in a series of blogs on The Scottish Football Monitor Web Site that are accessible from

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6uWzxhblAt9dnVHSl9OU3RoWm8/view?usp=sharing
(Edit: The links to the original SFM blogs were listed but some have been lost but original sources have been uploaded to Google Drive accessible from the above link)

However in spite of the correspondence sent to Harper MacLeod, there has been no response from them or the SPFL, save their answer to the original letter. (Edit: There was subsequent correspondence with Harper Macleod after the package and this letter was sent to the journalists which can be read from the above index to the original blogs.)

These points suggests that the SPFL, Harper MacLeod and Lord Nimmo Smith were misled by Duff and Phelps failure to supply the attached documents as instructed as well as Campbell Ogilvie’s failure to correct Lord Nimmo Smiths decision to treat all EBTs as “regular” when the DOS EBTs are not, as the attached evidence clearly demonstrates.

You are one of a number of journalists to whom this letter and attachments is addressed either electronically or hard copy. We are hoping that some journalists will prove themselves worthy of the challenge and investigate the story, even if only to refute it and stop suspicion of a cover up.

A copy of this letter and responses from addressees (or failures) will be published on The Scottish Football Monitor web site for the Scottish football supporting public to note. The e mail address for your reply is press@sfm.scot and we hope that you will investigate what appears to have been the corruption of the very process set up to establish the truth or you will explain why you cannot.
Yours in Sport

Note: The letter above was drafted and distributed with the documentation before a reply from Harper MacLeod was received, but as the reply did not address the issue of the nature of the irregular DOS EBTs, the request to journalists to investigate was even more valid.
The following were the journalists to whom documentation was posted/delivered.

Mr Richard Gordon
Mr Richard Wilson
Mr Tom English all at the BBC.

Mr Grant Russell
Mr Peter A Smith. At STV

Mr Andrew Rennie Daily Record Sports Editor

Mr Paul Hutcheon
Mr Graham Speirs
Mr Gerry Braiden at The Herald

Mr Mathew Lindsay Evening Times (belatedly)

Mr Gerry McCulloch Radio Clyde

Ms Jane Hamilton Freelance ex-Sun Sunday Mail (by e mail)

Only three individuals showed an interest but it is inconceivable to think that the media outlets they worked for were ignorant of the information provided or that the Scottish media sports departments are unaware of the narrative and its implications which were subsequently picked up by The Offshore Game but drew no refuting comments with the exception of Tom English.

He opined that the TOG report was ‘flawed’ although he did not specify how he came to that conclusion.

Darren Cooney of the Daily Record did take an interest in November 2015 when he met an SFM representative, who explained the case then sent him a summary to give to his editor but The Daily Record did not publish the story nor give any reason why they didn’t.

Grant Russell was with STV at the time and a meeting with him was arranged with a fellow SFM contributor but he failed to show up.
He subsequently did show an interest when The Court of Session ruled the Big Tax Case unlawful in July 2017, when he was provided with the a note of the consequences for the LNS Commission. However Grant moved jobs to join Motherwell in late October 2017.

Why bring all this his up now?
Because currently, the existence of texts and e-mails and unsubstantiated claims of skullduggery appear to have energised a media (and BBC Sports Department in particular) that had ‘no appetite’ to investigate actual evidence presented to them in 2014. There seems to be little doubt that an agenda is being followed, but as the preceeding paragraphs demonstrate, it casts doubt that their motivation is reform of the governance of Scottish football, and raises a suspicion that replacement of individuals (whose steerage of the good ship Scottish Football into the RFC iceberg was deemed adequate a decade ago) is what is important. A meaningless powerplay. No more no less.

One may jump to the conclusion that the foregoing is a defence of the individuals at the centre of this controversy, and that it defends the SPFL position in respect of the requisitioners review of governance. That would be the wrong conclusion. The point is that a wide-ranging review of the SFA/SPFL governance is way overdue.

The time window covered by any review should the very least cover the tenure of those accused of malfeasance and mis-governance. The media, and the requisitioners are cherry-picking their poor governance. That is poor governance in itself.

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Auldheid

About Auldheid

Celtic fan from Glasgow living mostly in Spain. A contributor to several websites, discussion groups and blogs, and a member of the Resolution 12 Celtic shareholders' group. Committed to sporting integrity, good governance, and the idea that football is interdependent. We all need each other in the game.

1,118 thoughts on “Sweet Little Lies


  1. "The Great Big Football Lockdown Survey"

    The DR has a link to their survey, "to get the fans input" on Scottish football currently.

    Initially I thought, ok at least they're asking… but what's the catch?

    I know I shouldn't, but thought I'd complete it anyway out of curiosity.

     

    A cheapy Survey Monkey effort.

    First 19 questions are lame questions with a selection of answers.  Nothing controversial and of course, nowhere to add comments.

