The Existence of Laws

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/

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Tom Byrne

About Trisidium

Trisidium is a Dunblane businessman with a keen interest in Scottish Football. He is a Celtic fan, although the demands of modern-day parenting have seen him less at games and more as a taxi service for his kids.

5,802 thoughts on “The Existence of Laws


  1. allyjambo says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 14:56

    My bit on CF…

    Cheer up CF, come back into the fold, look back at what you’ve written and you will maybe understand why people might doubt you, or your information, for we’ve all learned that it maybe is a good idea to look a gift horse in the mouth. As others have said, if you have something, and you genuinely want to get it out there, this is the best place to do it.

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

    well said allyjambo

    seconded 🙂


  2. @Charlottes Fakeover
    @12.45

    Is that,

    Flouncy,flouncy,flouncy.

    Or,bouncy ,bouncy,bouncy.


  3. Excellent stuff James. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks for taking the time to compose it, you must obviously be a busy man….(unlike me) !! Thanks again.


  4. zerotolerance1903 says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 15:30
    0 0 Rate This
    James Forrest says:

    James, the mention of poppies jarred with me at first read but because I knew what you meant I let it go. However, if anyone in Scottish Football has an issue in relation to poppies it is, in fact, (a minority element in) the Celtic support …………… but that’s a whole other can of worms!

    The reason the mention of poppies jars is because, unlike the rest of the behaviour you mention, poppy wearing is something that the vast majority of the population do, or at least recognise, in the run up to November 11th

    ————————————————————-

    The vast majority of people who wear poppies do not do it in order to promote an agenda.

    FWIW I’m ex services and I don’t wear one. Nothing to do with religion or politics, just a personal decision.


  5. Regarding all the CF data posted:
    Perhaps some on here need to get over themselves.

    Is this a forum on Scottish Football or simply how educated certain poster’s pertain to be?
    I for one was willing to give this new, far more insightful character than I, a chance to prove their worth; but it seems our esteemed resident’s know better. Well you live and learn as they say……


  6. lurked on here and RTC and finally found a voice!

    Surely what needs to be considered for SFM is whether CF’s documents etc. have been legally sourced or otherwise. There have many internet sites with forums which have been well and truly duped for reasons which mostly remain uncovered. We all want to get into the inner workings and have an insight to what could happen next, however for someone to publish e-mails that we assume are not theirs then we rightly have to ask where they come from.
    It would appear from some information that is doing the rounds that Sevco are not far away from being bust once again, let’s not get caught up in what many people want to happen and just take the likes of CF’s info. with a oinch of salt until otherwise proven.


  7. saskya1888 says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 16:05

    I don’t think there is anything to stop CF posting if he/she wants to share with us.


  8. saskya1888.

    Dare I suggest that your normal habitat is a man-made construction that transverses expanses of a liquid nature.


  9. Way to go TSFM. The first poster on here in many months with what appears to be new information, and he’s treated like the enemy.I’d rather have made up my own mind thanks. Hopefully I can find where he’s chosen to post his info, and I’ll be off there.


  10. I think we’re about to come under an attack by underneath bridge-dwellers.


  11. I don’t know why there has to be an issue here. All CF needs to do is dump the whole lot somewhere on the web, post a link on twitter, then scarper. No need to involve TSFM or anyone else.

    What am I missing?


  12. y4army…

    absolutely!

    i reserve my right to be cynical about all this and think that after the length of time i have spent on RTC and now TSFM i can detect “unusual” posting patterns…

    and by the way i have been trying for decades and still can’t “get over myself”

    it’ll all come out in the wash, or not…

    but like a previous poster think that charlotte fakeover has indeed achieved his/her aim!


  13. comeongetaff says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 16:35

    I think we’re about to come under an attack by underneath bridge-dwellers.
    ============================

    Yes, cog that could be a distinct possibility.

    Where’s TBK and his ‘Trolling 101’ guidelines template then… ?


  14. I did get over myself once, but thankfully it all came out in the wash.

    Sorry, thought the mood needed lightening.


  15. y4rmy says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 16:38

    5

    0

    Rate This

    I don’t know why there has to be an issue here. All CF needs to do is dump the whole lot somewhere on the web, post a link on twitter, then scarper. No need to involve TSFM or anyone else.

    What am I missing?
    ==================================

    Dunno – let’s start by listing what we learned.

    CW was a client of Jack’s way back in 2009. CW had a concern about what a media search would say about him.

    Some attempt was being made to “borrow” £49M to pay the Big Tax case bill should it be lost.

    Brian Kennedy or Brian Stockbridge or another Brian met with CW and CG.

    Please feel free to add to the list.


  16. The questions to CF asking what his agenda was are, in my opinion, irrelevant.

    Frankly, who cares?

    It has been a long time since anyone provided any information of any note on this site, other than the usual- admittedly enjoyable- conjecture and debate.

    Surely we can put aside fears of agendas and draw our own conclusions? We’re not idiots, are we?

    If the information provided is in some way a hoax, or a scam, then we have now also lost that opportunity to find out, because CF will not be posting any longer by the sounds of it.

    Looks to me as if we have shot ourselves in the foot.

    If CF was ‘at it’ he would have provided himself with enough rope at some point that would have been sufficient in which to hang himself.

    What’s really galling, IMO, is the prospect of the information being of real relevance.

    Over & out.

    Bartin.


  17. A posing question.Given that TRFC have set the season ticket prices for next season,and,who in their right mind would buy one at this juncture,can we infer that the SFA have granted the club a licence?


