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/
On the question of whether i had ever been married to my 1st wife, I engaged Pinsent Masons and they agreed that i was never married to her as i was now married to someone else. My first wife believes she is still married to me and wants me to hand over the house since she paid for it with a loan from Tokatus Free Credit Services and is threatening to produce the loan agreement as well as the marriage document. Astutely, Pinsent and Masons reminded me that since both wives have nothing to do with each other I am in the clear. Now there is some bugger casting aspertions on the web that actually they were known to each other, and were lovers, and had secretly attempted to “wrestle” the house from underneath me!!
This is murder as i am in the throes of selling tickets for a massive barbie round the back of the house every couple of weeks or so in order to keep the groundsman, the servants and the pool attendant in a job. Jeeves done a great job for me last year but some punters found out that the quality of the meat wasn’t up to scratch and that it had been lying about for some time. Some would say that it was pure mince but it always done a job before. They’ve also got wind that i might be buying Richmond Irish this year and that has really not gone down well at all with the usual clientele. So much so that i might not need to worry about the house after all. I’ve been told not to worry, that things will work itself out and you know what, I believe them !!!!
bawsbustedanatha says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 10:32
Someone asked yesterday what Co. WS was Chairman of. Do we know?
And, is he the Chaimen or is it a non exec. role?
=========================================
He is a non executive director and chairman of Rangers International FC Plc. I have undernoted his previous and present directorship record.
Walter Smith Promotions Limited
(Company is dissolved)
SC131647
Closed: 03 May 1992 — Close
Director, Director
Other Service Activities
Pub Enterprises Limited
SC093587
Open: 27 Jan 1995 — Present (18 years, 4 months, 4 days)
Director, Manager
Licensed Clubs Public Houses and Bars
Roosternet Global LLP
(Company is dissolved)
OC305317
Closed: 01 Apr 2004 — Close
LLP Member
Wegivetoschools
(Company is dissolved)
SC318310
Closed: 05 Jun 2007 — Close
Director
Jacksons Dog House Limited
(Non trading)
SC399339
Open: 08 Aug 2012 — Present (9 months, 23 days)
Director, Football Manager
Dormant
Rangers International Football Club Plc
SC437060
Open: 07 Dec 2012 — Present (5 months, 24 days)
Director, Retired
Rose Street Drinkmongers Limited
SC438776
Open: 13 Dec 2012 — Present (5 months, 18 days)
Director, Company Director
Beezer Properties Limited
SC275908
Retired: 11 Nov 2004 — 19 Mar 2008 (3 years, 4 months, 8 days)
Director, Football Manager
Hotels and Motels
Rfc 2012 P.L.C.
(In Liquidation)
SC004276
Retired: 24 Jun 1992 — 12 Aug 1998 (6 years, 1 month, 18 days)
Director, Football Manager
Other Sporting Activities
Raintown Limited
(Company is dissolved)
SC114915
Retired: 01 Dec 1991 — 10 Dec 1991 (9 days)
Director, Football Manager
Licensed Clubs Public Houses and Bars
Terces Limited
(Company is dissolved)
SC112401
Retired: 31 Dec 1989 — 01 Apr 1991 (1 year, 3 months, 1 day)
Director
Licensed Clubs Public Houses and Bars
Charles Green now live on radio from France
bill1903 says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 11:27
Charles Green now live on radio from France
—————————————————
just admitted catching something that made him itch whilst at Ibrox!
bawsbustedanatha says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 10:32
=======================================
Your questions answered in the statement to the Stock Exchange:
Company Rangers Int F.C. PLC
TIDM RFC
Headline Board Change
Released 15:13 30-May-2013
Number 9287F15
RNS Number : 9287F
Rangers Int. Football Club PLC
30 May 2013
30 May 2013
Rangers International Football Club plc
(“Rangers”, the “Company” or “Club”)
Board Change
The Rangers International Football Club plc today announced that Walter Smith has been appointed Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. Walter Smith is widely acknowledged as the Club’s most successful manager. Under his leadership, the Club enjoyed two immensely productive spells and he is one of the most highly regarded figures in British football.
He succeeds Malcolm Murray, who agreed to step down as chairman, and Walter Smith’s appointment was a unanimous decision of the Board.
The Board believes that the new chairman will bring stability, experience and a wealth of knowledge to the Club.”
ecobhoy says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 11:15
Jacksons Dog House Limited
(Non trading)
SC399339
Open: 08 Aug 2012 — Present (9 months, 23 days)
Director, Football Manager
Dormant
============================================
Is that for wee Keith
I’m hearing the euro-millions winner from Clydebank is a Sevco fanatic !
£81 million to throw at the spivy bussiness plan !!
1. ulyanova says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 10:42
What to make of Roddy in todays Telegraph? Revelations, revisionism, or misrepresentation?
———————————
2nd paragraph, 1st line:
“In 2011-12 – when Whyte was pillaging Ibrox of PAYE and VAT cash”
Maybe I am giving CW too much credit but I was under the impression that the only people who pillaged Ibrox of PAYE and VAT were the employees (albeit legally), which is where all the monies went, or at least most of it.
PAYE and VAT was collected but never handed over, it mostly went to paying player and coaching salaries. I have never seen any evidence that CW personally took a substantial amount of money out of the club, which is simply a falsehood designed to add weight to the myth that CW was the sole instigator of RFC’s downfall.
I stopped reading after that.
bawsbustedanatha says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 10:32
And I got a TD for asking a couple of questions 🙂
Thanks guys for answering.
madbhoy24941 says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 11:43
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 10:42
What to make of Roddy in todays Telegraph? Revelations, revisionism, or misrepresentation?
———————————
2nd paragraph, 1st line:
“In 2011-12 – when Whyte was pillaging Ibrox of PAYE and VAT cash”
Maybe I am giving CW too much credit but I was under the impression that the only people who pillaged Ibrox of PAYE and VAT were the employees (albeit legally), which is where all the monies went, or at least most of it.
PAYE and VAT was collected but never handed over, it mostly went to paying player and coaching salaries. I have never seen any evidence that CW personally took a substantial amount of money out of the club, which is simply a falsehood designed to add weight to the myth that CW was the sole instigator of RFC’s downfall.
I stopped reading after that.
**************
For all the “big boy did it and ran away” theorists, no one has ever answered me the simple question of what the person in the HR/Payroll section did given that they were no longer processing PAYE……………did they take extended leave……..or help on the shredding?
madbhoy24941 says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 11:43
6 0 Rate This
… falsehood designed to add weight to the myth that CW was the sole instigator of RFC’s downfall.