    But, then the real purpose of this 'Survey' kicks in.

    Questions 20 to 27 are very specific about your demographic: age, sex, etc and even salary bracket!

    And for completeness – and to no doubt receive all sorts of junk mail – they want your name and e-mail address.

     

    The SMSM can't even run an honest survey.

    "The Great Big Football Lockdown Data Grab" would be more accurate.


  2. Cluster One 24th May 2020 at 10:46

        Is it Hold my Beer they say ?

    ==================================

       They could make a really "blue" version that deflates with half an hour still to play. mail


  3. I wonder who Jim Spence could be talking about here? I have a couple of contenders in mind but couldn't possibly say. 

     

    @JimSpenceSport

    Cummings was so media savvy that he didn’t suspect the papers would’ve been on to his scam. Good journos always have something up their sleeve, as one over confident but empty football figure may learn soon.

     


  4. easyJambo 22nd May 2020 at 17:01

     

    How would Celtic fans feel if UEFA chose to dispense with CL qualifying and saw the club consigned to the EL group stages? 

    ========================================

    To answer your question, albeit a couple of days later.

    Disappointed obviously.  However I also accept that these are unprecedented times and that there are more important things than football matches. We have to be willing to adapt and accept that these are far from normal times. 

    I would also be a bit surprised that the CL had to do away with qualifying rounds, but the Europa didn't. That doesn't make sense to me. 

    I think it would be more likely that the teams who would normally be in the qualifiers for the CL would instead compete in the Europa. Starting with champions then moving down through the ranks. 

    So two competitions with no qualifiers, straight into group stages.

    I haven't checked the numbers but it shouldn't be that hard to come up with 32 for the Europa using final places and co-efficients.  

    What would annoy me would be champions (from whatever country) not getting into either competition and lower placed teams from some countries getting a place. 

    The other option of course is to dispense with the Europa entirely, I think that is less likely though. Probably too much money involved nowadays. 


  5. Homunculus 24th May 2020 at 15:19

    I would also be a bit surprised that the CL had to do away with qualifying rounds, but the Europa didn't. That doesn't make sense to me. 

    I think it would be more likely that the teams who would normally be in the qualifiers for the CL would instead compete in the Europa. Starting with champions then moving down through the ranks. 

    ====================================

    What I had in mind was that UEFA would dispense with CL qualifying completely with the group stages reserved for those direct entrants plus the clubs seeded to progress to the group stage from the qualifying rounds.

    The EL would similarly be affected with the group stages reserved for those already qualified, those clubs deemed to be CL qualifying "losers" with a fallback to the EL, and the other highest seeded teams from the EL qualifiers.

    Clubs deemed to be losers on the basis of their seeding would receive the normal prize money based on which rounds they were expected to progress to, e.g, if Aberdeen was seeded to lose in the 2nd qualifying round of the EL, then they would receive the distribution appropriate to having participated in two qualifying rounds.

    We may end up with one or two qualifying rounds instead of four in each of the tournament, but the issue of who takes part and how they other clubs should be compensated remains. 

    There are other issues that will have to be resolved should any qualifying be curtailed, such as the allocation of coefficient points.

    From UEFA's point of view, it wouldn't cost them any more in prize money than in a normal season.  There is no UEFA TV deal for qualifying matches either, so the overall prize fund would also be unaffected.

     


  6. tony 24th May 2020 at 15:00

    ===============

    Is Traynor a football or media figure? Spence followed it up with another cryptic tweet which makes me think it is the CEO of a Championship club he is referring to. 


  7. upthehoops 

    been reporting on football for about 40 years,so i would say he's a football figure


  8. Is Traynor, the ‘PR expert’, now advising Downing Street?

    Talk about shooting yourself in the foot, whilst simultaneously digging a bigger hole for yourself… cheeky

    Boris desperately needs a huge, massive, fluffy squirrel to distract the angry masses.

    Is lockdown now unofficially over…?  indecision

    Unbelievable.


  9. StevieBC 24th May 2020 at 00:11

    21

    1

    Rate This

    JC, you could be onto something there!

    Virtual Reality is improving all the time.

    You could be sitting at home wearing your headset, experiencing the 360′ immersion in the stand.

    And better still: no need for a real stadium to host the game.