  18. The whole CF thing has been a bit of a tease.

    However as regular and long time posters know, both here and RTC before, many people have said they were going to jack it in (including myself) only to pop back on a bit later to feed their addiction 🙂

    Then we had some incidents with people trying to make a point, saying they had said their last word on the issue then decided to keep posting for another day or two in an attempt to get their point across.

    Hopefully, if it is all genuine and there is a story to tell then, CF will come back, allay the mods concerns and keep us entertained.

    The choices for CF appear to be

    1) Head to the MSM and face professional scrutiny from their editors and lawyers
    2) Tell their story on TSFM where (hopefully) there is a bit kudos combined with intelligent debate and people will decide how to view it. (A sort of AIM light touch regulation 🙂 )
    3) Set up their own blog
    4) Start breaking the story on less diligent blogs such as Rangers Rumours or Rangers Media and the likes and face a whole lot of F-ing and C-ing as opposed to some well placed caution experienced here.
    5) There is actually nothing more to tell


  19. myohmy1 says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 06:27

    Massive fan! First saw him in Glasgow 1976 and was blown away.


  20. So the season ticket prices for TRFC have been frozen.

    Seems a sensible move.

    However as discussed many times before, what from Charlie’s Moonbeams list will be dropped?

    If the board just come out and tell it like it is then I am sure the fans will take up the challenge.

    The reality they need to hear from the board and more especially the manager is that

    -Signings will be few and far between
    -Don’t expect the calibre of players that will want big money wages
    -We expect the manager and his staff to take a pay cut but they have committed to working as hard as possible with the talent available to deliver Div 2 to Ibrox
    -Hotels, World Acadamies and all that media development work will be put in the freezer
    -Ibrox will not be refurbished in the near future unless required to meet laws and regulations
    -The £20m, or however much is left from the IPO, will be used for running costs.
    -There will be no more free tickets.
    -We need to sink or swim by the tickets we sell.
    -Additional money through the sales of merchandise will be of great help – so if you can afford it please go out and buy the two new strips that will be on sale shortly.

    PS and as we are shedding the distastful elements of our past, the second and third strips will not and never will be orange.


  21. The treatment of CF reminds of the poster (DJ or something similar) who had claimed to see the 5-way agreement. Needless to say he was hounded off in a few days.

    Thanks for the info CF, shame you and the mods had a wee coming together.


  22. Since we have fulfilled our home fixtures the ever helpful Div has compiled some attendance stats relating to SMFC that may be of interest(please bear in mind we do on use the same calculations as Sevco and Sellick and only attending ST holders are included in the attendance, using the OF calculator our Easter Sunday game against CFC would have easily cleared 7k);

    1. Our highest home gate of the season was against Kilmarnock (6347)

    2. Only one visiting team outwith Celtic brought more than 1,000 fans to Paisley (Kilmarnock with 2022)

    3. Our lowest home gate was against ICT on a Weds night (3065)

    4. The lowest visiting attendance was in the same game, ICT brought just 95 to Paisley

    5. The lowest St.Mirren support was for a Hearts game in midweek with just 2843 buddies in the crowd that night

    6. Our average overall home gate this season was 4389

    7. The average visiting support was 834

    8. The average St.Mirren support was 3555

    Here is a league table showing visiting attendances to Paisley (taking the largest of the visits where teams came more than once);

    Celtic
    Kilmarnock
    Dundee
    Hibernian
    Motherwell
    Aberdeen
    Hearts
    Dundee Utd
    St.Johnstone
    Ross County
    ICT

    9. Our own travelling support in the league averages at 498 at the moment with one trip left

    10. our support at Tynecastle on May 4th is the first time we have broken 1000 on the road in the league this season


  23. Apologies James Forrest, I forgot to say excellent blog, if a wee bit long and guilty of over-egging the pudding at points.

    ‘It is a scandal without parallel in sport.’ not quite, see State Plan 14.25* among others. I do feel this need to declare the Rangers/Sevco saga as the greatest scandal in the history of mankind does leave us open to charges of hyperbole and dilute some of the impact of our more salient points.

    *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_in_East_Germany


  24. Charlotte Fakeovers (@CharlotteFakes) says:
    Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 20:23

    This was the first post from Charlotte. Thought I would do some checking concerning vEracity. Came across this video clip which I wouldn’t expect many to be bothered to view as its over an hour long :

    http://youtu.be/unWm8kMSGYk

    At around 3:30 he (Chris Akers) tells his audience of Kiwi’s that he started out working for Satchi & Satchi, whose London headquarters were in Charlotte Street.

    Charlotte headed up her first post with the line

    “The Chris Akers and Andrew Ellis show now begins”.

    I appreciate all round scepticism concerning this poster and this is shared by myself. If I can uncover any wee titbits I’ll post them as I go along.


  25. Night Terror says:

    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 13:5

    After each attempt at trying to make change happen at the SFA I think I have had enough as they continue to carry on regardless, then I read articles like James Forrest’s or on CQN or other blogs that provide both passion and information and I again get thinking…………

    The problem supporters face in terms of the SFA is having no leverage on them to make them act in an accountable manner. They are once removed from supporters by their clubs, who may or may not have their own specific reasons for passing on or acting on supporters concerns.

    In a previous attempt at change I suggested from a Celtic platform approaching SFA sponors but whilst a few folk did in fact write to the various SFA sponsors there was no concerted campaign and as it was only the Celtic support with a perceived axe to grind (the SPL parachute idea was not on the stocks then) the impact was further diminished.

    However I still think that sponsors could be used to gain leverage particularly if it came from across the full spectrum of the Scottish support instead of the narrower Celtic base

    ( this approach worked with FIFA

    http://www.iol.co.za/sport/soccer/coke-adidas-unhappy-with-fifa-1.1076478 )

    but having looked at the current sponsor list it seems to me that one sponsor above all others is worth concentrating on – William Hill.