—————
They’re giving us the lone assassin theory for all it’s worth.
I suppose Green could still be key player in all this if he accepts some Sevco culpability and settles with Craig, ‘magnanimously’ because he ‘wants to help Rangers’, although the sums of money Whyte is being chased for does make that seem unlikely.
“The Board believes that the new chairman will bring stability, experience and a wealth of knowledge to the Club.”
I have read the Rangers AIM statement on Walter’s appointment as chairman but am left puzzled. I thought Walter was already a director of Rangers International before becoming Chairman. So does the statement mean that Walter wasn’t previously attempting to bring stability to Rangers and not contributing his ‘experience and a wealth of knowledge’ to the club when just a director?
Just checking because we wouldn’t want any mix ups further down the line but does the transfer ban on TRFC apply to the Board?
If not, then what is to stop Walter going out and making a few big name signings to fill the gaps in the one or two areas where he needs to develop his skillz.
ecobhoy says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 12:25
4 0 i
Rate This
“The Board believes that the new chairman will bring stability, experience and a wealth of knowledge to the Club.”
I have read the Rangers AIM statement on Walter’s appointment as chairman but am left puzzled. I thought Walter was already a director of Rangers International before becoming Chairman. So does the statement mean that Walter wasn’t previously attempting to bring stability to Rangers and not contributing his ‘experience and a wealth of knowledge’ to the club when just a director?
==========================================================
I’m sure that you’re not puzzled. It meets SE requirements for reporting and is the lightest PR puff for lifting by lazy churnalists.
Walter Smith has been made chairman of Rangers for 2 reasons.
1, As a public relations exercise, to sell season tickets and bring in much needed money.
2, He is totally unsuited to the job and won’t get in the way of the people really running the business.
And also, people seem to be ignoring the fact that Malcolm Murray has stayed on the board. I thought he was sacked a long time ago and was only biding his time. I thought he was savaged by Imran Ahmed and publicly humiliated when the tape of it was released on the interweb. I thought he was publicly humiliated again when someone (presumably a fellow board member) filmed him staggering about when under the influence and that was also released on the interweb.
Why is he still there, who asked for that (or insisted on it), what is his role, why did he agree to it.
To me the situation re Smith is obvious, pandering to the masses. The situation re Murray is much more intriguing.
ecobhoy says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 12:25
Well exactly. All the same faces will see each other when they next meet in the blue room. Items will be raised, motion proposed, votes will be taken and people will stick their hands up accordingly.
Other than hoping the appointment of WS to chairman will get the season tickets moving I can’t see what has changed.
It still comes down to whether or not T’Rangers have it in themselves to balance their books and despite everyone and their uncle knowing a switcheroo took place, can Craig Whyte prove he was duped illegally and get a pay day throught he courts or at the least scare then enough to part with an out of court settlement.
If Whyte takes any decent amount of money out of the club then it is going to be that much harder to balance the books.
Even fighting the claims with expensive lawyers is a cost the club can do without.
And I still have a sneaky suspicion that, with his standing down at the end of play today, Mr Green may have left a few hidden problems that could yet blow up the balance sheet.
ecobhoy says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 12:25
“The Board believes that the new chairman will bring stability, experience and a wealth of knowledge to the Club.”
I have read the Rangers AIM statement on Walter’s appointment as chairman but am left puzzled. I thought Walter was already a director of Rangers International before becoming Chairman. So does the statement mean that Walter wasn’t previously attempting to bring stability to Rangers and not contributing his ‘experience and a wealth of knowledge’ to the club when just a director?
—————————————————————————————————-
The AIM statements are completely amateurish with more holes in them than a Swiss cheese.
As commented earlier they are attempts at serious notices written by someone who thinks he is still writing press puffs.
I see that JT’s name is not given as a contact on either statement – unsurprising really as you wouldn’t want him mouthing off to anyone.
WS needs to realise that he is now involved in a very serious game for which he is not equipped.
He had better get a grip of the legal obligations implicit in his role or it is going to get very nasty indeed for him in the not too distant future.
Scottish football needs a strong Arbroath.
Want to become a MS jurno, fancy being brainwashed into the Establishment club?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/trainee-schemes/kick-off
wonder if ol’chicos got his jotters yet…
Re the CF e-mail listing the SFA questions to Stockbridge
Can we be sure CW is out of the picture – No
Have the links between the two Sevcos been cleared up – No
Do we know the identities and business interests of all the shareholders – No
Do all directors and shareholders only have shares or any other forms of interest in one football club, i’e. T’Rangers – No
Are all the loan arrangements used by Sevco open and transparent – No
Let’s see if I`ve got this right. Questionable takeover, creditors losing millions, questionable purchase of assets, multiple court cases pending in all phases – covering a two year period
– And not a word from the 11 month plus running Crown Office Police Investigation?
Embarrassing to say the least!
Regarding the opinions some friends of mine who support the present incarnation of Rangers.
I regard them as quite intelligent, qualified, resourceful and good hearted people.
I have asked them about their concerns about all the recent goings on down ibrox way and they have remarked that it stinks to high hell of a ploy to sell season books.
I have asked them if other fans hold the same opinions? I was informed that many have the same view but no-one wants to raise their head above the parapet in regards to this because it does not tow the more extreme views held by some groups of supporters.
To which I asked are what exactly?
“That there is a big papist conspiracy to destroy Rangers”
I tried to form some kind of response to the answer given to me. In complete disbelieve the words turned to ashes in my own mouth……
twopanda says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 13:20
2 0 Rate This
Let’s see if I`ve got this right. Questionable takeover, creditors losing millions, questionable purchase of assets, multiple court cases pending in all phases – covering a two year period
– And not a word from the 11 month plus running Crown Office Police Investigation?
Embarrassing to say the least!
———-
There were those police raids at various addresses a wee while back. But nothing ever comes out. Perhaps the spivs have outsmarted the sheriffs?
STV – “Arnold Peralta and Stevie Smith are set to become the latest signings at Rangers.”
How many over 21 players are allowed in the SFL, or is that yet another rule that does not apply to Sevco?
liveinhop says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 13:42
0 0 Rate This
STV – “Arnold Peralta and Stevie Smith are set to become the latest signings at Rangers.”
How many over 21 players are allowed in the SFL, or is that yet another rule that does not apply to Sevco?