    That reduction in overheads must just appeal to certain clubs
    …………………
    I never had time earlier but ment to add.
    Had a go on one of the latest goggle things that you put on and a grid is drawn digitaly on the floor that if you step out off you are put back in the picture type of thing.
    Are you still with me at this point ?
    Once all set up i was put in a 360 star wars world…..Wow! you could see your hand lift things, open doors pick up a light sabre, you could walk around (Although walking on the edge of a building and looking down my legs were still shaking.
    It was cast to the TV so everyone could watch what you were doing, you get lost in a star wars world, pretty amazing and i’m not a big fan. But it became or was so life like. Hence after that i don’t believe watching the game by way of this medium is not far away.
    You could virtualy get on a train walk to the stadium walk up the stairs and sit down on a seat to watch a game all from the comfort of your own house. Pay for a game and the experiance through a head set thing.
    ….
    Ps. if you ever get the chance to try one of these things ( i can’t remember the name of it but if anyone wants to know i will find out)
    Anyway if you get the chance try it out, you will see what i mean for a future football experiance.
    ….
    Pps. Don’t try the haunted house one, you have been warned.


  10. Cluster One, it's the Oculus, Quest or Rift. I've had the Quest for a few months and the DK2 before that. Bloody Brilliant! Although they are other models available, from other makers at all good outlets. I think that covers it!angry


  11. MercDoc 24th May 2020 at 20:10
    …………..
    You will understand the all round 360 effect and how life like, that i was trying very badly to explain. And how this medium one day could become part of the football experiance.


  12. spikeyheid 24th May 2020 at 21:10
    …………..
    Just make sure you move the furniture out the road first, and again stay away from the haunted house.


  13. You can watch recorded events ( Concerts, Sporting ) from different view points. I took a visit to Venice, down the canals. Google street view is fantastic.


  14. MercDoc 24th May 2020 at 20:11

    '.. I kicked Darth Vaders arse!'

    """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""

    Was jabba not around? There's an arse that surely deserves a right good kick! broken heart


  15. MercDoc 24th May 2020 at 22:31

    '.You can watch recorded events ( Concerts, Sporting ) from different view points. I took a visit to Venice, down the canals. Google street view is fantastic.'

    """"""""""""""""""""

    Aye, very good, MercDoc! broken heart

    You had me all agog- until I looked at the cost of virtual experiences!

    Geez! 

    Real, actual experience might actually be cheaper( once this covid-19 thingy permits)!

    ( But maybe your blog name suggests that you might drive a Merc? and that money is no object? broken heart)

     


  16. And just afore I go to bed on a promise, can I say that my mention of  U.S. cultural imperialism should not put anyone off reading the great wee stories by that sports journalist Damon Runyan. 

    He writes brilliantly of the wee flashes of goodness in the hearts of very bad people. 

    But of course he was writing  before the Liquidation of RFC of 1872 and the nonsense of the 5-Way agreement.

    I think even he would have found  it difficult to find any spark of goodness or truth in the governance of Scottish Football in 2012, or in 2020.

     

     


  17. Since SFM is about asking questions that the SMSM won’t, here is a curious observation about The Glasgow Times.

    We know that on the footy side, The GT, Chris Jack, etc. cover all things Ibrox like a fanzine, with plentiful copy/paste articles with zero journalistic input.

    We know that its print circulation is falling off a cliff, like all the other newspapers and the GT seems to have stepped up its pleading for monthly subscription payments, from £3/month.

    So…

    there is currently a major Scotland news story: a man was shot dead in his Ardrossan home yesterday about 5pm.  In the last hour a man has been arrested in connection with this incident.

    Tragic story that this is, it has been reported, as expected, by e.g. the BBC and The Daily Record.  The DR online reported the shooting at 7.30pm last night.  The BBC online has reported the update about the arrest within the last hour.

    But, on The GT… nothing.

    As at 10AM today there was absolutely nothing in The GT online about either the original shooting or the subsequent arrest.

    Does The GT have any news journalists?

    Is nobody manning The GT online – over a Bank Holiday weekend?

    I’m assuming that there is no IT issue as the website has been accessible as normal – and there are updated stories today e.g. in the Sport section.

    This surprising omission suggests that The GT must be in a pretty poor state of affairs if a major Scottish story is simply not covered.

    Curious.


  18. I understand the point he is making and In his usual acerbic style of course.  But equally there’s a huge part of me now that would rather travel 10 mins to enjoy all the social elements of my part timer £80 per week diddies than waste time and money on his expensive, formulaic league of what? 4,5 maybe?