    You will get the reasoning from this post below that I placed on TSFM a couple of days ago that got a good few thumbs up but no comments, but I think it worth repeating now in resp[ect of harnessing the passion and thoughts in the current blog and turning them into action..
    ——————————————–
    Earlier Post on TSFM Bismark Blog to J Clarke

    ” If you check this link

    http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_football.cfm?page=2529

    you will see that William Hill are seven figure sponsors of the Scottish Cup and have 300 betting shops in Scotland.

    Could an on line petition be set up to go to William Hill saying that football supporters in Scotland find it difficult to understand Williams Hill backing of an organisation that has failed to uphold (and continues to undermine) the sporting integrity of Scottish football, the very characteristic on which William Hill’s business depends.

    Many supporters view the SFA as corrupt with a corrupt leadership and are surprised William Hills have maintained an association with them.

    We could ask William Hill either to withdraw their sponsorship and/or ask the SFA to say what remedial steps they were taking in order to assure football supporters that lessons had been learned and that the integrity of the sport was paramount and make public the SFA reply.

    There are other sponsors but targetting one that many supporters are likely to use as valued customers with the implied consequences of taking our bookmaking custom elsewhere might give supporters some kind of leverage.

    The wording of the petition (* I have a draft) would need to be firmed up, but given that supporters can use other bookmakers, then they are not being asked to make a sacrifice and it is one way to get our concerns across by publicising a petition on social media.”

    Clubs might not listen to a petition, the SFA might not listen but a high value sponsor whose business depends for its survival on the honesty and integrity of the game on which customers place bets, might just be stung into action.
    ——————————————

    Since posting that I found out Ralph Topping ex SPL Chairman, is CEO of William Hill and have used that and WH policy on good governance in a draft motion that I will post later if I detect enough committment to the idea, which will give all TSFM contributers, including the Rangers men James is trying to reach an opportunity to get involved using social media.


  26. mullach says:

    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 18:51

    Charlotte headed up her first post with the line

    “The Chris Akers and Andrew Ellis show now begins”.

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

    From memory, I’m pretty sure the Ellis / Akers bid for Rangers in Summer of 2010 was called “Project Charlotte”


  27. Seem to have hit a raw nerve here! The comment was not directed at anyone personally, although some seem to have taken it that way!
    Read my previous contributions (all be them very few and far between!) I only comment when I feel I have to!
    Perhaps I should only have said let’s not take our eye off the ball. But what the hell I said what I said and I meant it.


  28. On the CF thing, it seems a bit of a shame to me, particularly if there was nothing to indicate that the material being supplied was from an illegal source. Which I assume to be the case if it has not been deleted.

    I really feel that I am in a position to read material, within the context it is provided, and make up my own mind what weight to put on it. I often read “facts” on the interweb, even places like this, and know them not to be true. The same goes for Newspapers, TV and Radio. Some of the nonsense there is unbelievable. Some of the pundits talk with authority on things they clearly know nothing about.

    Part of dealing with this sort of material is making a judgement on what weight to put on it. That is based on several things for example 1, the sources credibility 2, whether there is other corroborating information 3, whether it is contradicted by other information 4, whether or not it actually makes sense and is believable. We all make these judgements all the time.

    I believe that denying the chance to consider this material is wrong in a couple of ways. Firstly and most obviously it denies people the opportunity to judge it and to include it in their thoughts (given whatever weight they feel they should). Secondly I believe it will discourage others to come forward, if they feel they would get a hostile response.

    A mistake I think.


  29. I’m not known for my discretion, so I’ll comment on the CF stuff. Before RTC, I knew nothing at all about RFC’s* business arrangements. I’ve since picked up pretty clearly that Media House (run by Jack Irvine) did a lot of RFC’s* PR. I was a bit suspicious therefore when CF asked if SDM and JI had any relationship. It seemed a strange question for someone ‘in the know’. Since then, I’ve noticed that there appear to be a good number of new – or certainly very irregular – posters making comments apparently supporting CF and/or complaining about the blog/mods questioning his sources/motives. I know some will be genuinely interested in – and hopeful about – the information, but the support of a new poster by other new posters is something we have seen before, so I think right to be careful here.

    BTW James – excellent post.


  30. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1285455/Andrew-Ellis-brink-33m-Rangers-buyout-Project-Charlotte-enters-end-game.html

    Andrew Ellis on the brink of £33m Rangers buyout as Project Charlotte enters the endgame

    The consortium bidding to buy Rangers still hope to conclude agreement on their £33million deal by the weekend.

    Senior figures in the Andrew Ellis/Chris Akers camp went to ground on Wednesday after we revealed a deal had been put together, in principle, to buy a controlling interest in the Ibrox club from Sir David Murray.

    … etc


  31. Sepp Blatter on Sky Sports slates Italian FA for failing to carry out an investigation into racist chanting.”They have not made any investigation of what happened. And just to give a pecuniary sanction is not valid, that is not acceptable.” I wish Sepp boy had been as quick off the mark in doing something about the SFA. Racist chanting is rightly unacceptable but so is turnIng a blind eye to a club’s lying and cheating and deliberately changing and bending rules to ensure that clubs survival no matter the cost to the country’s game.


  32. The CE on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 18:16

    6. Our average overall home gate this season was 4389

    ———————–
    It’s hard to believe that top flight clubs can survive when crowds are so low, good financial governance obviously is prevalent in some!


  33. It doesn’t really matter who CF was, the info was treated as suspect when it first showed up, and the poster was kept at arms length – which is right.

    However, he/she has gone, along with the info. Whether it was part of a distraction sideshow or an honest attempt to give us the info we required to force the ‘cleansing’ of the SFA that we all seem to crave, we will never know.