————————-
You are assuming that the current rules are the same as the published rules which are the same as next years rules!
Latest memo from Sandy Bryson,
“Rangers have always had as many over 21 year olds in their squad as they wanted. This goes back to pre SPL days. To change the rules for them now would be contrary to natural justice. For this reason we are powerless to prevent them from continuing with their current signing policy.”
Latest memo from Sandy Bryson,
“Rangers (sic) have always had as many over 21 year olds in their squad as they wanted and will pay and register them in any way they see fit…and i see no reason why this should ever be questioned…now, go away you pest”…
there fixed that for you tomtomaswell…
abigboydiditandranaway says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 14:03
2 1 Rate This
Latest memo from Sandy Bryson,
“Rangers (sic) have always had as many over 21 year olds in their squad as they wanted and will pay and register them in any way they see fit…and i see no reason why this should ever be questioned…now, go away you pest”…
there fixed that for you tomtomaswell…
==========================
I must have seen the first draft 😀
streathambhoy says:
Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 22:58
Interesting so many posts about the LNS judgment recently as I myself randomly woke up earlier this week feeling v angry that he took football fans for such fools re no sporting advantage, trying to tell us that black is white against all intelligence, experience and common sense. Contemptible judgment.
===============================================================
It is unhelpful to make an emotional attack on the LNS Decision. Sadly IMO it only deflects from the real culprits which are the SFA and SPL and the poor preparation and presentation of the case put to the LNS Tribunal.
LNS stated: ‘We shall proceed on the basis of the facts which we hold to be established by the evidence before us, and on nothing else’.
Standard and burden of proof
[24] As in all civil proceedings, the standard of proof of any matter of fact, and of any inference to be drawn from any fact or set of facts, is proof on the balance of probabilities; that is to say, that the evidence establishes that it is more likely than not that the fact or inference in question is the case. The burden of proof of the Issues rests on the SPL throughout.
[25] There was discussion during the hearing as to whether there is a burden of proof in relation to sanction, in the event that any breach of the Rules is established, and if so on which party it rests. In our view the burden lay on the SPL to prove (on the balance of probabilities) material factors which might affect sanction, such as whether a particular breach had given Rangers FC a significant competitive advantage.
At this point I think it’s worth noting a relevant finding made by LNS:
(6) Rangers FC did not gain any unfair competitive advantage from the contraventions of the SPL Rules in failing to make proper disclosure of the side-letter arrangements, nor did the non-disclosure have the effect that any of the registered players were ineligible to play, and for this and other reasons no sporting sanction or penalty should be imposed upon Rangers FC.
I won’t re-run the detailed discussions that have previously taken place here but if you care to read Paras 84-89 of the LNS Decision you will see how LNS reached his decision. In shorthand terms it mainly hinged on the evidence given by SFA Registration boss Alexander Bryson which wasn’t contested by Rod McKenzie who was presenting the SPL case.
LNS stated: ‘This is an important finding, as it means that there was no instance shown of Rangers FC fielding an ineligible player’. I will refer you back to Para [25] above and reiterate that as the SPL didn’t contest the SFA opinion then LNS had no option but to accept the evidence given and had no other option than to rule that no ineligible Rangers players had been fielded.
I well accept the angst that the decision causes but there was NO alternative and it is not the fault of LNS that the SPL didn’t provide the evidence AND didn’t attack and reject the SFA evidence.
SANCTION
[103] . . . at the time of the hearing we had made no decision on the merits, we invited Mr McKenzie and Mr Mure to address us on various hypotheses. Mr McKenzie stated, and we wish to emphasise, that the SPL did not seek the imposition by us of any specific sanction. It was a matter for the exercise of the Commission’s discretion in the whole circumstances of the case. This should be borne in mind for the remainder of our discussion of the question of sanction.
So it appears to me the SPL didn’t feel up to demanding specific sanctions and indeed didn’t even politely request that any sanctions should be applied. They left it up to LNS without any evidence being led as to what might be even an appropriate range of sanctions in the eyes of the SPL who appear to have bottled the issue.
Issues 1 to 3
[104] As we have already explained, in our view the purpose of the Rules applicable to Issues 1 to 3 is to promote the sporting integrity of the game. These rules are not designed as any form of financial regulation of football, analogous to the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations. Thus it is not the purpose of the Rules to regulate how one football club may seek to gain financial and sporting advantage over others.
Obviously, a successful club is able to generate more income from gate money, sponsorship, advertising, sale of branded goods and so on, and is consequently
able to offer greater financial rewards to its manager and players, in the hope of even more success.
Nor is it a breach of SPL or SFA Rules for a club to arrange its affairs – within the law – so as to minimise its tax liabilities. The Tax Tribunal has held (subject to appeal) that Oldco was acting within the law in setting up and operating the EBT scheme.
The SPL presented no argument to challenge the decision of the majority of the Tax Tribunal and Mr McKenzie stated expressly that for all purposes of this Commission’s Inquiry and Determination the SPL accepted that decision as it stood, without regard to any possible appeal by HMRC. Accordingly we proceed on the basis that the EBT arrangements were lawful.
[105] Moreover, we have received no evidence from which we could possibly say that Oldco could not or would not have entered into the EBT arrangements with players if it had been required to comply with the requirement to disclose the arrangements as part of the players’ full financial entitlement or as giving rise to payment to players.
It is entirely possible that the EBT arrangements could have been disclosed to the SPL and SFA without prejudicing the argument – accepted by the majority of the Tax Tribunal at paragraph 232 of their decision – that such arrangements, resulting in loans made to the players, did not give rise to payments absolutely or unreservedly held for or to the order of the individual players.
On that basis, the EBT arrangements could have been disclosed as contractual arrangements giving rise to a facility for the player to receive loans, and there would have been no breach of the disclosure rules.
[106] We therefore proceed on the basis that the breach of the rules relating to disclosure did not give rise to any sporting advantage, direct or indirect. We do not therefore propose to consider those sanctions which are of a sporting nature.
I personally believe LNS had no choice other than to weigh the facts of the case as presented to him as evidence. There was no alternative ‘facts’ because neither the SFA nor SPL presented any facts so Rangers could never have been found by any judge in the land to have enjoyed ‘sporting advantage’.
Just think about it – if the SFA or SPL can’t point to any ‘sporting advantage’ how can a judge find it existed as he can only decide on the basis of the evidence heard.