  19. Cluster One

                          that is an outstanding post by Brogan Rogan Trevino as per usual. As a Celtic fan I have thought for a long time now that the fact that Celtic would 'nt pursue the whole Res 12 in my book meant they were some how caught up in this whole Fraud ( for that is what it is ) . After reading that any doubts I may have had have sadly disappeared . Its hard to grasp why Celtic let themselves get so involved in this as out of all the clubs who have suffered from this debacle , Celtic probably lost more than anyone else , financially at least . The thing  that really sticks in the craw for me is when Celtic were on their knees and Fergus McCann came in, for it all to work , ordinary fans had to play an important part . They were encouraged to dig deep into their pockets to buy shares . They did this !! For most fans this was a step in the dark , most fans probably had never bought a share in their lives before . Many probably could nt even afford to buy shares but they did. Many fans would have made REAL  sacrifices to buy shares but they did .  They did so because of  the love they had for their club and they wanted it to survive so much . WHAT  A SLAP IN THE FACE for those fans who along with Fergus McCann  saved the club . Not Dermott Desmond , not Peter Lawell not Ian Bankier etc etc BUT Fergus and the fans saved the club . The same club that the likes of Peter Lawell does so well financially out of . How dare they treat their own fans as if they are insignificant in all this . I genuinely hope that the more informed people like Brogan Rogan , Auldheid and many many others do take this further , this must be dealt with . It is a festering sore on our game that cant be allowed to eat away any longer. The SFA needs cleared out and people who engineered the ( multi million pound ) fraud hopefully do jail time . I suspect if it goes to court it may mean resignations for the likes of Peter Lawell who is looking more and more part of the dirty cover up by way of the 5WA . I would be saddenned by this but hey you went into bed with the devil.Peter. Yes the media would be up in arms over this but F~~k them . This is about governance NOT a celtic v Rangers thing . Get our governance right, then our rule book , get the right men in place , take the new SFA and set them up in somewhere like Aberdeen away from the west of scotland masonic cabal and watch our game flourish . Power to the Res 12 guys laugh


  20. roddybhoy 25th May 2020 at 16:30

    '.. This is about governance NOT a celtic v Rangers thing . Get our governance right, then our rule book.'

    """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

    Yes, roddybhoy, it is about Governance. 

    It was/is very convenient for

    the SMSM and

    the then SPL and SFL and

    for those now whose 'fortunes' were founded on the myth that TRFC are the same 'Rangers' that allegedly (but , prima facie, with pretty sound grounds) may have lied in order to obtain a few million quid to which they were not entitled

    to pass off the allegation as nothing more than inter-fan 'old firm' rivalry and therefore ignore, or try to, ignore it. 

    Very convenient.

    Who knows which rotten bast.rts may have been uncovered as having been party to a fraud if a serious investigation had ,as it should have, been undertaken by the SFA?

    The decision NOT to investigate in spite of the serious nature of the allegation and the prima facie evidence on which that allegation is based itself raises serious questions about the Governance of our 'Sport'.

    My personal belief is that some individuals are guilty of crime and should be held to account for it. If  I thought I would achieve anything by going as a private individual to the police to report my suspicions then I would.

    But I realise that my going to my local cop shop would be a waste of time. A football club telling a porkie to get some money is, in their eyes [especially if it is their own club!broken heart] nowhere near serious enough compared with the huge financial crimes perpetrated by huge corporations. 

    I believe also that those who should know better and who portray themselves as honest men honouring the memory of their spiritual founder should be ashamed of themselves , whether for their complicity or for their moral cowardice based on venality.

    There was once a man who so put principle before 'business' that he was prepared to exit his club from Scottish Football on a matter of principle unconnected with any fraud or other criminal act by any club or by the SFA.

    He will be revolving in his grave.

    His successors have much to be ashamed about for not calling out the Governance body of Scottish Football.

     


  21. It was one short week ago today that the SFA slipped out their decision to not refer to CAS – and in a typically sleekit manner.

    And the frustrating / depressing realisation is that – in terms of governance – Scottish football has made zero/nil/nada etc. progress.  It is still as corrupt, as incompetent and as unaccountable today, as it was back in 2012.

    We still have Petrie and Doncaster pulling the strings.

    We have all witnessed the 42 senior clubs supporting the status quo over the last 8 years.

    It’s painfully clear: Hampden doesn’t want change – and the clubs don’t want change either.

    What the fans want is irrelevant – but they do want/expect our cash!

    Governance change might only come when it’s already too late.  smiley


  22. https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-dominic-cummings-must-be-sacked?source_location=petitions_browse

     

    Struggling to make this post football related but here goes.

    A Scottish linesman who is also an MP, Douglas Ross, has resigned as a junior minister in the government.  Because of  the behaviour of an advisor to Boris J. the prime minister.   A  Mr. Cummings.  You may have heard of him.

     

    There is a petition to get him sacked, it has reached almost 3/4 of a million signatures so far.


  23. jimbo 26th May 2020 at 18:42

    A Scottish linesman who is also an MP, Douglas Ross, has resigned as a junior minister in the government. 

    ==========================

    It must be the biggest decision that an assistant referee has got right all season.


  24. Who’s the Fine, upstanding, principled, courageous egalitarian in the black…..

    who’s…..


  25. Cluster One 26th May 2020 at 20:11

    https://philmacgiollabhain.ie/2020/05/26/a-matter-of-trust/

    =================================

    PMGB may well be proved right eventually, but for a club that he has repeatedly suggested that is close to financial ruin, they seem to be surviving not too badly.