    I’m starting to suffer from a mix of fatigue and boredom over these issues and maybe that is what those in charge want to see. I think we may have just blown an opportunity, because the info was of interest but we won’t see anymore of it, something insignificant to the poster may have been the key we were looking for.

    That little nugget of info that gets the grey matter working; they have been few and far between lately and a new source was plugged with an almost unnatural haste.

    This is a poorer place for the manner of that loss, there is no other multi-club supporter site that I am aware of with the quality of some posters on here, with the desire to see honest change for the good of all football.


  34. RANGERS Football Club has today announced a price freeze to reward season ticket holders for their unrivalled and unwavering commitment to the Club.
    Last season the Club took the unprecedented decision to slash adult season tickets by one third and juveniles by 50%.
    This strategy has been reinforced by the record attendances at Ibrox this season making Rangers the fifth most attended club in the UK. The Board has decided to continue this affordability strategy in recognition of the fans and their unquestionable loyalty and support.
    Prices for season tickets, which include all 18 league games, start from £258 for Adults, £65 for Kids and £179 for Concessions.
    Rangers Interim Chief Executive Craig Mather commented: “The Board is delighted to confirm season ticket prices for next season will be frozen.
    —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
    Perhaps predictions of an immenent cash flow crisis at Ibrox have been a tad overblown…..?


  35. chipm0nk says:

    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 19:25

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1285455/Andrew-Ellis-brink-33m-Rangers-buyout-Project-Charlotte-enters-end-game.html

    Andrew Ellis on the brink of £33m Rangers buyout as Project Charlotte enters the endgame…

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

    Thanks chipm0nk, and lest we forget, the eventual Whyte takeover was also known as Project Charlotte. The docs from RTC:

    http://rangerstaxcase.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/index-spa.pdf

    (apologies for going over older ground)


  36. rantinrobin says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 17:25

    A posing question.Given that TRFC have set the season ticket prices for next season,and,who in their right mind would buy one at this juncture,can we infer that the SFA have granted the club a licence?
    ====================================================================

    Unless there is a quick and combined fan organisation call for tickets not to be bought then I have little doubt that 35K tickets will be sold without much problem.

    Some will pull out and some new ones will come in. But this is still a club under siege – some of which is real and some imagined – and that will keep the sales high IMO because most football fans will do what they can to support their club and ensure it’s financial survival. And the way to do that is to buy STs.

    Even if there were a boycott call I doubt if it would be very effective because of the increased factionalism which exists and just because of that mindset that someone who loves their club has irrespective of the club they support.

    They are making a clear statement that even if their club is brought to ruin by the suits and spivs that they as an ordinary fan did everything they could to protect their club. The biggest threat to selling STs at Ibrox IMO has been the woeful football on display for most of the season but the promise of some new players – which may never arrive – will probably deal with that.

    I think most ordinary Bears are switching off on the whole topic of who’s doing what to Rangers in financial terms because they are unable to influence or prevent the boardroom chaos. Rangers lost 9,000 ST holders for this season who didn’t renew but still managed to put together approx 35,000 ST holders. I think they may already have taken the ‘Big Hit’ with the fans likely to walk.

    I could be totally wrong and perhaps tickets could plummet but I just cannot see them going below 30K and I’m sure they will be around 35K again and they’ll pick-up another 2-3K half STs later on just like this season.


  37. Can’t really see the problem with TSFM asking for caution around the information given by CF. Y’all realise that if it was a hoax the blogg would be left in tatters? I’m sure TSFM was trying ensure the quality of information we have on here rather than trying to suppress anything. Personnaly, what got me doubting CF was the Craig Whyte email, it looked like it had been written by someone who thought “this’ll tick the boxes for TSFM readers.”


  38. Meanwhile, in the real world, I spotted this twitter exchange with Alex Thomson this morning:

    ———-
    @cjlehan67
    @alextomo can we expect your Breaking Sevco story today?
    9:42am – 14 May 13

    @alextomo
    @cjlehan67 it’s not about ‘breaking’ anything except new ground of interest to many. We still have some hurdles to clear.
    10:03am – 14 May 13
    ———–

    So it doesn’t look as though any dam is about to burst yet. I suppose legal wrangles may be delaying printing, either that, or just good old-fashioned fact checking. Still preferable to journalism produced under the influence of fine wines and roast lamb!


  39. ecohoy says:

    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:01

    The business case at

    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B62m3ggkEX2Rcldhd0lOM25DNUk/edit?usp=drive_web

    assumed no SB increase and same sales level. If everything else is correct then they are only £1.3m in red by END of next season. SFA are not going to say no on that basis, particularly if stadium spending can be postponed.

    The immediacy factor comes from speculation that the cash intake from the share launch is short of what was published. The SFA have presumably got evidence that it as stated and is in liquid form if required.


  40. Was it not today that AT’s latest story was going to come out?

    I remember the days when a reporter (obviously not in Scotland) would have run over their grandmother to break a story.

    If I remember correctly it took Woodward and Bernstein under two years to bring down the Nixon government and yet here we are past the two year anniversary of Whyte’s purchase of Rangers from Murray.

    I’ve never known a story where so many people claim to know ‘explosive’ or ‘nuclear’ details and yet seem unwilling to go on print with the story. It can no longer be to protect sources because I cannot imagine anyone in a position of power at Ibrox two years after Murray sold up. I mean if it is as bad as we are led to believe then surely the person would have been looking for a new job shortly after Whyte bought the club and certainly after they were papped out of Europe in August.

    If the source works in either a legal or accountancy firm the they would also have been looking for a new job either to avoid disbarment or jail if what has been happening is illegal.

