A Blog by James Forrest for TSFM
I am a socialist, and as a socialist I believe in the fundamental goodness of people. Some people find that hard to believe when they read the stuff I write.
I published my first novel recently, on politics and the corrupting nature of it, and it is a deeply cynical book, a book where no-one has clean hands come the end. What has surprised some of those who’ve read it is that I didn’t focus on the lies and smears of the right, but the hypocrisy and deceit of those who claim to be of the left.
Corruption, you see, doesn’t respect political boundaries or points of view. It’s like rainwater. It finds every crack, and gets in there.
My political beliefs revolve around two apparently paradoxical elements; the belief in the inherent decency of people and the need for a strong, and powerful, state. I believe the second underpins the first, and this brings me into conflict with a lot of people, some on the left and some on the right. Too many people see the state as inherently evil, as something that interferes too much in the lives of ordinary people. As something suffocating.
Yet the state exists to protect us. It exists to provide a safety net. It exists to regulate and to oversee. If the state is made up of bad people, if the gears of society are captured by those with malicious or selfish intent, the results are obvious; war, corruption, chaos.
The vast majority of our problems in the modern age can be neatly summed up in two lines from Yeats’ poem “The Second Coming”, which I used to open my novel. “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
We live in a time when those who are protecting their own interests have assumed such power that they’ve cowed the rest of us. They have become a law unto themselves. They have changed the nature of the game, because they have sapped our will to the extent some barely put up a fight anymore. The weak get weaker, and the strong use their strength to crush the rest even more. It is a vicious struggle, a downward spiral.
Society is held together not only by the endeavour and common interests of its citizens but by a collection of laws. We elect the people who make those laws. They do so in our name, and we can remove that right every four years. That is a powerful thing, and we do not appreciate it enough. The present corruption exists because we allow it to exist.
The people around me continue to puzzle over my uncommon interest in the affairs of a football club on the west of Glasgow. My own club plays in the east end. I tell those who ask that my primary interest in the goings-on at the club calling itself Rangers is no longer about football; how could it be, after all? With promotion this year they are still a full two divisions below us, emasculated, skint, weak and unstable. If we were fortunate enough to draw them in cup competition the match would be over, as a tie, by the halfway point … in the first half.
In footballing terms they are an utter irrelevance.
Rangers is more than a football club to me. They are a symbol. Their unfolding calamity is an on-going outrage. What is happening there, what is being allowed to happen, is an offense to decency. It is a stain on the face of our country.
In short, it is a scandal. It is a scandal without parallel in sport.
Yet it’s not just a sports story either. If it was, I might not be so focussed on it. What is happening at Rangers is a colossal failure of governance. It is a damning indictment against the very people who are supposed to oversee our game. It is a disgraceful abrogation of responsibility from those at the top, those who claim to be “running things.”
If this is not a failure of governance it is a result of corruption at the heart of our national sport. It says they are bought and paid for, and I will say no such thing here.
So let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. We’ll say instead that what they are is weak, indecisive, inept and disconnected from reality.
It reminds me of our political class, which has become insular and ignorant about what the public wants, and what it needs. It’s not a wonder parties like UKIP can achieve national vote shares of 25% at local elections. Nigel Farage strikes me as a dog-whistle politician, the kind who knows how to appeal to a select group of voters. He is little different to Charles Green, the man who beguiled Rangers fans into handing over large amounts of money, because he was “standing up for the club.” It is easy to do what he did, easy to do what Farage is doing.
Real leadership requires toughness. Say what you like about the Tories, but they have that in spades. Yeats was right about the worst being full of passionate intensity. Green was. Farage is. Cameron and Osborne personify it in their political outlook.
It is easy to be cowed by blunt force politics, and by “tough talking Yorkshire men” and venomous speeches about “strivers and skivers.” The politics of divide and conquer is the oldest form of politics there is, and it’s no surprise to see it practiced by some of the vested interests in the game here in Scotland. Yet, lest we forget … something significant happened last year. The maligned and the ignored, the weak and the voiceless found something they never realised they had. They discovered that, in a very real sense, the power was in their hands.
Last year, the fans rose up when the governing bodies and the media went all-out to save Rangers from the self-inflicted wounds caused by a decade of cheating, malpractice and ineptitude. I have no problem calling that what it was.
What happened at Rangers seemed incredible, but it was all too predictable, and some of us had been talking about it for years before it hit. The Association seemed caught in the headlights but it would amaze me if they really were as insular and ignorant as they appeared. They must have known how bad the outlook was for Rangers. They just chose to ignore it.
They were aided and abetted by a thoroughly disreputable media, a collection of cowards and compromisers, charlatans and frauds, masquerading as journalists, but who long ago laid aside any claim to be bold investigators and settled for commenting on events as they unfolded. More often than not, with their ill-informed opinions, sometimes due to weaknesses in intellect and others wilfully ignorant, they failed even in that.
Entire newspapers became PR machines for crooks and swindlers. They aided in the scam because they didn’t do their jobs, some because they were lazy, some because they were incompetent and others because they wanted a seat at the table and were willing to sacrifice whatever integrity they once had in exchange for one.
That all of this was embraced by the Rangers fans is amazing to me. They trusted when they should have been asking questions. They closed their eyes, covered their ears and sang their battle tunes at the top of their voices so they wouldn’t have to hear anything they didn’t like. As incredible as I found it then, and still find it now – and now, even more so, when they have already seen the results of it once – I find it pathetic too, and I do feel pity for some of them.
A lot of these people are genuine football fans, and nothing more. They have no interest in the phony narrow nationalism, or the over-blown religion, or the notion of supremacy which manifested itself in a ludicrous statement from McCoist when interviewed recently on Sky.
Some of the Rangers fans look at their team of duds, kids and journeymen, they look at a boardroom of cowards and crooks, they look at a failing manager in his first (and last) job in the game and at a dark future and are not in the least bit impressed by, or interested in, the chest-out arrogance espoused in those ridiculous words “we are the people.” They know full well that their present crisis was made by men like McCoist, and they understand that pretentious posturing is not an act born of strength, but a scrambling around in the gutter, and a symptom of weakness.
They understand their position, and they hate it. And because they care about Rangers, because they value the club, because they cherish those things that made it a great Scottish institution, they want that back. They understand that before the Union Jack waving, Sash singing, poppy wearing, Nazi saluting, Orange element became the public face of their support Rangers meant something else, and that, above all things, is what pains them the most.
People do not hate Rangers. When the country appeared to turn its back last year, they were turning the back on favouritism and the bending of rules. Yet it would be a lie to say that there is not an element of dislike in the gleeful mockery of many rival fans.
But they don’t hate Rangers either. They hate the version of it around which a certain section of the support continues to dance. They hate the version which hates, and so too do many, many, many Rangers supporters, and they definitely deserve better.
David Murray chose not to openly challenge that version. Indeed, he encouraged certain strands of it to flourish and grow, with his “Britishness Days” and his effort to turn the club into the “team that supports the troops.” Other clubs have done as much, if not more, for the British Army than the one that plays out of Ibrox. Other clubs have given more money. Other clubs have lent their support to those on the front lines. They just chose to do it with respect, and with class, and with dignity. They chose to do it in private, understanding that there eventually comes a tipping point between looking after the ends of the soldiers and using them to promote your own.