    • Their £10m shortfall for the current financial year has apparently been covered by existing investors or increased UEFA income.
    • They have signed up to a new retail deal
    • They have just agreed to spend £3m plus add-ons on a new signing
    • Their cumulative losses over the last three years are not enough for them to breach FFP rules. 

    Sometimes there is too much wishful thinking when it comes to TRFC’s finances.


  26. Anybody else hear that Genk suggested that TRFC pay the Hagi monies direct to CFC as Genk's payment for Kouassi but were told we don't do things that way here ? 


  27. easyJambo 26th May 2020 at 20:56

    =====================================

    Sorry, but you are having a laugh.

    Substantial losses in every year of their existence. Loan after loan from directors and associates just to keep operating. Converting loans to worthless shares. More loans this season to cover losses. De-listed from the stock exchange, unable to get proper banking facilities. Going concern warnings in the accounts every year.

    Yeah, doing fine financially, just like the previous club were, right up to the point of administration then liquidation. 

    You understand the accounts more than most people, are you seriously suggesting that Rangers are not a mess financially. What they have is people willing to put more and more money in. If that stops they are fecked.

    They don't have a business model they have an expensive hobby.


  28. tony 26th May 2020 at 20:54

    This years Ryan Kent. They couldn't afford him either, but the directors have put money in to cover the losses. 


  29. I wonder if the deferred wages were used as a downpayment for Hagi, many a disgruntled squad member if it is so. The SFA must be sure of their ground on this occasion or perhaps like a TrumpCummian attitude we little people should respect our betters.


  30. Homunculus 26th May 2020 at 22:2

    This years Ryan Kent. They couldn't afford him either, but the directors have put money in to cover the losses.

    —————————————————————————————

    But can they do this without transgressing ffp rules? Their has been no further share issue so no debt for equity swap.I thought ffp was in place to stop financial doping of this sort unless the licence has been waved through as a force majeur effect of CVid.


  31. Hagi: ha!

    When you type in his name, predictive text inserts "hagiography'!

    (A big word I learned on this site, of course.   )

     

    I'll have a guess at a collapsing deal.

    Hagi "wanted too much money, was greedy, and TRFC no longer want him".

    Loan deal terminated with immediate effect, (by TRFC of course.)

    According to the Ibrox 'PR expert' anyway…


  32. Very quiet today.  Mr Cummings causing too much of a distraction maybe!

    First time I’ve posted here but I’ve been about since the blog rose from the RTC ashes.

    I’ve got two things to get off my chest.  One – the why don’t CFC back Res 12 question. Could it be that if SFA were guilty as charged, then a possible punishment would be banning Scottish clubs from Europe.  Not in Celtic’s interest.  

    Or could it be that Celtic know shifty things were happening, retrospectively of course, with Euro licenses but as Celtic benefited from a higher Euro coefficient then they could be seen, as SFA representatives, as having deprived another club from a higher ranking and maybe even CL football. Again light being shed on this not in Celtic’s interest.  

    Or is it just they don’t get it.  I though Martin O’Neill’s recent ramblings – on the 9 in a row show – showed, as a Celtic man, that he was well out of step with the views of most Celtic fans. Maybe 10 mins with people running the club would produce the same conclusion.  Who knows!

    Second thing.  I read on here a couple of weeks back talk about the same club myth and that all the other scottish bankrupt clubs had gone under never to be seen again.  We’ll that is a myth about the same club myth.  That something special happened to Rangers that has never happened before.  However, the reincarnation of the rangers team had to start lower than the reincarnation of Toulouse, Fiorentina, Derry City and others.  And last season I sat in the North Stand at CP and looked out at a banner among the Hibs fans with 1875 (I think) on it.  No one mentioned that Hibernians went bankrupt in the 1890s and a new club Hibernian came about 18 months later claiming to be the same club.  For me the new Rangers – as the FIFA website stated before their first game – is a reincarnation of the dead club.  Same brand.  Just like Hibs. That’s what football does.  Dead then resurrected.  And that’s why Celtic should focus on their own unbroken history rather than cause themselves trouble pointing out that other clubs are ghosts.

    Just my thoughts.

    QF


  33. Over a week ago, it was being reported in Belgium that Genk were keen to sell, and Sevco keen to buy. Fee was agreed, so all good there then, but the "Payment methods" were under negotiation. Empty Irn-Bru bottles are not considered legal tender in Belgium apparently. Probably a Brexit thing.                 

              Since then,  Michael Stewart has questioned Sevco's ability to fund such a deal, and based on known knowns, a legitimate question, but Alex Rae assured him all was fine.  Hagi's agent had also tweeted, believing it was a done deal, before it was revealed it wasn't.  Now we have similar from Genk itself.     