    I guess I’m just getting impatient in my old age.


  41. Auldheid (@Auldheid) says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:12

    How will they finance losses once the cash in bank is spent do you think.


  42. rantinrobin says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 17:25

    Can we infer that the SFA have granted the club a licence?
    =========================================================

    Forgot to add this bit to my previous post.

    I have never seen any possibility of Rangers not being granted a licence but perhaps the reason the ST prize freeze has been announced is to start getting tickets sold asap because of financial pressures and also because Rangers now know or think they will be playing in SFL2 next season so they can’t really raise prices.

    I think if they had raised prices after the football on offer this season they would have lost a few thousand ST sales but freezing the price is a good marketing ploy and is likely to keep IMO most of the doubters from walking as they would probably feel a bit guilty about walking away with the club ‘doing its bit’ for the fans.

    McCoist looks as though he will survive at least until Xmas mainly because of the boardroom fiasco but if he doesn’t shape-up then I don’t think he will be trusted to get Rangers through SFL1 in one season. But who knows as so many other non-footballing issues could impact before then.


  43. parttimearab says:

    Perhaps predictions of an immenent cash flow crisis at Ibrox have been a tad overblown…..?

    -–—————————-

    A pun’ o’ mince is a pun’ o’ mince.

    The Ibrox hierarchy must be wary of scaring the punters away, especially in light of the rumours of dwindling bank funds and monthly burn rate. They’ve already had to watch Ally’s boys through nail-chewed fingers through the first season. Already the talk is of serious budget constraints – maybe just about a decade or so too late. Just how will Ally manage on a budget that pees on all the rest of the 2nd division combined ? Just as long as it keeps him & his mates in a job, that’s the main thing.


  44. bartinmain says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 17:22
    ‘…What’s really galling, IMO, is the prospect of the information being of real relevance..’
    ——–
    In respect of relevant material that showed complicity

    by the SFA Board or Board members and/or

    by the best administrator in footballing history and/or

    by politicos of influence and/or newspaper editors/journalists

    in the unholy financial mess that is known as RIFC -some of it possibly criminal-, I agree it would be a pity to lose any little bit of (however obtained) information.

    In respect of material relevant to the question of which bunch of spivs and charlatans bring RIFC to total collapse after years of ruinous litigation among themselves, who cares ?-as long as baddies get prosecuted and there’s no bail out by any authorities , Sporting or otherwise.

    But the integrity of the blog’s good name in relation to the law of the land has to come first, and if TSFM had any grounds for believing that the law was in danger of being breached ……


  45. justshatered says:

    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:15

    I do not know what the story is but I understand from an impeccable source that initially it cleared legals and was strong enough to televise rather than blog, but subsequent questions arising have put it back in legalland.

    Now if it does not stand up it was never a story, but if it does, the delay, if we view legaling as a device to protect it from being killed, rather than one to kill it, suggests it is important enough in consequence terms to spend so long clearing.

    Using the threat of legal action is of course a well used delaying tactic from the Ibrox camp.


  46. ecobhoy says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:01
    ‘..and that will keep the sales high IMO because most football fans will do what they can to support their club and ensure it’s financial survival. And the way to do that is to buy STs…’

    —-
    You’re probably right, but there does now seem to be an awareness that there is no charismatic leader to serve as champion of the fans, as it becomes increasingly clear that ‘true faction’ is getting in the road of the less than loyal,spivvier spivs.

    Who can the support trust?

    Every name that could be mentioned is in some way tarnished-either by what they’ve done or by what they have not done.


  47. Auldheid (@Auldheid) says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:12

    The business case at

    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B62m3ggkEX2Rcldhd0lOM25DNUk/edit?usp=drive_web

    assumed no SB increase and same sales level. If everything else is correct then they are only £1.3m in red by END of next season. SFA are not going to say no on that basis, particularly if stadium spending can be postponed.

    The immediacy factor comes from speculation that the cash intake from the share launch is short of what was published. The SFA have presumably got evidence that it as stated and is in liquid form if required.
    ===================================================================
    chipm0nk says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:20

    How will they finance losses once the cash in bank is spent do you think.
    ===============================================================

    I personally have never seen a scrap of evidence which points to an over-reporting of the flotation proceeds and think a lot of people have exercised wishful thinking in this regard and I don’t include you in that Auldheid.

    I think the danger for Rangers, if it lies anywhere, is in extra costs which could deplete cash reserves but these might not become apparent until the Board situation stabilises. But I still think Rangers could run to next January without any real problems unless there is a major collapse in shareprice.

    But even that could trigger new ownersbuying-im more cheaply and lead to a fresh capital injection. But at this stage it’s all supposition and we don’t yet have any clear picture what the post Green period will bring.

    I think a lot of the projected spending won’t take place to try and conserve the cash core and I actually wonder if the cash for Edmiston House has been bought and whether refurb will still go ahead there. If they’ve bought it they probably should refurb but if they haven’t I wonder if they’ll mothball or drop the project.

    Perhaps another poster can actually confirm whether the sale has gone through. Similarly with the Albion carpark that would make sense to continue with as it not only cuts-out paying the lease but provides a nice matchday income.


  48. Always beware new posters with “dynamite” information – it happened before on RTC.

    The present effort seems most likely to have been the work of someone at Ibrox or Media House – take it as a backhanded compliment TSFM that this blog is viewed as important enough to try and infiltrate.


  49. Auldheid (@Auldheid) says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:33

    I understand what you are saying but if cleared by legal why was it referred back to legal?
    Is it to second guess their own lawyers because ‘The Rangers’ have got wind about the content and threatening to sue.
    I also understand that legal may cut the story to such an extent that there is no story to tell other than a rehashing of history.
    If that is the case we simply end up back at square one with the truth buried in a legal minefield.