The army has not battened on to Rangers. Rangers has battened on to them, and although it is unclear when an altruistic motive became darker, what started out as a gesture of solidarity is now used to entrench division and promote a notion of superiority.
Craig Whyte took over from Murray and immediately understood the lure of the “dog whistle.” He knew too that the media would accept whatever he told them, without question, and as he spoke up for “Rangers traditions” he made sure the lunatic fringe was well onside. He met face to face with the hard-core extremists in the support first and made them his praetorian guard. They spoke up for him until the day the club entered administration.
So, whereas Murray pandered to them and Whyte used them to further his own ends, it was only a matter of time before someone suggested to Charles Green that he could use the same tactics to win over the support. He went even further and blatantly promoted and encouraged this mind-set, and stoked the hate and nonsense to frightening new heights. The same people who cheered Whyte to the rafters jumped on board the Big Blue Bus and the results are clear.
Through all of it, the ordinary Rangers fan has seen his club buffered against the rocks, battered, broken, smashed to smithereens and sunk. Now there’s a big hole in the side of the lifeboat, and they are terrified that further tragedies await.
They are right to be concerned. Much of the media is still not telling them what they need to know. The people in charge of their club – the owners who have lied, the former hack who covered up the truth about Whyte and now acts as a mouthpiece for Green, the “club legends” who are content to sup with the devil and take his greasy coin when they should be standing toe-to-toe with the fans – are trying to silence those members of the press who do have facts to present.
How many times now have media outlets been banned from Ibrox for daring to report the truth? The manager who demanded the names of a committee last year defends those inside the walls who are desperate to keep secret the things that are going on. He is either an unprincipled coward, or he is, himself, bought and paid for. The fans suffer for it.
The “inconvenient truth” is still being kept from them, and this denies them any chance to play an active role in their club. Indeed, it is all too possible that they’ve passed a point of no return, and that their club is heading for a new liquidation event and it can no longer be stopped.
In either case, their power has been eroded to the point at which they must feel they have nothing left to do but stand back and watch what happens next.
They are wrong. I am a socialist. I believe in the inherent good of people. I think the ordinary decent Rangers fans are the only people left who can save their club … and the means by which they will do it is as simple as it could be.
They must stand up for “big government.” They must embrace the need for a “strong state.” They must lobby the SFA, and they must trust the SFA and they must get the SFA to follow its own rules and thereby save them from any further harm.
There is a tendency amongst some Celtic fans to see our governing bodies as pro-Rangers. If it is true then those running our game are ruining Scottish football without benefiting the thing they love more. The incalculable harm that has been done to Rangers in the last 20 some months is a direct result of the subservient media and the willingness of the football authorities to be “deaf, dumb and blind.” Those who believe this has actually helped the Ibrox club have not been paying attention in class. It has irrevocably scarred them, and it may yet have played a hand in destroying them once and for all, as a force if not as a club entirely.
For years, the SFA sat and did nothing as a club in their association operated a sectarian signing policy. They did nothing whilst the fans sang sectarian songs. In their failure to act they strengthened those elements of the Rangers support, instead of isolating, alienating and eventually helping to eliminate those who saw that club as a totem pole of division and hate. Their failure over EBT’s, and their lack of scrutiny, led to one of the greatest scandals in the history of sport, and I say that with no equivocation at all. The testimony of their registrations officer in the Lord Nimmo Smith investigation was a disgrace and in years to come it will rank as one of the most disreputable and damaging moments in the association’s history.
The most egregious failures of all were the failures in the so-called “fit and proper person” tests, which allowed first Whyte and then Charles Green to assume controlling positions at Ibrox. They will pass the buck and say the responsibility lies with the club itself, in much the same way as they are content to let the club investigate itself at the present time, but any neutral who looks at this stance knows it is unprincipled and spineless. It’s like letting the defence set the terms at a trial. It is foxes investigating the chicken coop.
It is a blueprint for corruption, and a recipe for disaster.
It is now too late for the SFA to declare Green “unfit”, as it was too late when they finally slapped that title on Craig Whyte. He and his allies own Rangers, and they control its destiny. They can push the club to the wall if they choose, in the final extremity, if that gets them what they want. The time for changing that is past. The damage has already been done. The barbarians are not at the gates. They are inside the walls, and sacking the city.
The SFA will be forced to punish Rangers for the sins of the owners, for the second time in as many years, and whilst it is right that the club face up to that, all the better to send a message to other clubs and other owners, the SFA cannot be allowed to slither off the hook here as though this was none of their doing. Green will skip off into the sunset. Craig Whyte has yet to pay his fine. These people never cared about Scottish football and they don’t care now.
The SFA are supposed to. Our governing body is supposed to govern, for the good of the whole game, and not as a support system for a single club. What they have allowed to happen on their watch is absolutely shameful and if the people responsible were men at all, with any sense of accountability, they would resign en masse.
They can pretend ignorance, but only the truly ignorant would accept that. Craig Whyte was not inside Ibrox a week before RTC and other sites were dismantling his entire business history, with some of the people here doing the work the SFA would not. Whyte himself claims to have made the governing bodies aware of the scale of what was facing the club, and they did nothing at all. Heads should have rolled a year ago.
In October of last year, on this very site, I posted an article in which I wrote:
“Which isn’t to say the due diligence matter isn’t worrying, because, of course, it is. Again, no-one is going to convince me that the SFA has conducted proper due diligence on Charles Green and his backers. No-one will convince me they are satisfied that this club is in safe hands, and that the game in this country will not be rocked by a further implosion at Ibrox. They failed to properly investigate Craig Whyte, because of lax regulations requiring disclosure from the club itself, regulations which are just a joke, but they can be forgiven for that as the press was talking sheer nonsense about him having billions at his disposal, and a lot of people (but not everyone!) were either convinced or wanted to be convinced by him.
To have witnessed what Whyte did, to have witnessed the Duff & Phelps “process” of finding a buyer, and having Green essentially emerge from nowhere, with a hundred unanswered questions as to his background and financing, for the SFA to have given this guy the go ahead, only for it to blow up in their faces later, would annihilate the credibility of the governing body and necessitate resignations at every level. There would be no hiding place.”
There are times when it is fun to be right, but this is not one of them. It is dispiriting and disquieting to have been so on the nose. It scares the Hell out of me, as someone who loves football in this country, to have seen this matter clearly when the people running our game apparently either did not or chose to ignore very real, very obvious, concerns. The Internet Bampots had no special insight or access to information that was denied those at the SFA. We just weren’t prepared to ignore it and pretend that it wasn’t there. There was too much at stake.
I have become convinced that things will never change until the Rangers supporters join us in demanding the full and unabridged truth here. They need to come out from under the bed, and confront their fears. They need to be willing to take the consequences, so that their club can emerge clean from this, and start again, with all this behind them.
And it can all happen with one simple thing. The application of the rules.
The existence of laws comes down to a simple principle; they protect society from those elements within it who are interested only in their own selfish ends. We may cry out at those rules and regulations we see as “restrictive”, but the law was not made to restrict our freedoms but to protect them. Had the SFA years ago acted against Rangers sectarian signing policy, and the songs from the stands, the club would not have mutated to the point where there was no help on hand when they needed it the most. Let’s not kid ourselves about this; Whyte and Green were only able to grab control because the club itself has a dreadful image which put off respectable and responsible buyers. The SFA could have helped change that perception years ago and did nothing.