I will say again – the disgrace of the LNS Hearing was the poor preparation and presentation of the SPL case in which the SFA played a major hand. LNS was the messenger but he carries no blame IMO as I have yet to see his legal decisions challenged by anyone with a legal knowledge who has read the Decisions in full.
tonto8on8his8high8horse says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 13:31
To which I asked are what exactly?
“That there is a big papist conspiracy to destroy Rangers”
I tried to form some kind of response to the answer given to me. In complete disbelieve the words turned to ashes in my own mouth……
=====================================================
is it any worse than the view held by many of a different persuasion that suggests it’s a big masonic conspiracy to protect the Sevconians?
Only thing Charlie mentioned in his interview live from France was that he’s writing a book!!
And t’lemmings they will buy I’m sure 😀
liveinhop says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 13:42
STV – “Arnold Peralta and Stevie Smith are set to become the latest signings at Rangers.”
How many over 21 players are allowed in the SFL, or is that yet another rule that does not apply to Sevco?
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I really dont care how many players they sign, when they sign them, what age they are or even if they can play as trialists until the ”ban” is over while Ally is still manager!
With a even half decent coach/manager they would stroll through the 2nd division with the same squad as last year(even if they dumped McCulloch and Alexander off the wage bill)
McCoist has shown himself to be a total fud regards management and coaching and as long as he is kept in his position Rangers will continue to burn money on players who are going to have little, if any, sell on value.
The Rangers are going to be in the SPL in the minimum time possible if the exist long enough, however by the time they get there they will have a squad of journeymen players and no money to bring in the standard they will need to be competitive in the top flight.
If their wage bill last season was 7 million and they were losing 1 million per month then going by the Sandaza published wages for division 2 and division 1, the new signings combined are going to add maybe 25 to 35 grand a week which could be close to an extra 2 million per year.
Its only weeks since they attempted to get rid of Durrant and Mcdowall to reduce the wages and paid off the Physio and Doctor? yet they are now signing players they just do not need to get out of that division.
I know the argument that its to sell season tickets, but without being disrespectful, there is not one player they have been signed I would cross the road to watch for free never mind paying for a season book.
I would think that if I had decided NOT to buy a season ticket for this season then the guys they have brought in would not have changed my mind in the slightest.
@Charlotte
What a difference a Day makes …….
June 14th was a busy day …
Charlottes up and tweeting again
Charlotte Fakeovers @CharlotteFakes 14m
to Sevco 5088 Limited and Sevco Scotland Limited, and any involvement with Rangers post 14 February 2012. Tom Stocker 7 May 2013 (3/3)
Expand
Charlotte Fakeovers Charlotte Fakeovers @CharlotteFakes 15m
I would ask you to note that remit of the investigation that I am conducting is to investigate the role of Mr Whyte in relation (2/3)
Expand
Charlotte Fakeovers Charlotte Fakeovers @CharlotteFakes 16m
Whilst RFIC has given itself a clean bill of health, a reminder as to the scope of the inquiry might help. Tom Stocker said to me (1/3)
Expand
Just noticed that the timestamp on her posts is pacific standard time i.e. us -8 so, west coast US…
liveinhop says: Friday, May 31, 2013 at 13:42
STV – “Arnold Peralta and Stevie Smith are set to become the latest signings at Rangers.”
How many over 21 players are allowed in the SFL, or is that yet another rule that does not apply to Sevco?
__________________________________________
tomtomaswell says: Friday, May 31, 2013 at 13:58
___________________________________________
abigboydiditandranaway says: Friday, May 31, 2013 at 14:03
_________________________________________________
Guys,
The current relevant SFL Rules are as follows:
SECTION 11 – PLAYERS
115. REGISTRATION AND TRANSFERS – BONA FIDE PLAYERS
A bona fide player (amateur or professional) of a club is one who has signed the necessary Registration Documents (any signature to be witnessed by one person) and has been registered and approved by the League before playing.
115.1. It shall be the responsibility of each member club playing in any match under the auspices of the League to ensure that its players are eligible to play in any such match.
115.2 A club shall be permitted to register, at any one time, up to a maximum of 22 players, who have reached the age of 21 years on 1st January of the appropriate year. The maximum number of 22 players includes players registered by means of a temporary transfer. Additional players may be registered by a club, however such players must be under 21 years of age on 1st January of the appropriate year.
115.3 Any club playing an ineligible player in a League Championship match may have points deducted from its points total in the League Championship and/or be liable to such other penalties as the Board may decide.
Any change to these rules would need to be ratified proposal and agreement of its members at an AGM/EGM of the SFL per their Rules 74-80.
IIRC there was some discussion / disagreement about proposed changes to the over / under 21 year old players during the SPL reconstruction debate back in mid April 2013.
Does anyone have a copy of the proposed Constitution & Rules of the merged SPFL so that we can compare and contrast the existing and proposed rules?
If Charlotte’s tweet saying that PM’s remit was “to investigate the role of Mr Whyte in Sevco 5088 Limited and Sevco Scotland Limited, and any involvement with Rangers post 14 February 2012”
and if the report presented to RIFC covered ALL of those areas
then the summary presented to the stock exchange must give a very partial (in whatever sense you care to take that word) presentation of its findings.
115.2 A club shall be permitted to register, at any one time, up to a maximum of 22 players, who have reached the age of 21 years on 1st January of the appropriate year. The maximum number of 22 players includes players registered by means of a temporary transfer. Additional players may be registered by a club, however such players must be under 21 years of age on 1st January of the appropriate year.
————————-
is there a stated penalty for being in breach/ i.e. would they not be allowed to register the player at all? or could he be registered – and with no mechanism to invalidate the registration, well, fair enough
Would club be fined? would player be ineligible to play?
Basically, if there is no stated punishment for being in breach….well, (sighs) we all know what’ll happen. Sevco will do as they please, take it to court and end up with a slap on the wrists (if that)
It seems to have been forgotten that Walter does possess some of the communication and inter-personal skills required of a Chairman of an institution under attack by, amongst others, the press corps.
I look forward to the tape of the EGM when someone asks an inconvenient question.