           It would appear to the layman that "Payment methods", are proving rather a difficult barrier to overcome……"Methods" is the term google translate returned, but could mean many things/contexts, ranging from third party suitably provenanced sums, to simple deposit and instalment terms.     

           Whatever the difficulties, to date it would appear promised payments either haven't materialised, or were in an unacceptable form and rejected.      

           No such difficulties have arisen from Genk's other transfer businesses.

         https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20200518_04964788


  34. Corrupt official 27th May 2020 at 01:45

    '. No such difficulties have arisen from Genk's other transfer businesses.'

    """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

    The link is all Greek to me, Corrupt official!heartbroken heart


  35. So yet again we have a proposed temporary 14-14-14 league structure for next season. This in the same week that the majority in the bottom two leagues and a number in the championship proposing mothballing their clubs until closed door games are no longer needed. For these teams financial meltdown is very likely if they are forced to play behind closed doors. Mothballing would give them a chance of survival.

    To make 14-14-14 possible the leagues would have to ignore 60-70% of the clubs. Nothing new there then, waste time and effort planning for the improbable.

    Our league needs to face up to what the rest of us know, that while there is no vaccine normal life and football is unpredictable. For now list all the teams in their finishing order from last season and then plan when things become clearer. If forward planning is desired then ask the clubs about mothballing and design with what is left, probably about 15-20 clubs.

    Anybody for just one league next season?


  36. Hamilton Accies’ auditors issue a going concern warning, in their accounts just published at Companies House.

    Image


  37. I would expect similar "going concern" warnings in most clubs accounts going forward with the auditors covering their backsides.


  38. Been off the site for a few days. Hagi? Really? What about the deferred wages? Players being let go etc. Anyway, back to Machiavelli & CO. You have to admit it’s better than Netflix or Amazon Prime.


  39. easyJambo 27th May 2020 at 11:19 

            I would expect similar "going concern" warnings in most clubs accounts going forward with the auditors covering their backsides.

    ===============================================

        I suspect you are correct about that EJ, but I did notice that this concern was registered prior to the league being called. I doubt that has significantly altered the precariousness of their situation, but it has clarified one of the unknowns. 

        Until the other unknowns are chipped away, clubs will remain on a knife-edge of uncertainty. 


  40. Homunculus 26th May 2020 at 22:23
    ……………………..
    AD Hoc i think Dave king described it at his last AGM, he also said this method was not sustanable and that a working group would be set up to look at generating income from player sales. Even king knew the way they were doing business could not go on forever.
    …………………
    gunnerb 26th May 2020 at 22:38
    This years Ryan Kent.
    But can they do this without transgressing ffp rules? Their has been no further share issue so no debt for equity swap.I thought ffp was in place to stop financial doping of this sort unless the licence has been waved through as a force majeur effect of CVid.
    ……………….
    The euro licence has been as you say waved through.
    8 ibrox players have left the building so to speak, their combined wages will more than cover this years Ryan kent. The Close to £mill deal is to be paid over three years. This will be the ibrox club’s biggest signing unless they can somehow sell a player.


  41. QF 27th May 2020 at 00:18
    First time I’ve posted here but I’ve been about since the blog rose from the RTC ashes.
    ………………..
    I will be Gracious with a responce.I’ve been about since the blog rose from the RTC ashes.But you have taken nothing in that you have read.


  42. UEFA to relax FFP regulations ‘to help cash-strapped clubs survive coronavirus crisis’ as the deadly virus continues to wreak havoc across globe

    European football's governing body is set to relax Financial Fair Play regulations 
    UEFA has extended the deadline for 'undue payables' from March 31 to April 30 
    Principle of 'force majeure', meaning greater force, will be taken into account.
    

    UEFA have elected to relax their Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations in order to help clubs that are struggling for cash to survive the coronavirus crisis.

    European football’s governing body has extended the deadline for clubs to show that they don’t have any ‘undue payables’, consisting of unpaid tax bills, transfer instalments or wages, from March 31 to April 30.

    In addition, UEFA stressed that the principle of ‘force majeure’, meaning greater force, will be taken into account when the finances of clubs are being assessed.
    ………………….
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-8136627/UEFA-relax-FFP-regulations-help-cash-strapped-clubs-survive-coronavirus-crisis.html?ito=amp_twitter_share-top


  43. paddy malarkey 27th May 2020 at 13:32

    "The Celtic directors, without ceremony or much public statement, gradually sold all the players, then withdrew from football forever"

    """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

    It's not an exact parallel ,of course, to the circumstances obtaining in the 'Res 12 matter,' but it's worth mentioning that those directors had principles and the balls to adhere to them.

    Who, seriously,  wants to play 'sport' in a rigged organisation? And meekly accept a point-blank  refusal by a governance even to investigate a complaint made seriously and with some evidence clearly pointing t the need for investigation?


  44. Re Hagi signing for Rangers.

    In my view it doesn't take much working out what will happen.