The SFA could have conducted its own investigation into who Craig Whyte was. They could have asked David Murray for full disclosure when he was running up £80 million of debt, a sum of money that is beyond belief for a single club in a small provincial backwater league. Had they had the guts to do that the club would never have spent itself into oblivion and forced the hand of Lloyds, which led indirectly to their ignominious end.
The SFA could have fully investigated Charles Green and the means by which he took control, instead of rushing through a license. His emergence at the last minute was transparently suspicious and designed to force them into a quick decision, but they did not have to bow to that pressure by making one, without being in possession of the facts, as it is now 100% clear they were not.
Had they asked for every document, had they insisted on legal affidavits and personal securities from investors (and this would have been perfectly legitimate and is common place in other licensing areas) none of this would have come to pass. After Craig Whyte they had a moral responsibility to the rest of the game to get this one right and their failure is without parallel in the history of Scottish football.
As the club hurtles towards a new abyss, names are cropping up which should send a shudder down the spines of every honest, genuine supporter of not only Rangers but every team in the land. The SFA claims that a strong Rangers is essential for the sake of Scottish football, but they have been extraordinarily lax in protecting that club, and therefore the game, from destructive elements. Craig Whyte and Charles Green had dubious personal histories, and the acquisition of the club itself was mired in controversy and scandal. Yet it was allowed.
Neither Green nor Whyte were known to have operated outside the law, yet neither was worthy of trust or stood up to scrutiny. Neither man should ever have been granted the status as fit and proper persons to assume a role in our national sport, and if it is true of them what can we say about the three men who are, presently, being touted as the Great White Hopes for a bright, new Rangers future; Dave King and the Easdale brothers?
King recently cut a deal with the South African government over an on-going dispute over taxes. In other words, he pled guilty and accepted the central plank of their argument; that for years he was engaged in wilfully with-holding vast revenues from their Treasury. The media does not like to put it like that, and the SFA seems willing to ignore it utterly, and this would be scandalous enough. But it does not stop there. HRMC rules – as well as the SFA’s own governance documents – actually bar him from serving on the board of the new club.
Last but not least, aside from being an admitted tax cheat, King is also awaiting trial in South Africa, having been indicted for corruption, forgery and fraud – 300 charges in total. Yet as recently as last week, we were told that the Association was willing to look at him and consider representations from his lawyers. This is almost beyond belief.
If Dave King’s position is untenable, and he is yet to be convicted of a crime, what can we say about the position of the Easdale’s? One of the two brothers, Sandy, has already served jail time. He is a convicted criminal, a fraudster nonetheless, who’s “victim” was the same Treasury who are appealing one case involving the old club and liquidated it entirely over another. This is precisely the kind of “businessman” the fit and proper person test was supposed to weed out, and if the SFA holds its nose here the reek will stink out the halls at Hampden for decades. If King or the Easdale’s are judged fit and proper, then who exactly is the test for? What exactly do you have to do to fail it? How do we explain the existence of laws, when these are not applied?
Pascal says “Law without force is impotent.” The SFA’s weakness has allowed one version of Rangers to destroy itself, and has allowed an existential risk to another. If the next power at Rangers resides in South Africa or Greenock I can say with some certainty that the Association is engaged in an even more dangerous roll of the dice, because the surfacing of fresh scandal will be an ever present risk, and will be of the sort no-one will survive.
The damage to Scottish football will take years to heal. The Scottish game has been through enough trauma. It does not need more. It barely survived the last calamity to hit Rangers. The rest of us should not be forced to pay the price of the next one.
The greater damage will be done to Rangers itself. If the Green crisis ends in another collapse – as it well might; another administration event is a certainty, and another liquidation is a much more likely prospect than it was before 14 February 2012 – the club will once again have to start from the bottom, and this time the reputational damage will be impossible to repair. The club faces internal strife, sporting sanctions, and criminal investigations. The last takeover might be declared a fraud. the Whyte takeover will almost certainly be. The share issue might be invalid, as well as criminal, and the people involved may well end up in jail. Lawsuits could follow from investors, there could be as yet unknown consequences from the Upper Tier Tax Tribunal (thank you Brogan Rogan for pointing out what those might be) and a host of other issues.
Rangers fans must be the loudest voices here. How do you want the world to view your club in years to come? Do you want one to be proud of, or one forever associated with the shame and disgrace of these days gone by? The one which bailed out on its tax obligations. The one with supporters who disgrace your very name. The one which allowed Whyte and Green to take you to the cleaners and send you to the wall. The one which handed over control to one convicted criminal and another awaiting trial. Do you want to be reborn clean, or mired in the muck?
David Murray destroyed your financial stability. He made it so no bank would issue you a line of credit and no investor of note wanted to buy. Craig Whyte liquidated you. Charles Green has cast the future of the Newco into doubt and acted in a manner which has annihilated your credibility with the financial markets for decades to come.
Between these three men, they have taken everything from you, and the press and the people who run the game here, as well as some of your own blindly ignorant fans, have allowed them to do all this and more. Now they conspire to hand the keys to Ibrox to other men of questionable character, who will wreck further havoc on the reputation of the club.
The Scottish Football Association has damaged the game it was supposed to protect, but above all else their greatest failure of governance was a failure to protect one of its biggest clubs from its own excesses and those of its owners.
Rangers fans, the SFA have betrayed your trust, more than the trust of any other club. What you must insist on now is full disclosure and transparency from the powers that be in Hampden. The SFA has to end the charade of allowing your club to handle this in-house. They must hand everything over to an outside agency – whether a legal one, or a footballing body like UEFA – and they must demand co-operation and answers, and threaten to withhold the license if they don’t get them.
You must not be afraid of that. You must embrace it. The men with their hands on the gears at Ibrox are motivated by money, and nothing more. If the license is withdrawn their “investments” are worthless. They cannot risk that.
You must demand that the rules on fit and proper persons are applied, and where necessary even made stronger, to prevent your club falling into unclean hands. You must demand that they protect your reputation from further damage, by getting this all out there and acting accordingly, even if that means your club does not play football for at least a year.
You must be willing to suck it all up, knowing that what will emerge is a Rangers which has been cleansed and moves forward with honour, and dignity, led by custodians who treasure it rather than those who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
The Rangers Standard has recently emerged as a genuine voice for those in your support who are sick and tired of what Rangers has become, and want it restored to something that is worthy of the love and respect in which you hold it. On that website, there are discussions about the kind of club you seek to be and about whether the institution of Rangers is about more than just football.
If that’s how you feel about it then you know it is about more than how many titles the club can claim, about more than just results on the park, about more than just the game. Rangers, like Celtic, is an idea. It has to be something you are proud of.
I am a socialist, but one with a fevered imagination and a tendency to write very dark things. This piece won’t have been good reading for some of you (perhaps all of you haha!) but I think there’s more hope in here than in other things I’ve written.
In spite of everything that’s come to pass, I still believe. I believe in Scottish football. I believe in our system of football governance, even if those who are working in it are failing on some level.
In society, as much as we strain against them, laws exist for our protection. To fail to enforce them is to leave us at the mercy of those elements who would do us harm. The rules of football ensure the protection of all clubs, not just a few.
The failure to enforce the rules has never had graver consequences than here in Scotland. The irony is that bending and breaking them has hurt the one club those violations were designed to help. It cannot be allowed to happen again.
The rules must be applied without fear or favour.