As discussed earlier in the week for Wiki and Trasnfer market sites
Andrew Little >21 Contract ends 2014
Andrew Mitchell >21 Contract ends 2014
Anestis Argyriou >21 Contract ends 2014
Chris Hegarty >21 Contract ends 2015
Darren Cole >21 Contracts ends 2013
David Templeton >21 Contract ends 2016
Dean Shiels >21 Contract ends 2016
Emilson Cribari >21 Contract ends 2014
Ian Black >21 Contract ends 2015
Kal Naismith >21 Contract ends 2015
Kane Hemmings >21 Contracts ends 2013
Kyle Hutton >21 Contract ends 2014
Lee McCulloch >21 Contract ends 2015
Lee Wallace >21 Contract ends 2017
Neil Alexander >21 Contracts ends 2013
Ross Perry >21 Contract ends 2015
Scott Gallagher >21 Contract ends 2015
Sebastien Faure >21 Contract ends 2015
Alan Smith 20
Robbie Crawford 20 Contract ends 2017
Matty Clarke 19
Andrew Murdoch 18 Contract ends 2014
Barrie McKay 18 Contract ends 2017
Fraser Aird 18 Contract ends 2018
Lewis MacLeod 18 Contract ends 2017
Liam Kelly 18
Daniel Stoney 17 Contract ends 2016
Luca Gasparotto 17
Tom Walsh 16
Signing Targets
Cammy Bell >21
Nicky Law >21
Nicky Clark >21
John Daly >21
Arnold Peralta >21
Stevie Smith
Out on Loan
Carlos Bocenegra >21 Contract ends 2014
DorianGoian >21 Contract ends 2014
Walter Smith does not possess the business acumen to be a successful Chairman. His biggest personal defect of character is undoubtedly Ego. He has that attribute in abundance. The compromise reached at the board meeting on Wednesday is pretty obvious. He stays in the Boardroom as Non exec Chairman in return for his buddy MM retaining a seat beside him.
This will be seen by many of the peepil as a wonderful step in the Rangers recovery. How wrong they are. Murray and Smith are lame ducks, powerless to halt the march of the Spivs. Smith knows it, Murray knows it and the Spivs know it. Season ticket money will roll in, and as previously will be filtered away in legal fees, consultancy fees, and other non-football activities.
Do not be fooled by the current flurry of activity, which is in effect only another attempt by the Spivs to portray a false picture of stability.
The recent investigation by PM into the connection between CW & CG took some time and, one would imagine, a lot of money.
It also took a tin of whitewash but that’s neither here nor there.
Had PM wanted a quick and cheap result they would have done no better than to pick up the phone and call CO.
Perhaps they did.
And why would they do that ?
Because from the beginning, the architects of the plan to ‘save’ the ‘Gers knew that they absolutely had to have their man in place at the SFA otherwise the plan would fail.
Their man, as we all know was and is and continues to be CO.
Now, think on it, would the architects put their man in position at the SFA and NOT keep him in the loop ?
Not a chance!
Was there a switcheroo ? if so, CO must have been told about it.
CO must have been told about everything.
How else could he make the necessary provisions, arrangements & plans by which the ‘Gers could be protected from sinking as they would have done if the rules had been applied to them without fear or favour ?
PM should have known that and made that call.
So, as the daily ebb and flow of the ‘Gers driven MSM newstide continues to seek to deflect and dictate,
Let there be no doubt about one thing –
The Chairman of the Board at Ibrox may come and go
But the Chairman at the SFA , CO, will remain the same,
Of that there can be little doubt
For without CO, the ‘Gers will go under.
The money men need a lot of cash urgently to keep the ship afloat. The only source of cash right now is the season ticket money. So Sir Walter suddenly becomes chairman, the orcs are happy, and the cash rolls in.
Then what? If they get £8m that keeps things going for 3 or 4 months longer. Meanwhile, more players are signed, so the wage bill goes up. Is there some magic source of money that I haven’t heard about?
The mismatch between income and expenditure must be about £15m per annum. Absolutely nothing is being done to address this slightly fundamental issue. But the directors of RIFC have a legal obligation to do something about it, in the interests of their shareholders. The obvious answer is to sell or give away TRFC to some Blue Knights, realise some value from the properties, and then RIFC becomes a stable and profitable property company, instead of a money burning madhouse.
Why isn’t it happening?
Exiled Celt (@The_Exiled_Celt) says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 11:53
Maybe they continued processing it.
The club simply failed to actually remit it after they had collected it from the staff.
Similarly with VAT, they collected it from the customers and simply never remitted it.
jerfeelgood says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 15:08
Just noticed that the timestamp on her posts is pacific standard time i.e. us -8 so, west coast US…
====================================
Twitter timestamps as shown in the web interface are relative to your account settings, check your settings you may have your timezone set to GMT-8, try changing it and look at the change in the CF timestamps.
newtz says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 15:01
@Charlotte
What a difference a Day makes …….
June 14th was a busy day …
==========================================
@newtz – I’m missing the significance of the date, (so much to keep track of 🙂 ) – can you elaborate. Thanks.
Afternoon folks .
So Wattie really has been given the big chair ,MM has been given a stool and CG and IA have been given the heave ho .
Is that what the MSM are asking us to believe now .
That would mean that WS and MM would have more influence at the tribute act than CG and IA .
Well shove a dress on me and call me Sally ,if the tribute act can shift STs on that moonbeam then I’m astounded of the forehead
Just heard on the news that WS was surprised at being the new chairman of Sevco 2012 .
At least we agree on something
June 14/2012 was the day the business and assets of oldclub were bout by Sevco
As CF suggests in tweets above, it appears as if PM do know what they were asked to investigate. We are all aware that the press releases are simply pieces of that report that RFC has chosen to release.
I don’t know PM, but other posters have backed them to have done a good job, so presumably there are parts of their report that are not quite as much to RFC*s liking – like the CW/CG links and the CW/5088 links.
Is it likely that if PM were asked the right question, they would be able/willing to acknowledge that? E.g. Question – Does your overall report exonerate CG/RFC* as much as is being trumpeted? Answer – No, we also reported that…….
If they might answer in such a way, who would they be willing to answer to? Would the SFA ask and be answered? Would Tommo ask and be answered?
bill1903 says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 14:33
“Only thing Charlie mentioned in his interview live from France was that he’s writing a book!”
—————————————————————————————————————-
Foreward by Carlo Lorenzini
(Google him, you know you want to)
Still trying to work out why Smith has taken the chair…
But there is a convenient coincidence;
Prior to the IPO, Malcolm Murray, a known person to the city types, becomes Chairman. This appointment proves useful for reassuring investors to part with their cash.
A short six months later, prior to ST sales, Smith a known ‘legned’ to the bear types, becomes Chairman. This appointment proves useful for reassuring fans to part with their cash, [again].