  50. I would think the talk emanating from Rugby Park of a Nigerian Scam may have been of interest to TSFM.

    http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/kilmarnock/219810-kilmarnock-sign-gabriel-reuben-and-papa-idris-on-three-year-deals/

    It sounds like both players are owned by an agent rather than a club. The agent has probably punted them to Killie at no or little cost to Killie with a view to pocketing a big fee when both move down south.

    As Killie were getting 2 “calibre” players for little or nothing didn’t feel the need to do full medicals etc but it now appears(according to Kille fan sites) that both are carrying injuries which may damage their career and it seems as if if one of them may be 10 years older than he states!.

    If Killie are paying very little then there isn’t too much risk to them nor is there reward if it pays off.

    That said questionable surely if such contracts should be allowed at all.

    ————————————————————————————————–.

    A similar scam- http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=9447

    I also refuse to believe that E Ambrose is 24 years old.


  51. justshatered says:

    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:51

    I understand what was found raised other questions. It was thought important enough at the time after legalking to televise but I have no idea what then came up to cause a delay.

    You would imagiine The Rangers were told before going public and (I speculate) might have provided more info that required checking.

    It might wel be that what was a story chnaged as a result of a later event or input. That happens.


  52. john clarke says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:45

    There is no charismatic leader to serve as champion of the fans, as it becomes increasingly clear that ‘true faction’ is getting in the road of the less than loyal,spivvier spivs
    —————————————————————————————————–

    True. But Rangers have no difficulty in attracting ‘Leaders’ in jig time – just look at CW and CG. It’s as if there’s a factory, possibly in the Far East, churning out moulds of instant ‘Leaders’ for short-term use.

    It’s quite interesting that the Easdales seemingly aren’t regarded as ‘fit’ by the support but Dave King is. I find that quite strange and I would think the SFA must be wetting itself hoping they don’t have to run a ‘fit and proper’ test on him 🙂 But there’s also a real feeling of a turning-away from the brown-brogue brigade and Green has brought that about IMO which might be no bad thing for the club.

    Essentially we know nothing about Stockbridge and Mather and what their plans are and how long they intend to stay at Rangers. We also don’t have a clue about the actual offshore consortium members and other mystery shareholders who control the club in reality.

    After 20 June – 6 months from flotation – it will be interesting to see what happens with the locked-in shares. And then is the agm in August although with the turmoil at Board level there is always the possibility of an egm especially if Murray is ousted and there is obvious moves to destabilise him with the Institutional Investors he apparently persuaded to invest £17 million at flotation.

    So many questions and so few answers.


  53. My gut feeling is that the price freeze is to stimulate quick season ticket sales. There were issues last year when only 3,000 were sold (from memory) until Mr McCoist came out and asked the fans to back the club.

    His stock is nowhere near as high just now and him doing that again may be seen just as a cynical ploy.

    And also, fans have been suggesting that buying tickets on a game by game basis may be the best way to go. That could provide serious cash flow problems for a club, for example paying wages over the summer.

    I have no evidence to support this, as I said just a gut feeling.


  54. I’ve pulled together Charlotte’s postings (19 in all) from 11th May. At first glance they’re all over the shop concerning content. I’m putting together a timeline to see if I can make sense of it all. When I’m done, if I think its worthwhile I’ll maybe post a summary so the ‘experts’ on here can make comment. I don’t have the full RTC grounding that monster_mind above has shown so I’m likely going to be a bit thin on insight.

    It may take some time.

    One thing that my knaivety does make me wonder about. If Ellis was offering £33M, why did SDM eventually sell for £1.


  55. I have heard that C4 have killed the AT story due to “Leveson concerns”.


  56. ecobhoy says:

    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:46

    Auldheid (@Auldheid) says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:12

    The business case at

    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B62m3ggkEX2Rcldhd0lOM25DNUk/edit?usp=drive_web

    assumed no SB increase and same sales level. If everything else is correct then they are only £1.3m in red by END of next season. SFA are not going to say no on that basis, particularly if stadium spending can be postponed.

    The immediacy factor comes from speculation that the cash intake from the share launch is short of what was published. The SFA have presumably got evidence that it as stated and is in liquid form if required.
    ===================================================================
    chipm0nk says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:20

    How will they finance losses once the cash in bank is spent do you think.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    My apologies folks. The latest 5 year business case is at (I had linked to an older case)

    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B62m3ggkEX2RUWZ5THpycmFpTms/edit?usp=drive_web

    SB prices are still the same as are the red figures but it contains a potentail answer to chipm0nk’s question about what they will do when cash at the bank is spent.

    If they do nothing then they go into the red by the end of next season by £1.3m then plunge into the crimson to tune of £10 and £12m in the following two years and stay thereabouts if allowed to trade at such a debt level if they can service it..

    However if you scroll down the page at the link to the 8 year plan there is provsion in year 5 to sell Ibrox and rent it back.

    There is no good reason to wait until then and indeed it would seem the most likely way of staying financially afloat and staying at existing costs IF there is an investor say in venues, willing to pay enough to satisfy any CW claim on ownership and keep The Rangers liquid (Ticketus for example could pardon CW the £17m he owes them) then pay say £10m and get their money back over 9 years at £3m a year. with profit thereafter from renting to a well run club.

    I think sale and lease back was always an option and once ownership issues are settled and free of any big tax case l;ability I would reckon it a strong possibility if someone can pony up the necessary sum £10 to £12m) to keep them alive and is prepared to rent back at a mutally attractive rate..

    I have always said that Ibrox is an attachment they should give up. This is a way to do it without losing the venue.