The best must find their conviction, and their passionate intensity once more.
James is a co-editor of the On Fields of Green Blog http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/
Re …….. Battle Lines Are Drawn – Rangers Must Hold EGM By 4th July (Paul McConville)
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/world-exclusive-ticketus-try-to-liquidate-craig-whytes-main-company-liberty-capital/comment-page-1/#comment-81099
I commented …
Cue …. Genesis ……… Domino ……
Interesting point is that assets of Liberty Corporate become embroiled ….
They claim to own Floating Charge of RFC assets (as announced to Companies House) ….. but again events have moved on …. as explained by LBC care of Charlotte the Harlot ……..
Now there are a couple of Loan Note facilities eg from Stokewell Ltd that seem to be proping up LC and feed into Worthington through Loan Stock controlled by Sherri E ….
So this way, Ticetus cut off the life support to Worthington ………..
You bet CW will fight this one ………… !
Of course CW can feed Loans through other channels ….. Sherri I’m sure will sort that one out for CW ….. but most channels are being tied up by FSA, Pensions Reg and even SFO ……. seems Craig is being slowly throttled …….
mullach says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 18:09
Just seen that Charlotte’s Letter Before Claim has achieved 43,900 ‘reads’ on Scribd.
Just as a matter of interest how many reads or hits does the Scottish Football Monitor
get on average. Love this Blog : D
Thanks to all contributers.
Thanks, actonsheep, I’m in contact. Booked the trip months ago.
The SFA will do what the SFA stands for Sweet Fanny Adams
More from OG Rafferty, on CQN.
O.G.Rafferty
15:54 on 16 May, 2013
THE EXILED TIM, 15:27
The fact that Ogilvie is still in his job says everything. For me their are two things that make this story more important.
Firstly it comes on the back of last year’s and will contaminate more than just big bad Craigy. Secondly, what they have been up to has brought in the SFO and police and can’t end up as some in-house PR exercise for the self-policing SFA
briggsbhoy says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 21:05
The SFA will do what the SFA stands for Sweet Fanny Adams
===================================================
I really don’t know what to make of the inaction of the SFA. On the one hand it’s easy just to sit in bemusement that they refuse to take the bull by the horns on the complete mess unfolding daily. On the the other I get very angry they seem willing to risk the entire game in this country by seemingly taking the view there is nothing one particular club could do that would see the rules properly applied. I have invested my hard earned money in Scottish football for years, as have many fans of many clubs. It beggars belief that we can all be held in such utter contempt by the SFA.
http://www.herald.com/sport/football/alastair-johnston-theres-a-cancer-spreading-through-rangers.1368727587
Now, tell me, Mr Johnston, exactly when did the symptoms begin ?
Re D King
I always remember a call on SSB not long after Mr King had invested his £20m the caller asked Derek Johnstone what D King wanted for his £20m, Derek replied and I quote ” nothing it was a gift “. I almost crashed the car .
Now it looks like DK is next in line to to milk the cow .
IMO not only are sevco not debt free but the sevco supporters are and will be paying the dues of their dead club till all the peepil are paid and then they will be asked again to dig deep to keep the tribute act on the road .
I suppose we should be glad some peepil are being paid their money back unlike the rest of the creditors
fixed it for you
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/alastair-johnston-theres-a-cancer-spreading-through-rangers.1368727587
I am telt that Charlie Green, formerly of this here parish, has left his abode and moved to La Belle France stating that there is absolutely no chance of him visiting thee parts ever again!
His affects are to be forwarded to the address given.
Sorry to be a party pooper but in the same way T’Rangers fans keep getting suckered by Spivs, many a poster, including myself, have a tendency to hold on to the belief that any new news about the goings on at Ibrox will be the downfall of the club (or is that company). If at the same time we can take pot shots at the incompetent authorities, (football, financial, legals etc) and the MSM then we are all happy bunnies.
But how quickly we forget the let downs of the FTTT and LNS.
The CF info is clearly great entertainment and all part of the bigger picture that we all know probably happenend but at the end of the day this one is probably going to have be sorted in court and we know how the law has let us down before.
Maybe third time lucky, then again maybes naw.
Still have the feeling that even with this burst of excitment it could be a long slog through the off season. 🙁
scapaflow14 says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 21:36
Thanks.
internetbampots says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 21:25
8
0
Rate This
http://www.herald.com/sport/football/alastair-johnston-theres-a-cancer-spreading-through-rangers.1368727587
Now, tell me, Mr Johnston, exactly when did the symptoms begin ?
=====================================================================
25th of May 1967 I would guess. Har har.
jonnyod says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 21:34
Re D King
I always remember a call on SSB not long after Mr King had invested his £20m the caller asked Derek Johnstone what D King wanted for his £20m, Derek replied and I quote ” nothing it was a gift “. I almost crashed the car .
=================================
The call I always recall with DJ is the week after the planted story in the Sunday Mail about the £700M stadium complete with hover pitch, Casino(s), Hotel(s) and any other good thing anyone could think of. A caller to Clyde asked Derek if the story was true. His reply was along the lines of ‘As far as I know it is yes, but it will probably be about 18 months before the diggers move in’. I’ve barely stopped laughing yet.
I’ve tried listening to SSB a few times using the rewind feature on the clyde 1 website as i’m out of the country nowadays. I have to say it’s utter garbage now and it gets switched off after about 15 minutes of listening. As it is complete guesswork and most of the callers are more up to speed than the poor excuse for journalists that spout propaganda (DJ/Dalziel) and the toe the party line style of Wishart and Walker. Poor show.
However, I do miss the sound of Daryl King greeting in denial.
Where did he bugger off to?
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 21:44
And was your source both reliable and well placed.
Charlotte’s letter Before Claim has been doing the rounds for nearly two days. It has been viewed tens of thousands of times. Some of those views are bound to have been by the MSM, the regulatory authorities and interested parties in the business of ‘Rangers’. There has been ample opportunity to shoot it down. We have had a few pops here, quite rightly but with every hour that passes it gains credibility.
So what is this LBC.
Well its its as close to proof that we’re ever going to get that the shenanigans that we have all been speculating about are indeed firmly in play. It undermines ‘Rangers’ share issue, shares that ordinary people have forked out for. It undermines the legitimacy of ‘Rangers’ presence in the league competition they have just so successfully participated in. It undermines the regulatory authorities, whom I understand made Whyte’s separation from ‘Rangers’ a precondition of their participation in the league competition in the terms provided.
I can see from these three standpoints that there is an inertia that might want them to stay shtum. Lets pretend we didn’t just hit an iceberg because the consequences are utterly unthinkable. Especially in the light of all the efforts that were made to maintain whatever level of status quo that could be patched together. They will continue playing orchestral music, serving cocktails to well kempt passengers and re-arranging deckchairs even if the clang of fracturing metal and rush of seawater is hanging distincly in the air.
What I find more surprising is that the internet bampots have almost echoed the same sentiment.
If you wanted nuclear then the mushroom cloud overhead must be telling you something is in play. Like a striker in front of the goal that freezes when at last his chance to effect the outcome of the game is finally presented to him, we appear to be in shock. Have we used up all our outrage? Have the shenanigans finally worn us down? Are we waiting for the opposition to capitulate of their own volition? Well thats not going to happen. Even if they might be knocked over by a feather they’ll wait it out until way past the time everyone but them knows its time to go.