=================================
McCoist is not in a position to repeat his effective ST sales pitch of last year.
Maybe there is no master plan or ulterior motive behind Smith’s surprising appointment.
Perhaps Smith was simply told that TRFC would have absolutely no chance of surviving next season without Smith at the helm now – to give the club a PR boost and to maximise ST sales ?
Maybe Smith realises already that the game is up for TRFC ultimately – and his action is simply a desperate measure to buy the club some time ?
bayviewgold says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 17:33
@newtz – I’m missing the significance of the date, (so much to keep track of ) – can you elaborate. Thanks.
————————
Others have answered …… but the full answer is ……..
!4th June 2012 : (A busy day)
1 … CVA Rejected and D&P announce that RFC would be liquidated after Administration process
2 … Sale to …. Sevco 5088/Scotland (delete as appropriate) completed for £5.5m
3 … Sevco 5088 Resolution 11 …. RES11 Disapplication of pre-emption rights.
4 … Assets novated to Sevco Scotland
5 … FSA freeze bank accounts of Pritchard Stockbrokers
StevieBC says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 19:06
Perhaps Smith was simply told that TRFC would have absolutely no chance of surviving next season without Smith at the helm now – to give the club a PR boost and to maximise ST sales ?
Maybe Smith realises already that the game is up for TRFC ultimately – and his action is simply a desperate measure to buy the club some time ?
+++++++++++++++++++
If Walter knows that the game is up, but has taken the chairmanship to ensure that the fans pay up regardless, then what does that make him? A tart in brown brogues? I really don’t want to think about that, thanks.
In my opinion he’s just a bit thick when it comes to corporate finance. I bet he hasn’t a clue how much is in the bank right now. Which is sad, since it’s now his job to know- and do something about it..
StevieBC
That is my take on it also IMO Sevco 2012 desperately need to have some semblance of the dead club to keep up the pretence and it looks like it’s Watties turn .
The whole thing is a sham IMO and has been since day one ,how else do you explain CG and IA getting the push for a off topic racist comment and supposedly tweeting under an alias ,yet MM survives two votes of no confidence .
For me CG and IA have like CW before them ,served their purpose (CG when wattie ensures the ST sales ) and the whole corrupt tribute act will end up in the hands of the original buyers from Minty ,who were scared off by big bad Hector .
IMO only when the music stops and we see who is left sitting in the only seat left will we be able to complete the circle .
I must admit though that the only thing that niggles me to date is that the position the Greenock crew have in this .I have to admit to being torn between something must have gone completely wrong to an investment that requires further investigation .
Wanyama ==£12 million +
50,000 seat stadium, state of the art training ground,very large car park, money for ex players
= £5.5 million.
Who’s the daddy.
neepheid says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 16:52
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The obvious answer is to sell or give away TRFC to some Blue Knights, realise some value from the properties, and then RIFC becomes a stable and profitable property company, instead of a money burning madhouse.
Why isn’t it happening?
_______________________________________________________
Because the moo-bears won’t like it one bit one it when it does, and they haven’t stumped up for their season tickets yet!
Order of play:
1. Season ticket renewals.
2. Followed by 6-18months of gloating from Govan about setting their club on path back to greatness etc etc…
3. Meanwhile loss making RFC sold off/ divested to fund ‘the route back to the top’ with RIFC retaining heritable assets, with punitive rental agreements for TRFC in place.
4. TRFC will lump along for as long as the moo-bears are willing to be milked enough to keep it afloat. Thereby the shysters make a killing from either renting the bears the property their club used to own with the threat of destroying the club, or they let it go under and cash in the real estate.
5. Wouldn’t be surprised if the next share offering was to give the loyal bears a chance to buy TRFC off RIFC, so that they could then own ‘the club’ for real, rather than some poxy corporate property company… and without all that pesky real estate and heritable assets stuff to get in the way of the ‘history’ (non tradable) and footballing business (including onerous contracts and obligations).
6. About 2 years down the line, yogi’s will wake up and realise they’ve been conned again… and are condemned to be milked by shysters till kingdom come or go under in ignomy…
7. Bears fans actually run out of money. Milked dry. No more to give. And this time when their club goes under it won’t even own the assets to start again with!
jonnyod
In my opinion Charles Green & Imran Ahmed have gone nowhere and are still calling the shots at sevcowhatevertheyarecalledtoday fc.
Smith has to do as he is told or they will make their money another way.
Govan Tesco anyone
Just wondered, what are the chances of a bank holiday to mark the day Sir Walter is made Chairman ? Just a suggestion. TBH, just wanted another days holiday to read TSFM.
One would have thought that all the ills of the day currently miring TRFC in negative headlines are being blown away by the anointing of business savvy Walter, to a position normally reserved for those with relevant and weighted experience. One could argue that a football man is exactly what the club needs, as he’ll probably have a side-gig managing on the QT, as Ally defers to his mentor but he’s been on hand as a non-exec director anyway. However somebody with the necessary football clout to cut through the bullsh*t from the assortment of Spivs trying to ensure their tiny investments are turned into major ones at their time of exit, would be a relief to those watching aghast, as their new club has floundered from disaster to disaster. But realistically these guys could run business circles round him, even if they were scared of the negative coverage and fans fury that would come from upsetting Sir/Lord/King Smith (delete as appropriate)
Acting as chairman will be a double edged sword to Smith, as from his better vantage point he will be able to, or at least believe he can, control or affect the goings on at board level, though time will tell whether in his position he can do anything about it. He is undoubtedly aware the kudos he carries with the ticket buying masses but so are the Greeners, who must be kakking their breecks at the potential non purchase of ST’s. The flip side is he could be seen to give credence and support to a motley bunch of business misfits who may have completely ulterior motives to their roles in the club.
If as many on here believe, that all is not well financially with the club, and a short time is the only thing between Newco and a rendezvous with administrators, then Smith will be all too well aware of not calling out the misdemeanours going on within the club, and of these he may be totally unaware – just like his lack of knowledge of EBTs (stage -cough left) but what, effectively can Sir Cardigan of Walt do to stop the financial disaster that seems inevitable unless the steps that the Duffers should have taken once through the doors (but we know why they weren’t )
The new Rangers are operating on much the same beliefs of the old club, entitlement, arrogance, intransigence, one rule for us etc,- did we really expect anything less- but unfortunately it is an MO that will lead to many more days and nights of angst, anger, blame and dog whistling, as they will not cut their cloth to suit. Enticing SPL players to the 2nd division is folly especially when they should be more concerned with a stable financial footing for the future (no laughing at the back please) but if they are so determined on their own downfall so be it.