    During his loan period some Scottish media outlets were willing to run with reports that this player was one of the best in his position in Europe, could be a £100m player, and that major Spanish and Italian clubs were after him. From all of that he has gone on to sign for Rangers for an undisclosed fee being paid up over several years. Genk were clearly not interested in keeping him, despite initially shelling out £4m for him. 

    Now that Hagi is here and whenever football begins again, we already know that the same media outlets will have his value up to around £15-20m very soon, maybe even higher. That will be the case even if it is based only on his performances in the Scottish league. There is already evidence they are willing to do that with Rangers players. Morelos for example before this season, when he has done well in Europe, was previously touted as being worth £20-25m based only on goals in Scotland. We were also asked to believe Glen Kamara went from a £50k player to one worth £6-10m in a few months. Based on what was the part they didn't tell us. 

    People will no doubt point to the buy low, sell high policy at Celtic, which has had some major successes, but those fees were based on what the players achieved in the Champions League, not Scotland alone. Going back to Hagi, he would have to do the same, and against real top quality teams. Otherwise the inevitable media attempts to secure Rangers a major fee will hit the same wall as all the other attempts. It won't stop them trying their hardest though. 

    It's just the way Scotland is. 


  45. We discussed this in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek way some time back. From today's Times:

    "A Japanese company has created a phone app that allows sports fan to cheer or boo their team remotely at sports events from which spectators are excluded because of the fear of the coronavirus.

    Users of the Remote Cheerer app use their mobile phone to record their reaction or to select pre-recorded messages of encouragement or denunciation which will be relayed digitally and played through speakers at the ground.

    The company behind the app, Yamaha, tested it this month at the 50,000 seat Shizuoka Stadium, southwest of Tokyo, during training by two team in Japan’s football J-League.

    Fans can select from which one of 58 speakers their cheers will be broadcast, allowing them to respond to action in a particular part of the ground.

    “At one point during the system field test, I closed my eyes and it felt like the cheering fans were right there in the stadium with me,” Keisuke Matsubayashi, a manager at the stadium, said. “That’s when I knew that this system had the potential to cheer players on even in a stadium of this size.”

    The company says that it was in discussion about selling the system to sports grounds in Europe. It is working on voice recognition to censor foul or insulting language."

     


  46. I read that the Aberdeen chairman reckons that it is time to streamline Scottish football by scrapping either the SPFL or The SFA, and things would improve if we switched back to one authority.

    Cormack attracted criticism from his own fans after backing the ibrox club. But he is adamant hi standpoint was purely about governance.

    Would a new one authority mean that a secret 5 way agreement signed with only one club in the SPFL be rendered meaningless and not woth the paper it is written on ?


  47. upthehoops 28th May 2020 at 07:08
    Re Hagi signing
    ……………
    Hagi will be this years Morelos.
    The Morelos project failed because the value speculation rose every time you picked up a paper. Will lessons have been learned down ibrox way of speculation on a players value? I very much doubt it, (Glen Kamara went from a £50k player to one worth £6-10m in a few months. Based on what was the part they didn’t tell us. ) Kamaras performance could not hold up to the value they were saying.they will try the same approach again, it is in their DNA.
    Expect his worth to rise the more desperate for money the ibrox get, the more value put on his head the more desperate the ibrox club are. And the valuation has begun to rise already and the first down payment to Genk has not even got through the door yet.


  48. upthehoops 28th May 2020 at 07:08

    I think this whole thing about players value being increased by Scottish tabloid newspapers is a bit of a fallacy.

    It is possible that it attracts clubs to have a look at a player, and if that player performs well may secure him a move. However I just don't see clubs who spend that sort of money putting any real stock in what a hack in the daily record has written. 

    As I say, in my opinion it may have a bit of an effect on them looking.  However once that has been achieved they will have a whole scouting system in place, probably even different levels to go through. They will make the decisions on a, whether the club wants the player and b, what they are willing to pay.

    Re Hagi himself. He has played a grand total of 12 games on loan at Rangers, scoring 3 goals. Of those 3 goals 2 were in the same game. A big European game which was probably his best performance for the club. From what I saw, other than that game he wasn't hugely impressive. Not a bad player but nothing spectacular.

    Clearly they don't have as much to spend on this years messianic figure. He is no Ryan Kent.

    The question I ask myself is this, would I want him. The simple answer is this, who would I take off the bench to put him on it. I can't think of anyone. 


  49. Grudgingly – of course – I have to admit to yet more scratching of the napper, as the financial basket that is RIFC/TRFC apparently buys another player. I just don't get it!

    Yes, the payment terms could be very favourable for TRFC, with a minimal down payment.  There might be a corresponding, heftier than normal sell-on clause for Genk.  But, at this time you would think that freezing recruitment / trimming the squad and general overheads would be the priority? 