Charlotte posted 19 times on here. She never went to twitter. She certainly was never going to the MSM. Perhaps she did go to Alex Thomson. Who knows? Only Alex at this moment. To heap speculation upon speculation, if Alex Thomson is risking his reputation on trying to get this story or something very like it out there and we meanwhile dinna deign to besmirch our good name with these sullied solicitations and so sit idly by? Then we should be damned forever. If we’re not going to have the bottle to take the risk of making this a story then we can never set that same accusation against anyone else.
As someone once said, to paraphrase, where are you TSFM. Let’s be avin ye.
upthehoops says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 21:53
=====================================
The one I remember was a smug caller reminding us that the £20 millionz was being given to Rangers by Sir Minty of Moonbeams as the shares were his to sell.
Cue various pundits queuing up to lick his ….. lamb.
TSFM says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 17:06
———————-
Thanks for that TSFM. I may have had the same card myself at the time but I recall it came with bubble gum, maybe the series after “Flags of the World”.but its 50 odd years ago so who knows.
uphehoops
Aye big Derek certainly makes a lasting impression , especially on a sofa
What a wicked web we weave
When first we practise to deceive.
Can’t help but wonder how many juicy flies Charlotte intends to entangle in her web?
Is she the real deal or is it a massive double-fakeover? Who knows? Going to get the popcorn ready anyway… 🙂
SSB tonight, Frank Macca made a comment about the game in Scotland needing clubs like Rangers and Hearts
I really don’t get this argument.
Both of them are in the situation they are because they were badly run. In fact, based on turnover, Hearts were even worse than Rangers – and they got very little return for the debts they ran up (in terms of footballing achievements)
So, why does scottish football need 2 clubs who run up huge debts and assemble squads they can’t afford?
In rangers case, they defrauded Celtic of many league wins and hundreds of millions in revenue – and that had a knock on effect down the league for teams who could/should have had cup wins and other UEFA places/revenue
But worse than that, with their “financial muscle” they took players from competitors – usually their best players – and left them to fester in the reserves, not contributing to their cause, but weakening every opponent.
That financial muscle was aided by the bank putting the squeeze on clubs to ensure they took whatever rangers offered.
All in all, they robbed clubs of players and money, the bank helped stifle the clubs own ambitions and they hardly brought a player through the ranks to help the national team – hampering many young careers as they snapped them up to be put on the bench/reserves.
Why does scottish football need this? The money raised from their undoubted large support stays mainly within rangers. We hear of “diddy clubs” complaining every week of supporters buses heading from Ayrshire/Lanarkshire/Fife etc to Govan – starving these clubs of a little local support
Even now, in the 3rd division, they are trying to circumvent a registration ban to sign more SPL players, denying their clubs a chance to hold on to these players, so they can win the 3rd and 2nd division….spending money that they simply don’t have and will no doubt end up further in debt……not even giving their own youngsters a chance to prove they can make the grade
Frankly, Scottish football doesn’t need this
And I know Celtic are guilty of many of the crimes above – but there is a difference in the clubs attitudes. Celtic will continue to downsize without the spectre of Rangers stealing more titles from them…the current gap is less than the gap Celtic won the league with last year. Celtic will cut ticket prices, cut squad size and costs and basically have a biscuit tin mentality – clearing debts and putting money aside for a rainy day
If it was Celtic in the 3rd division right now, you can be sure Rangers would carry on spending money and robbing everyone else.
Scottish football needs to cut it’s cloth, if that means part time football full of scottish youngsters then fine. I believe the public will support honest clubs trying their hardest. Who knows, the game might be widely affordable to families and crowds may rise.
Just heard the news about Ernie Winchester. I remember him playing for Arbroath all those years ago.
So sad….
Scottish football needs a strong Arbroath.
I listened briefly to SSB this evening and a caller was on asking the new club same club enigma again and one of the doyens said ‘he had beter things to do with his time than find out the facts’.
So there you have it a sports journalist can’t be bothered to do his job and ask basic questions such as if the SFA consider ‘The Rangers’ to be the same club then what was the team that finished second in the SPL doing playing ing Division 3 this year. This in turn would lead to other questions such as why they started in the earlier rounds of the domestic trophies if they were the same club?
Why did the SFA tell UEFA one thing but treat them completely different domestically?
Even basic questions are beyond these clowns. That is how bad these people are at there job and yet they are never chastised by their actual employers. No they are given air time to spout even more nonsense. It is as if they live in an alternate reality.
mullach says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 21:57
===========================================
Long post bemoaning the fact that we seem to be doing nothing, Mullach, but doesn’t actually offer any views on what you think should be done? Options…
Bombard SFA
Bombard MSM
Bombard AIM
Bombard UEFA/FIFA
Bombard our politicians
Bombard our clubs
Hold off buying season tickets
March on Hampden
Etc etc
The trouble, as we’ve always found, is in mobilising some sort of force without feeling we’re adopting the bully boy tactics we despise.
Sometimes the RM Bears den comes up with a gem:
View Posttbblue, on 16 May 2013 – 06:39 PM, said:
Would be delighted with King as a majority shareholder!
You would be delighted to eat a meal without having to change your shirt!
Wright rejects ban
St Johnstone’s Frazer Wright has snubbed the SFA offer of just a two-game ban after it was claimed that he elbowed Celtic’s Mikael Lustig last week.
Steve Lomas, however, has backed Wright, saying he is not guilty of violent contact. (The Scotsman)
——————————————
There cowmes a time when you should be honest with yourself and stop treating people like mugs.
selfassessor says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 22:43
Wright rejects ban
St Johnstone’s Frazer Wright has snubbed the SFA offer of just a two-game ban after it was claimed that he elbowed Celtic’s Mikael Lustig last week.
Steve Lomas, however, has backed Wright, saying he is not guilty of violent contact. (The Scotsman)
——————————————
There cowmes a time when you should be honest with yourself and stop treating people like mugs.
————————————————–
Not convinced it was deliberate myself, it really depends the viewing angle;
PAWLETT, however, is a cheat plain and simple!
He just wants a second go at Michael Higdon is all.
nawlite says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 22:33
I think TSFM should be doing what it has always done and RTC before it. Get in about the facts. Pull them apart. See how they hold together. Separate the gristle from the meat. Continue getting to the nub of what is going on here. Even if Charlotte is a harlot (I liked your musical interlude BRTH, Iron Maiden weren’t half as tuneful, though still not bad), that’s a story in itself. What’s the agenda? Who’s trying to set such an agenda? This has come such a long way and I feel that we’re getting close to making some kind of breakthrough. What kind? I don’t know. RTC never new either. It just chuntered along devouring information and spitting out the bits it didn’t find appetising. I think we should be working through Charlottes posts to either verify them as substantive or reveal them as trash.
19 posts. more than she subsequently put on twitter even if she did seem to save a Hollywood trick for the wider online public. We got a narrative, a sequence of events potentially peppered with clues. Thats what RTC/TSFM is good at, making the obscure manifest.