  57. TSFM,can you elaborate on the Channel 4 withdrawal of the AT piece?


  58. TSFM says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 21:42

    So after so much promise nothing happens and the truth is buried again.

    I’m reminded of a line from a song in ‘Paint Your Wagon’:
    ‘They legalise freedom ’till nothing is free except by coincidence me.’


  59. Was Charlotte spinning a web or Vicasting a spell ?

    The intricacies of the newly emerged evidence of linkages between some of the key players in the downfall of Rangers being drip-fed to TSFM by CharlotteFakes over the last week are captivating. However, at this late stage, it is probably akin to counting the bars on your prison cell i.e. it certainly passes the time and helps you understand where you are, but does nothing to get you out of situation you find yourself in.

    There can no longer be any doubt that this entire farrago has been long-planned and is now being orchestrated (or more appropriately crisis managed) by a small number of corrupt individuals in the corridors of power at Ibrox and Hampden HQ. The blatant attempts to cover up the actions and consequences of the liquidation of Rangers is being facilitated by an assemblage of spineless and conflicted pundits in the Scottish media who have the cheek to call themselves journalists.

    As has been demonstrated time and time again by posters on sites like this, a great deal of hard and circumstantial evidence surrounding Rangers’ demise exists out there for anyone who cares to look for it. In my view, all the publically available information and surreptitious recordings that we have had access to so far, point to clear confirmation of a conspiracy to commit a crime(s).

    In any normal society, the various characters involved would be earnestly investigated and quickly brought to justice for any wrongdoing. However this is clearly not a normal society and what should have been the role of the various investigative bodies (SFA, SPL, UEFA, HMRC, Police Scotland) appears to have been left to us internet bampots.

    The problem we have had so far in exerting fan power is probably one of misdirection. We need to realise just how little influence we have on the ‘private’ companies represented by the SPL and SFL or even the sponsors and advertisers of the game. Sure we can threaten to withhold our season ticket money, cancel our Sky contracts or stop drinking specific brands of beer/cider, however this can only work as part of a much larger lobby.

    Our real power resides in our ability to influence our politicians, especially in deciding how our taxpayers money is spent. As such, I believe that our primary focus should be on bringing the SFA to account for their gross mismanagement of Scottish football over the past few decades.

    This body is core funded by the public purse to the tune of many millions of pounds per year to oversee the growth and development of what is our National sport and a huge part of Scottish culture. I contend that the SFA, as currently constituted, is a failed institution. Furthermore I believe that, unless those at the helm of the SFA are removed, and quickly, the professional game in this country will continue its slow, lingering death.

    Just look at what has become of our game under their ‘vigilant’ guardianship. Our National team has not been to a major tournament since 1998 and currently languishes at number 78 on the FIFA rankings, well below those great footballing nations of Haiti, Togo and the Cape Verde Islands (no disrespect intended to the great people of these nations).

    One of our two biggest clubs has been liquidated, another has gone into administration and a couple of others are fast approaching the edge of the fiscal cliff.

    Their ‘Unfit and Improper Person’ test and lack of ‘due diligence’ has facilitated assorted conmen and charlatans running roughshod over the rules of our game, unhindered by such old-fashioned notions as ethics or sporting integrity.

    They set up and administered a player registration system which spectacularly failed to spot a huge number of ‘illegitimate’ applications, despite the President of the SFA (Mr Ogilvie), as an ex-Rangers employee and EBT recipient, being aware of the existence of these undeclared payments and the accompanying side letters.

    They subsequently sent their Head of registration (Mr Bryson) to the Lord Nimmo Smith enquiry to explain that, once a player’s registration had been accepted, it was irrevocable, even if it was later found to have been ineligible . This single action, rendered the entire taxpayer-funded enquiry toothless and left LNS unable to administer appropriate justice, even though guilt had been established.

    The Scottish football product has been continually downplayed by these same authorities, even in the midst of negotiations with advertisers, sponsors and the TV companies. The country’s football finances have been allowed to decay to such an extent that we have become a virtually bankrupt backwater of world football. Meanwhile, our neighbouring English Leagues have risen to global prominence with multi-billions of pounds generated annually in advertising and TV deals,

    It is time to rise. Time for ALL fans of the game to come together and take the power back from those inept or conflicted individuals who have presided over this unmitigated disaster for Scottish football and who, it appears, would see the whole edifice of our National sport crumble rather than face up to their own failures.

    In my humble opinion, we should all lobby our local MPs and MSPs (individually and collectively) and demand that they withhold further funding from the SFA until this shambles has been sorted out once and for all. Let the Scottish Government know that it is in their interest that this divisive situation is resolved before the country starts the debate on probably the most contentious issue in recent history.

    Furthermore, I suggest that we write to our own clubs to demand that they raise a no confidence motion against the SFA President and CEO. I don’t know if there are any better administrators in the world of Scottish football but I am sure as hell that there can’t be any worse.


  60. TSFM says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 21:42

    I have heard that C4 have killed the AT story due to “Leveson concerns”.

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

    Maybe that is why CF showed up, looks like we will never get the to the truth and the tribute act goes on.

    They win again.


  61. Auldheid (@Auldheid) says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 20:33

    I do not know what the story is but I understand from an impeccable source that initially it cleared legals and was strong enough to televise rather than blog, but subsequent questions arising have put it back in legalland.

    Now if it does not stand up it was never a story, but if it does, the delay, if we view legaling as a device to protect it from being killed, rather than one to kill it, suggests it is important enough in consequence terms to spend so long clearing.