    Is Hagi going to sell X thousands extra ST's? Is this reasonable, 21 year old player going to transform TRFC into a title winning team? If not, then why add to the the mushrooming financial risk at Ibrox now?

    I can only surmise that there is significant information that we just don't know, currently.

    But the Ibrox club continues to kick that battered, old can down the road, and continues to confound Internet Bampots with every kick! indecision


  50. Re Hagi:

    It’s worth remembering that TRFC hasn’t signed him yet. According to FIFA, the Scottish transfer window doesn’t open until 10.06.20.

    He may sign, but he may not. I’d assume that the player isn’t in Scotland & probably not in Belgium either. I’d expect that TRFC would require a current medical, performed by their own staff, before committing to spend £3m. 

    Much could happen in the next two weeks. 


  51. J.J good shout!

    Yes, at the very least it is "subject to a satisfactory medical".

    And, IIRC, did TRFC not decline to sign a player and leaked that he had a (suspected) knee problem???

    Can't remember who it was, but thought it was shoddy behaviour at the time.


  52. StevieBC 28th May 2020 at 11:14
    Is Hagi going to sell X thousands extra ST’s? Is this reasonable, 21 year old player going to transform TRFC into a title winning team?
    …………
    Well if you are an old ibrox player dug out of the back of beyond and asked to give your opinion, well yes he is thay guy, so roll up roll up and get your feel good season ticket.
    ………………….
    StevieBC 28th May 2020 at 11:36
    not decline to sign a player and leaked that he had a (suspected) knee problem???
    ……….
    The ibrox club were on the verge of signing John Hartson but (suspected) knee problem???
    Did ok for celtic after that i believe.


  53. Homunculus 28th May 2020 at 10:50

    I think this whole thing about players value being increased by Scottish tabloid newspapers is a bit of a fallacy.

    ===================

    I don't necessarily disagree, I just find it pretty pathetic that they try so hard. Of course, modern day newspapers are subject to huge cost cutting and need to fill space easily, so perhaps the easiest way to do it is to accept bullshit stores from club PR in order to appeal to the largest fan demographic. 


  54. upthehoops 28th May 2020 at 20:07

    The stuff in relation to Morelos has been particularly stunning.

    Particularly when the manager is on the record as saying there had been no bids for the player, at that time. 

    In fact I believe he has said it on more than one occasion, last summer and in January of this year. 

    The media had his price going up and up, with a load of clubs being interested in him.

    To be honest I think they may have been instrumental in him losing form in January. He must have believed the hype and basically didn't kick a ball from January onwards. 

    It's similar to the situation with the previous club. The media would not print or broadcast a bad news story, right up to the point it was too late to do anything about them. They don't do Rangers any favours, whether they are trying to or not. 

     

     


  55. Homunculus 28th May 2020 at 20:37

      It's similar to the situation with the previous club. The media would not print or broadcast a bad news story, right up to the point it was too late to do anything about them. They don't do Rangers any favours, whether they are trying to or not.

    ===============================

       We laugh at the man with the key to the Sevco crayon box, but it's obviously a skeleton key for the SMSM box…..Who can forget how rapidly the Alfie assasination attempt was sprouting legs, until a private investigator handed himself in at his local station, and halted it in its tracks. ….That wee tale was half an hour short of, "Red-haired man in green & white jersey spotted running from the scene", said a guy on twitter. 

       There is a lot wrong with Scotland.

      


  56. Homunculus 28th May 2020 at 20:37

    ‘.It’s similar to the situation with the previous club. The media would not print or broadcast a bad news story, right up to the point it was too late to do anything about them. ‘

    “”””””””””””””””””””””””””””

    Eating too much succulent lamb had them hooked and they lost any kind of journalistic integrity in their desire for easy pounds per column inch of ‘copy and paste’  utterances ; and their craving for privately provided ‘exclusives’ for whichever pretence of a newspaper they wrote for made liars and cheats of them.

    Whereas if they had shown any kind of willingness ,or ability as journalists , to ask questions of SDM and of that arch-cheat’s means of funding the biggest ‘ineligible players ‘ scam that any football league has ever seen, then SDM might have been caught by the short and curlies early enough to amend his cheating ways, admit the footballing offence , lose a title or two to avoid expulsion, and then find it easier to reach a deal with HMRC before the tax debt reached levels which meant that even the richest Bear couldn’t contemplate taking it on if he thought of buying RFC of 1872 out of Administration.

    The succulent lamb eaters certainly contributed to the death of RFC 1872.

    And their current equivalents are of the same stamp in relation to TRFC, the new club.

    And they’re not even getting succulent lamb dinners in SA, with the best wines from the major shareholder’s best SA wine-cellar. ( Or was that taken by SARS?)

    Or are they?

     

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