I don’t have any god given right to get on a soapbox. Many on here have ploughhed this furrow longer and deeper. I’m just taking my turn at the front of the pelaton. Trying to push it on. Its the least I can do. I’ve got so much satisfaction from watching this ‘organism’ at work that I’ve found myself being drawn in. I’ve seen how others do it; the Hugh Mcewan’s, NTHM, goosygoosy, more names escape me but I’d see them popping up and I’d raise my eyebrows cos I knew they would have something to say. So now its my turn and I owe it to everyone to pull my weight and push it on just as best as I can. I’ll do that cos its my turn and this blog never got to where it is without people grasping the nettle, even if it meant they might get stung.
tonto8on8his8high8horse
Wee dawwell went to the states, I miss his wee whinging voice too he was the first to say he had seen the side letters 🙂 then denied it of course 🙂
nawlite says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 22:33
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mullach says:
The trouble, as we’ve always found, is in mobilising some sort of force without feeling we’re adopting the bully boy tactics we despise.
_______________________________________________
Reminds me of an old Hom Sap private eye cartoon from many moons ago:
http://ukcomics.wikia.com/wiki/David_Austin_%281935-2005%29?file=HomSap.gif
Mullach
Spot on and I’m sure the troops are beavering away. Truth will out. For my tuppence worth its coming from Craigies extensive bank of tapes etc via his lovely new exec provided by Worthingtons. The wording is sometimes dramatic which is our man Im sure. The contrariness is him. Absolutely don’t care how he appears as long as someone pays him.
chipm0nk says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 19:46
=============================
Oops your post made me double check and you’re right. Still “South African based businessman” kind of hides the truth doesn’t it (and apparently he won’t be for much longer). “South African based tax-dodger” and a few other things would be a more accurate description … but you’re right the “South African based” bit wasn’t so wrong. Letting my annoyance get the better of me.
Does DK still have a base in SA? The court sequestered most of his properties or is about to as part of the not guilty (on this one) deal.
mullach says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 21:57
‘…..I can see from these three standpoints that there is an inertia that might want them to stay shtum. Lets pretend we didn’t just hit an iceberg because the consequences are utterly unthinkable….’
—–
It’s getting perilously close to ‘the fall of Saigon syndrome’
The disgraceful lack of moral fibre in relation to a club that was murdered by conmen, while the nodding dogs of the SMSM wolfed down their titbits of lamb, has presented the regulatory authorities with an intractable problem: how do they deal with the Heart of Midlothian crisis, with any degree of moral authority?
The scramble to get a finger-hold on the skids of the last helicopter has nothing in it compared to the scrambling of the incompetent, possibly corrupt ( long before 25/05/67), organisations in charge of Scottish Football, as they try to extricate themselves from the consequences of their blinkered inefficiency and smug complacency.
(Incidentally, does anyone know which faction ‘requisitioned’ the EGM?
I tend to think it was the spiv( fcuk the supporters, let’s make money) faction
But maybe it was the ‘Murray-as-true-blue-loyal’ faction.
Not that it matters to most of us, except perhaps that we might dislike carpet-baggers more than we dislike people who have some notion of principle, even if we don’t like their principle.
upthehoops says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 21:21
The SFA
If I’m going to be fair I think with any company or organisation we can look from the outside and think what do they do without understanding or appreciating what they actually do on a daily basis. There would be standard procedures that are followed in relation to all aspects of football administration and I have no doubt they are done with a degree of professionalism. That said Crisis management is where we see how good people are in their roles and this is where the team at the SFA have failed miserably. The fact that certain employees haven’t been able to separate loyalties with the task in hand has ben a major failing. They should have taken Rangers to task long before we got to where we are now but loyalties to former employers and favourite club and “mates” have compromised their positions. To be honest if you are in a good well paid job and those who are not directly connected with your job are calling for your head, would you leave ? I know I wouldn’t unless I had 1) another job to go to or b) A nice severance package. I’d keep the head down and get on with it as they are doing
I think they can only salvage some respect if they come out with the details of the 5 way agreement and admit honestly that they got this all wrong. If Hearts and Dunfermline go down they have a real dilemma on their hands, how do they handle it! It reminds me of a former company I worked for. On joining I said to my new colleague “when do we do appraisals in here and what about weekly and monthly one to one sessions with senior management”. He replied ” eh” and so I repeated my question and he replied ” I’ve been here 34 years son and never had an appraisal, we don’t do man management in here son. You’d have tae be a real arse tae get the sack let alone a written warning in here son let me tell ya”. So the question is who overseas the performance of these people at the SFA, nobody it would seem, it’s a cartel or Gentlemens club.
Its certainly not a club populated by “Gentlemen”
It’s a club populated by peepil
monsieurbunny says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 23:18
He was a South African Tax Dodger, of that there is no doubt.
I think I read somewhere, and this could be wrong, that he paid (or transferred assets to the value of) £250m to finalise the matter. I assume that his criminal charges with regard tax fraud, money laundering and racketeering went away at the same time. A “clean slate” deal as it were.
So let’s be clear on this. He did dodge tax, it was hundreds of millions of pounds, he did lie to the Court. He did pay a shed load of money across to make it go away.
If he is the answer to The Rangers’ current “issues” it really is difficult to imagine what the question is.
If the Easdale’s are the answer, then that is a whole other kettle of monkeys.
Its the Tufty club and we all know what thats populated by
Headline in The Herald
====================
“Mather keen to build trust with Ibrox supporters.
Craig Mather, Rangers’ interim chief executive, has told supporters they can trust the Ibrox directors and commit to buying season tickets…”
==========================================
In the interests of building trust 😉 maybe a ‘journalist’ could ask the interim CEO how the search for a permanent CEO is progressing?
Shirley, TRFC would benefit from the stability that a heavy-hitting, seasoned CEO could bring to the club during their current travails?
…or is the CEO search ‘on hold’…and if so – why?
…or why has Mather not been made permanent CEO?
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/mather-keen-to-build-trust-with-ibrox-supporters.21096064
Ianagain & Manandboy. Yes gents, it’s an extension for some of another type of club !!
Michael Grant! What an utter arse-li.ker of an apology for a journalist he is.
God Almighty, what kind of kick-back is he getting for this kind of propaganda?
“Ally has highlighted a number of people he wants to strengthen the squad and he knows, and I know, that the best way to build the squad is through season-ticket sales and everyone working together.”
Credibility as any kind of human person, let alone respected journalist, totally blown.
i hope his mammy still loves him.
Sir David Murray (the hover floating casino liar) sold the club for £1 because he was facing a massive bill for tax evasion
to Craig Whyte a proven liar who had been banned as a Director for 7 years who liquidated the “company” while evading taxes , sold the club for £2 to Charles Green a proven liar who has agreed to sell his shares to the Earley brothers ,one of whom has been convicted and jailed for tax evasion and will battle it out with Dave King a former Director of the liquidated “company”
who is barred by law from being involved in the new “company” who is a glib and shameless liar that is guilty of tax evasion and the SFA have no objection in principle to that happening .
Scottish football needs a strong tax dodging liar
fortunately it seems that Rfc* has an abundance to choose from
ianagain says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 23:18
“For my tuppence worth its coming from Craigies extensive bank of tapes etc via his lovely new exec provided by Worthingtons”.
_______________
I can see your logic there. Why have they dropped in this Chris Akers into the mix along with the Pearl & Dean/STV bid stuff. Complete obfuscation or any grain of truth?
Akers is the right fit for that role and the recent Vicast rumblings might invite one to make a summation of two small numeric characters.
“It’s a big club and you ain’t in it !”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dBZDSSky0
resin_lab_dog says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 19:21
__________________________________________
Agree.