    Using the threat of legal action is of course a well used delaying tactic from the Ibrox camp.
    ===================================================================

    My understanding about legalling any story is that the process is essential to ensure that that the insurance protection kicks-in if there is a civil action for damages. A media organisation can still run a story that lawyers have failed to legal but if it all goes pear-shaped the organisation has to cough-up and not the insurance company.

    There are two basically different breeds of lawyers in the field. One lot are happy to suppress a story because that ensures no legal action. Then there are the ones who will actively suggest ways to alter the story so that it can run without emasculating it too much.

    Obviously once a story is legalled Rangers would be asked to comment although it would be unlikely that they would be shown the complete script – but the salient points would need to be provided. Obviously if Rangers came up with a reasonable explanation or denial then their response would again be legalled.

    Yea it’s all a bit of a game and sometimes the subject of a story knows it’s time-limited so they’ll try and delay past the critical period or if they can get more or less the whole gist of it they might launch a pre-emptive strike with a friendly media outlet and scupper the exclusive. They might even go for an interim interdict.

    But Rangers are quite entitled to do this and, indeed, it could be easily argued that they have a duty to do so to protect their shareholders especially if the feel the story is just plain wrong or if correct the treatment is OTT and drive by a personal agenda.

    I would say that the fact it went to be legalled in the first place showed that the editorial side felt it to be a strong story. It would have been legalled in just the same way whether it was a blog or for television except there would be additional focus on anything for television that the images used weren’t in themselves actionable.

    I have to say that I am surprised that there is this level of public discussion about something which is usually kept very tight even within a media organisation. The public should not be aware of this type of discussion and, indeed, if I was rangers I would be using that as an argument as to motive.

    It’s a cruel world out there and the spivs know how to play hardball – believe me! But because a story doesn’t get through the legalling process doesn’t mean it wasn’t a story. There’s better stories get ditched day and daily than appear because there’s one tiny little fact that can’t be stood-up.


  62. Long term viewers/posters would have smelled a rate the moment the troll started posting.

    Always beware a brand new poster with dynamite. Given the sieve-like and internecine qualities of the Rangers board at present, this contribution was clearly inspired either by the board or by Media House.

    TSFM can probably derive some satisfaction that this blog is taken seriously enough by the powers that be at Ibrox to try and infiltrate it.

    54p to 0p


  63. mullach says:
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 21:30

    One thing that my knaivety does make me wonder about. If Ellis was offering £33M, why did SDM eventually sell for £1.
    ————————-
    From memory it was because Ellis would not take liability for the tax case
    Craig Whyte was the only person who would because he knew that regardless of its outcome
    he was steering the ship onto the rocks .


  64. Auldheid (@Auldheid) says:

    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 21:42

    I think there’s an error in you calculations Auldheid.

    SB Receipts of £9,102,000 & Matchday sales of £2,700,000 would be inclusive of VAT would they not? So the net amount would be (9,102,000+2,700,000)/1.2 = £9,835,000. Therefore the VAT element is £1,967,000 and not the £2,360,400 in the document.

    Or am I looking at the wrong thing?

    Is there an excel version of that somewhere I can access or can it be e-mailed to me? I wouldn’t mind messing around with it.

    Cheers
    MrT


  65. The CE says
    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 18:16
    14 17 Rate This
    Since we have fulfilled our home fixtures the ever helpful Div has compiled some attendance stats relating to SMFC that may be of interest(please bear in mind we do on use the same calculations as Sevco and Sellick and only attending ST holders are included in the attendance, using the OF calculator our Easter Sunday game against CFC would have easily cleared 7k);

    1. Our highest home gate of the season was against Kilmarnock (6347)

    2. Only one visiting team outwith Celtic brought more than 1,000 fans to Paisley (Kilmarnock with 2022)

    3. Our lowest home gate was against ICT on a Weds night (3065)

    4. The lowest visiting attendance was in the same game, ICT brought just 95 to Paisley

    5. The lowest St.Mirren support was for a Hearts game in midweek with just 2843 buddies in the crowd that night

    6. Our average overall home gate this season was 4389

    7. The average visiting support was 834

    8. The average St.Mirren support was 3555

    Here is a league table showing visiting attendances to Paisley (taking the largest of the visits where teams came more than once);

    Celtic
    Kilmarnock
    Dundee
    Hibernian
    Motherwell
    Aberdeen
    Hearts
    Dundee Utd
    St.Johnstone
    Ross County
    ICT

    9. Our own travelling support in the league averages at 498 at the moment with one trip left

    10. our support at Tynecastle on May 4th is the first time we have broken 1000 on the road in the league this season

    —————————————————————–
    St Mirren brought 260 and 209 to Pittodrie this season

    http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=4&fid=27&sty=2&act=1&mid=2112734609


  66. ecobhoy says:

    Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 22:00

    But because a story doesn’t get through the legalling process doesn’t mean it wasn’t a story

    —————————–
    Indeed. Lets wait and see.


  67. Hi TSFM,
    Regards the ‘out of the blue’ posts by CF – and I’m not defending him/her…
    I don’t remember from all my time lurking on RTC that he/she was ever asked to confirm or reveal their sources, or questioned on the veracity of information posted.
    If you are so sure of your information or opinion, perhaps you could expand – or are you(se) our sole decision maker(s)?
    Give em enough rope I say… if the info CF posts is indeed “99% crap”, we’ll soon find out – we’re not daft on here you know.
    Remember the guy on RTC who could see London bridge or whatever from his offices as he gazed out smoking a cigar – what a walloper and he was quickly found out and rightly hounded.
    Just my opinion of course.


  68. Pure speculation re the AT pulled piece.

    Re Leveson concerns … more tapes being released I suspect however not the usual suspects on the tapes this time round . i.e. suggests one or more non-spivs.

    I know where my COins would be wagered on this one.

    Pure speculation

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