The SFA have done all they can to move heaven and earth… and rules to give TRFC every opportunity to make it to the top flight. I dare say when the MBB gets his payoff to go away, the SFA can console themselves they’ve done their bit for the good of the game. ‘I was on holiday at the time that Sevco 5088 mysteriously became Sevco Scotland didn’t happen’ or ‘I was too busy counting my increased salary to be bothered. Craig Who ?’ They must be very proud. Complete bunch of Elmers. but everybody involved in this huge, ugly mess should hang their heads in shame trying to justify a mess of a club as the establishment team. Sad and highly predictable.
Scrub the Sir Walter bank holiday suggestion – would have just been a one off, totally forgotten next year.
resin_lab_dog says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 19:44
I agree with everything except your timescale. This can’t last 2 years without a sugar daddy prepared to put in £40m. As things stand, I give it 6 months, max.
iki says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 16:07
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I remain unconvinced that Walter got this one wrong. Chico had it coming to him.
If this `Conclusion` of `independent` Investigation report can’t `find` anything – but clearly extensively caveats – then it hasn’t `concluded` anything at all – has it?
So by corollary, what justifies any claims exploited from this `conclusion` in the PR MSM or elsewhere?
.
So what has this investigation meaningfully achieved? – Conversely, have opportunities been lost?
The SFA must – simply must – have received assurance papers prior to new membership categorically stating CW not involved. Didn’t matter if it was s5088 or sScotland or anything else – CW was barred from ANY participation – CG &Co KNEW this – yet the tapes and resignation have them bang to rights. Indeed, to add, they acknowledged post resignation that s5088 was a subsidiary. Perhaps the SFA gave them an opportunity to correct, to `cleanse` – admit mistakes and move forward.
Why could they not simply have admitted a foul-up by wayward miscreants, plead lack of knowledge of events behind the scenes they knew not of or participated in. We could have moved on. Few would support sanction’s on an entire club for the clandestine actions of some rotten spivs in cahoots designed to fool everybody for selfish enrichment to the detriment of that club and its supporters.
The potential of this `independent` investigation seems to have been squandered to the behest of one side of a now developed bitter vendetta between spiv factions in total war. Pride, vengeance, retribution are the order of the day here. Anyone who thinks the placed Lord Cardigan can control this is misled I venture. Lord Cardigan’s legal responsibilities are to the company, principally the major shareholders including CG.
On the face of it CW – or rather the camp that have taken this claim on to make money – seem convinced they have a case. If they were to win, say, the claim – would have BEEN – against CG & Co. Now with this independent investigation squandered – and intransigent stance taken – the claim or win will be against `Rangers`. That’s the real switcheroo – CG& Co got their cash and mean to keep it – intact.
Is that what the boardroom split was really all about?
If so – then so much for the supporters always come first vaunted claims
Consequences;-
They may have called out CW – but inadvertently or otherwise they’ve called out the SFA.
There seems to be no end to this nonsense.
Silly, stupid and misguided.
Add – MSM a corrupting misleading shower completely in the pockets / on-call of/to self-serving interests.
bayviewgold says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 17:33
newtz says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 15:01
@Charlotte
What a difference a Day makes …….
June 14th was a busy day …
==========================================
@newtz – I’m missing the significance of the date, (so much to keep track of 🙂 ) – can you elaborate. Thanks
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Can you elaborate on all of your posts a bit more soz we can all catch your drift. Cheers Ears.
neepheid says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 19:52
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resin_lab_dog says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 19:44
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You could well be right. But I allowed some ‘time added on’ for rule bending/breaking in their favour and the fact that some of the moo-bears may actually be quite wealthy bluenoses with a blindspot when it comes to things football. Campbell & Donald would probably find some way to syphon some of their money down Govan way, I shouldn’t wonder.
neepheid says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 19:22
StevieBC says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 19:06
Perhaps Smith was simply told that TRFC would have absolutely no chance of surviving next season without Smith at the helm now – to give the club a PR boost and to maximise ST sales ?
Maybe Smith realises already that the game is up for TRFC ultimately – and his action is simply a desperate measure to buy the club some time ?
+++++++++++++++++++
If Walter knows that the game is up, but has taken the chairmanship to ensure that the fans pay up regardless, then what does that make him? A tart in brown brogues? I really don’t want to think about that, thanks.
In my opinion he’s just a bit thick when it comes to corporate finance. I bet he hasn’t a clue how much is in the bank right now. Which is sad, since it’s now his job to know- and do something about it..
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Walter is slow not thick. And I suspect he has off piste advisors to help him through the spreadsheets, accounts and corporate stuff.
wottpi says: Friday, May 31, 2013 at 16:13
Thanks for an update on the players contracted to (including some of whom are not yet registered to) Spivco FC.
Spivco FC still have time to comply with the 22 player limit for players over the age of 21.
To do so all that they need to do is to
1. release the following 3 players whose contracts are scheduled to expire on 30 June 2013
(Darren Cole, Kane Hemmings and Neil Alexander;
2. transfer or temporarily transfer (loan) some of the players whose contracts are due to expire
on 30 June 2014 including Bocanegra and Goian who are currently on loan until 30 June 2013
I calculate that this would leave them with the following players aged over 21 plus an unlimited number of players under 21.
Name of Players
Contracted for 2013/14 Age Contract ends 30 June
1 Andrew Mitchell >21 2014
2 Andrew Little >21 2014
3 Anestis Argyriou >21 2014
4 Emilson Cribari >21 2014
5 Kyle Hutton >21 2014
6 Chris Hegarty >21 2015
7 Ian Black >21 2015
8 Kal Naismith >21 2015
9 Lee McCulloch >21 2015
10 Ross Perry >21 2015
11 Scott Gallagher >21 2015
12 Sebastien Faure >21 2015
13 David Templeton >21 2016
14 Dean Shiels >21 2016
15 Lee Wallace >21 2017
16 Arnold Peralta >21
17 Cammy Bell >21
18 John Daly >21
19 Nicky Clark >21
20 Nicky Law >21
21 Stevie Smith >21
61patrick
With you on CG and IA of course we are not their target audience .