KInda get the feeling the thing that what stopped the sale happening before was the fact that selling the club to those who tried to buy it earlier would have crystallised the HMFC debt on the UBIG balance sheet, which could have done harm to UBIGs own chances of staving of admin, Now that UBIG is in admin, this consideration is effectively moot. If buyers can go in now and give the UBIG receiver more than they could get from the club via admin or liquidation, they may well now accept a similar deal to what was bounced before.
Ironically, this would also be the right thing to do ethically, as well as for the HMFC fans, because the tax debt would stay with the new club (UBIG would have no obligation, mortivation nor ability to take that on) so Hector would not be ripped off. Whereas going down the admin route would stuff the taxpayer as well… albeit with alot less malice aforethought and connivance than certain other Scottish sporting instituitions (once proud now deceased) managed!
=+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Are you forgetting that the tax debt arose from an illegal split of the players remuneration between the UK and Lithuania so that although the players were working here in the UK a substantial proportion of the income was taxed in Lithuania thus avoiding PAYE &NI.
David Murray – CF’s
Just when I was looking on my Timeline document and noticing the Pearl & Dean/STV e:mail link was missing, I came across something else which is interesting (or possibly very stupid).
Charlotte Fakeovers (@CharlotteFakes) says:
Monday, May 13, 2013 at 00:44
Craig Whyte & partners were looking to takeover Pearl & Dean, owned by STV. I guess discussions then turned to the parent company. A pension pot with a deficit would have been of no interest to CW whatsoever.
Craig asked Jack to do a background check on him in August of 2009 – Many press cuttings followed, all with reference to McLeod, Sykes, Pensions and previous business failures.
http://i.imgur.com/VwYGGmd.jpg
I do not infer any dodgy goings on however I’mt curious as to how persons ‘in the know’ interact with each other.
—————-
Reference to ‘Sykes’ really stands out now. I came across a Paul Sykes who was in partnership with Akers and Peter Wilkinson on his Planet Football deal. I had to dig reasonably deep to come across that. I’ve never heard a ‘Sykes’ being mentioned on here previously or a ‘McLeod’ except Harper McLeod. Why mention something so obscure. Is Craigy really crediting us with that level of thorougness or would he have placed the morsels a little closer to our grasp. Don’t know if its the same Sykes. Who is McLeod anyone?
Akers certainly had a number of business failures though I didn’t list them in my ‘Chris Akers Summary’ (not sure if I could end up defaming someone using this forum). His relationship with Antenov highlighted a business failure at Portsmouth.
This appears very subtle.
As Rabo Karebekian said earlier, when a story is as multi layered as this then you start to think its the truth. Or, TSFM are much smarter than Craigie appreciates and have just not risen to the bait. Or, Craigie thinks we’re cleverer than we actually are cos we’ve not picked up on all his clues.
We already know of one pension issue where the money is being claimed back from Collyer Bristow.
Humble Pie says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 01:07
“It’s a big club and you ain’t in it !”.
I thought I was going to get an old crooner there but instead encountered a young firebrand.
Wonderful.
Houssami behind EGM move.
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/4930927/Lawyer-Mazen-Nabil-Houssamis-Rangers-board-bid.html
As for Neil Patey’s input…no shit Sherlock. Really glad that we have experts like you available to help guide us through the financial intricacies of this.
Quiet night tonight on the CF front, possibly discussing either an injunction or a payoff price. 😉
CF was mentioned on sportsound for around 2 mins,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/scotfoot
about 26:00 mins in, so that is progress in some small way, possibly caused by the fact that CF documents have had over 105,000 viewings.
The only thing I’m really interested is anything linked to the SFA, that is the place that needs really cleansed!
mullach says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 01:18
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Is the McLeod – Kenneth McLeod the FD of the failed plant & security Empire that CW owned and which led to his 7 year ban and wasn’t McLeod kicked out of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for his work.Haven’t seen McLeod’s name mentioned in the current round of shenanigans.
Re the 2009 emails – I’m thinking CW is suggesting that he’s been on the scene for quite a while before he bought RFC Plc from SDM and may be a message to him that he has a store of stuff from 2009 onwards. Or am I overdoing the Columbo here.
Also, the RFC forecasts spreadsheet and the draft loan proposal doc to pay the big tax case kind of suggests he was planning a future for Rangers after all but then he would want to create that impression, wouldn’t he.
Humble Pie says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 01:07
“It’s a big club and you ain’t in it !”.
HP thank you thank you so much for that. This year on a plane I read one of his books/biographies and went into such fits of laughter that everyone around wanted to know what I was reading as a result a least 10 more folk GET IT.
What a great polemical character. George Carlin makes Connelly sound like a smoothy.
mullach and ianagain,
Glad you both enjoyed that bit of ‘light’ relief.
In my humble opinion, the man was a genius and should be recognised as one of the greatest poets, orators and free thinkers that US of A has ever produced.
‘they laughed because it was true!’
HP
True wish he was Scots and here now. imagine the fun!
bogsdollox says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 01:45
Great call BD. Found this.
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/tag/kenneth-mcleod/
Kenneth McLeod, Kevin Sykes and Sherri Ellison. Vital UK Ltd.
So not Paul Sykes.
Sherri Ellison has been discussed here very recently but can’t recall the full story.
Will read back and avail myself.
newtz says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 13:12
————————————————————-
Been following your posts on Sherri Ellison.
http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/lm-logistics-group
In liquidation as of 15 May 2013?
MATHERWATCH
Judging by Robert Grieve’s pieces in The Sun, the new Chairman appears to suffer from ‘Rangersitis’ – a benign condition, first discovered in Charles Green, which aids the recovery of a healthy bank balance.
Yesterday it was, “I feared I’d never walk again..now I’ll treasure every day I get at Gers” and the equally heart-rending, “I won’t fail you Ally”.
Today it’s, “Mather: My first derby match just took my breath away
ENGLISHMAN talks about his love for Rangers and the experience of the first Old Firm game he ever went to watch”
You can actually see Mr Mather’s nose turn a deeper shade of blue as the need for season ticket money becomes more acute. And readers must wonder if Grieve has also been infected by the more seldom strain of the Rangersitis bug which leads to printing press releases, verbatim, and the adoption of an imaginary support for St Mirren.
Nearly 8K following Charlotte on Twitter now.
A week last Monday the account had 20 followers.
World record??
Re Mather and the ST drive .
The fans money is key to all their aims and getting as much ASAP is top priority as the fans are the only ones putting any money in the rest are looking to get as much out as they can ,as quickly as they can .
When I saw a post saying that JD was offered £4,000 pw rising to £8,000 pw if he played and after the signing on fee is taken into account would total £11,000 pw and this from a business that was reporting a loss of £1m per month ,my mind drifted back to CW and the 5 yr deals for Mcgregor ,Whittiker and Davis of £25,000 pw .You can offer any player any amount if your business ain,t going to be around too long but I,m sure this is not the case here and JD will collect a good retirement deal .
I don,t know if the JD deal is true or not but if I ran a business that was losing £1m per month ,I sure as hell would not be taking on an new employee I would be cutting costs
I was thinking again on the various blogs that @Corsica1968 has posted about the activities of the Rangers Charity Foundation http://alzipratu.wordpress.com/ and the OSCR investigation.
If the Rangers Charity Foundation are found to have breached Charity Law, would there then be any grounds for the SFA to consider charges against the Football Club of bringing the game into disrepute?
One would imagine that other clubs may find it difficult to put on charity game events if it were proven that 2 big games were in effect a scam to provide a Club with cash, when it was in difficulty.
‘The Ibrox club, who re-emerged into the Irn-Bru Third Division last year after their descent into administration, face another summer of uncertainty due to a complex boardroom power struggle’
The Herald.
‘re-emerged into the Irn-Bru Third Division last year after their descent into administration’
Mmmmmmmmmmmm…..No liquidation then? Just some sort of sleight of hand and then wooosh…re-emergence….SMSM at its grovelling best.
From the Scotsman
“Blue Pitch Holdings, one of the original investors in former chief executive Charles Green’s consortium which purchased the business and assets of Rangers following their slide into liquidation last year”
No they didn’t. The business is still being liquidated. No one bought it. Basic basic stuff.
With the general standard of journalism on display reporting around football, you might as well just say games a bogey on the independence debate. The press aren’t up to the task of providing any clear factual reporting on any issue. Thankfully that doesn’t bother me hugely as I have no say either way, living in these peculiar lands to the south.
mullach says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 02:22
bogsdollox says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 01:45
Great call BD. Found this.
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/tag/kenneth-mcleod/
Kenneth McLeod, Kevin Sykes and Sherri Ellison. Vital UK Ltd.
So not Paul Sykes.
Sherri Ellison has been discussed here very recently but can’t recall the full story.
Will read back and avail myself.
………………………………………………………..
Kevin Sykes….was he not the chap who was named as a close associate of Craig Whyte…who blew the whistle on the old switcherooony?
mullach says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 02:22
—————————————-
@ mullach …. uploaded new map to show what you want ….. hope it helps
http://flic.kr/p/ejS5E2
cheers
Morning all,
There will be a big shockwave if the Hearts holding company is deemed insolvent with the result that the SPL declare an insolvency event at “The Club” with the result that they are docked points and relegated.
However, there is real danger for Jambo fans re Tynecastle I think– real real danger— that to gain money in quickly there might be a forced sale of assets as opposed to the club.
I hope I am wrong but it is a real fear.
Also is it not the case that a lot of the property around Tyncastle was bought up by the Mercer and Murray families as part of some sort of joint venture with a view to development?
On the press front– the lack of accuracy re RFC PLC going into Liquidation as opposed to Admin is puzzling.
If it is the case that Green has bolted from Glasgow for good then there are real issues afoot– possibly involving the police.
Will the SFA simply stand by and do nothing while there is a police investigation ongoing for fear of prejudicing any such investigation?
Surely that cannot be the case as in terms of their own rules there has to be clear compliance by certain dates in order to be able to remain associate members and be able to play football the following season?
If that is in any doubt at all– if there are any hurdles to overcome in that regard– should the football authorities not come clean and make a statement about where they are so that season book holders can make an informed choice about whether to part with cash to a company which may have all sorts of problems behind the scenes?
Whilst I appreciate that Corporate Governance is determined and regulated by law — and that a third party should not interfere in that process— a licensing and governing authority is not doing its job properly if it remains completely silent and simply allows members of the public to spend millions of pounds with a company which it has reasonable grounds to suspect may be the subject of both civil and criminal proceedings which may render it unable to play football at all due to lack of compliance.
This position applies to Rangers, Hearts and any other club.
There is clearly something very dirty going on behind the scenes at Ibrox and if the SFA etc know that the Fraud Squad or any other police department are involved, then do they not have a duty to the ordinary football fan in such circumstances— or do football fans just not count as they are just paying customers and Caveat Emptor applies?
Forres Dee (@ForresDee) says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 22:49
PAWLETT, however, is a cheat plain and simple!
——
I don’t like this MSM-driven witch hunt against the boy Pawlett one little bit. The loon’s been all over the papers as if he was the only player ever to go down easily in the box.
It smacks of the 1980s-to-date hounding of Nelly Simpson, which was also completely out of order.
Dundee’s problem (perhaps soon to be resolved upwards anyway) is that TRFC’s hooley last summer left them with no time to prepare for a season in the SPL, not that a soft penalty was given against them.
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/the-sun-says-mazen-nabil-houssami-behind-rangers-board-moves-who-is-he/
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 08:35
I agree, the danger is a property developer may be willing to pay more for the stadium than someone who is willing to run a football club. The last figure I heard touted for the Gorgie Road land was £6M, no idea how accurate that is today. It seems a lot to pay for a struggling football team though.
I appreciate this is not the point you are making, but I wanted to add I was horrified to listen to the rubbish being touted on Sportsound last night. The assumption that UBIG being liquidated automatically means Hearts have suffered an insolvency event of any description doesn’t make sense. UBIG are the largest single shareholder, but by no means the only shareholder. The Hearts shares that they own are an asset to be sold. It is yet to be determined if the price they get for this asset covers the debt owed to them by Hearts. I assume not, but that’s just an assumption at this stage. A Billionaire with wealth of the radar may appear, one of those “Tycoon” types.
Hearts are operating normally and within the law at this time, Come Monday morning, they will have completed the season and can (hopefully) look forward to next – with or without a points deduction. If the SFA / SPL relegate Hearts as things stand today, I would expect they will want their day in court.
angus1983 says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 08:51
Forres Dee (@ForresDee) says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 22:49
PAWLETT, however, is a cheat plain and simple!
——
I don’t like this MSM-driven witch hunt against the boy Pawlett one little bit. The loon’s been all over the papers as if he was the only player ever to go down easily in the box.
It smacks of the 1980s-to-date hounding of Nelly Simpson, which was also completely out of order.
Dundee’s problem (perhaps soon to be resolved upwards anyway) is that TRFC’s hooley last summer left them with no time to prepare for a season in the SPL, not that a soft penalty was given against them.
_________________________________________________________________________
Whilst Pawlett was 100% wrong IMHO and should be punished, I agree with you about the witch hunt.
There are plenty out there that go down easily, recentish incidents with Sone Aluko and Gary O’Connor spring to mind – but for some reason the one name that sticks out is John McDonald – anyone else remember him?
zerotolerance1903 says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 09:26
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angus1983 says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 08:51
Forres Dee (@ForresDee) says:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 22:49
PAWLETT, however, is a cheat plain and simple!
——
I don’t like this MSM-driven witch hunt against the boy Pawlett one little bit. The loon’s been all over the papers as if he was the only player ever to go down easily in the box.
It smacks of the 1980s-to-date hounding of Nelly Simpson, which was also completely out of order.
Dundee’s problem (perhaps soon to be resolved upwards anyway) is that TRFC’s hooley last summer left them with no time to prepare for a season in the SPL, not that a soft penalty was given against them.
_________________________________________________________________________
Whilst Pawlett was 100% wrong IMHO and should be punished, I agree with you about the witch hunt.
There are plenty out there that go down easily, recentish incidents with Sone Aluko and Gary O’Connor spring to mind – but for some reason the one name that sticks out is John McDonald – anyone else remember him?
——————————————–
The ‘Submarine’ Always diving.
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan says:
Friday, May 17, 2013 at 08:35
‘…There is clearly something very dirty going on behind the scenes at Ibrox and if the SFA etc know that the Fraud Squad or any other police department are involved, then do they not have a duty to the ordinary football fan in such circumstances— or do football fans just not count as they are just paying customers and Caveat Emptor applies?’
—–
Indeed.
And where are BDO in all this?