I am still of the mindset though that WS knows exactly what he has to do regards these two and the fact that MM is still in the frame tells me the whole fall out is nothing but smoke and mirrors .
IMO the tribute act is settling old debts to peepil who were not willing to be part of the unlucky list of creditors and it is indeed the fans that are being milked to pay for it but then ,it was always going to be the fans that as they are the only investors in the club/clubs that would not look to get anything in return instead of 11 players running out to play football in last years jerseys (yes that’s right CG raised £22m yet still had his football team wearing a mixture of shorts ,tops or training gear with 5* on them ) it may seem trivial but to me it reeks of spending the least amount possible to accrue as much as possible .Someone needed their cash back as much as possible ASAP .
When will CG backers be happy with what they are due ,my guess is that since he made sure the date of accounts was set as to include this years ST income then that would be enough for Chico and his friends .
That then brings us to who else was owed a fair wedge from the now dead club .I am sure his name will soon emerge .
As for CW forget IMO he was sourced and has probably been paid for his services.
While I am at it if you had a plan to raise a phoenix and you could no longer control ALL media as the internet was an obstacle to you (RTC ) would it not make sense to then ,rather than try to supress all stories ,create an insider who leaked info but nothing that could be pinned down as damaging to anyone involved in the grand (master ) plan .
CF has put plenty out there but what has come from any of the info and if as
Sorry should read …..
I say CW was sourced and the general thought is that he recorded every conversation ,could this now be the battle to defeat the internet bampots .
I have stated before that this is a short term project by the spivs to purchase a football club for the price they paid the duffers and sell it on for their expectation of around circa 20-25 million.
Their ultimate problem is finance and time, both of which they don’t appear to have much of.
Sure uncle Walter being placed as chairman may save them from the ignominy of running out of money in the next few months. However the media want to angle this “Victory” its incredibly hollow.
Walter has been put in this position by the spivs, if he done the honorable thing and walked away who knows what would have happend. I think Malcom Murray probably advised him that the spivs would have raped whatever value out of the club before crashing it. It would have been an almighty firesale, parts of the empire would have been sold off for working capital or for the lining of pockets, the albion car park, murray park, god know what they would have done with the stadium. (Lease back option?)
Walter knows that this charade is only to buy time until someone comes in to buy the club from them at a price they like. I would assume that they would want to make 5 times the money that they invested in the quick race to get back to the spl.
The thing is though I just can’t seem to see the appeal of buying a club which is hemorrhaging cash at an alarming rate and if there was a buyer to take on this train wreck of a business they would need to reset the business plan to make it a viable business. That would not be received well by the hoard who since the days of David Murray coming to town have got fat on success and entitlement. How dare anyone should come in and tell them that they have to cut their cloth accordingly.
They need a wee chap fae Canada wae a bunnet type to save them.
The more I think about it…the more I am veering towards believing that there is no overall master plan / plan B – or sugar daddy.
Why would Dave King – who apparently invested GBP 20M in Rangers – want to lose more money on the Govan club ?
Why would Jim McColl – or any other proper millionaires – want to be associated with the club ?
Minty has already extracted the value from owning the club: including the raised profile in the UK and probably internationally – and his ‘K’ of course.
Owning the club from Govan now will not bestow anything like the influence Minty derived.
If someone like McColl was serious about getting involved in football, he probably would have done so before now – and probably in England.
Could it just be positive spin, generated from within Ibrox itself : King is ‘waiting in the wings’, there are dodgy but wealthy brothers from Greenock ‘waiting in the wings’, the Blue Knights are riding to the rescue, that guy Kennedy is still sniffing about, etc…
What if the real truth is that nobody is ‘waiting in the wings’ anywhere – because nobody is interested ?
[Having recently watched the movie ‘Wall Street’ again, the phrase;
“It’s a dog…with fleas” springs to mind when considering the Govan club as an investment. 🙂 ]
Would the TRFC situation look terminally bleak to even the average bear – if they did not have any positive investor rumours to distract them ?
Can’t stop laughing @corsica1968 1h
So, our favourite foundation was owed £39k by club that went into liquidation. Was it ever paid? Wonder what greetin graham thinks of that?
Can’t stop laughing @corsica1968 1h
That £39k was 10% of net profit from Milan game. So RFC(IA) took in nearly £400k PROFIT from game that should’ve gone to charity!!!
Can’t stop laughing @corsica1968 1h
All figures direct from foundation, but I bet sevconians still won’t believe me!
Can’t stop laughing @corsica1968 8m
y/e 06/12: RCF income = £328k; RCF charitable expenditure (grants & donations) = £89k ie 27% of income. That is shocking.
Can’t stop laughing @corsica1968 6m
That £89k includes £2,050 collected on behalf of JFT96; strictly speaking shouldn’t be included in charitable expenditure (RCF kept £2,175).
twopanda says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 20:20
The SFA must – simply must – have received assurance papers prior to new membership categorically stating CW not involved. Didn’t matter if it was s5088 or sScotland or anything else – CW was barred from ANY participation – CG &Co KNEW this – yet the tapes and resignation have them bang to rights. Indeed, to add, they acknowledged post resignation that s5088 was a subsidiary. Perhaps the SFA gave them an opportunity to correct, to `cleanse` – admit mistakes and move forward.
====================================================================
One of the emails Charlotte posted from Biggart Baillie to Stockbridge had a question in it that was exercising the SFA. They seemed concerned at that time that Craig was not involved and asked for confirmation he wasn’t. Wonder why they were so concerned – what had they heard from the business community that operates the clubs? Of course I accept they good full comfort on this point, otherwise why proceed to issue the licence?
@newtz (and others) thanks for the considered response 🙂
stevieBC
I was thinking along the same lines regarding the Greenock crew a bit like look what you could have had .
I am still of a mind that the original plan was to get rid of Hector and then we will buy.
Do you think the financial crash has given the inheritors cold feet .
I will say this though I read a post regarding side letters this morning and am astounded that the FTT could also have had access to this info and came to the conclusion they did .Honestly it is a frightening thought at what has already occurred in this scam to think anything other than the original plan will prevail no matter what .
As for the other clubs in Scotland ,all I can say is get out ASAP
torrejonbhoy
Looks like Corsica has found another revenue stream for dignity fc .Oh how the mighty have fallen
onto8on8his8high8horse says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 20:49
‘..They need a wee chap fae Canada wae a bunnet type to save them..’
—–
I doubt whether even Fergus’s genius could save them now.
The appointment of WS seems to me to have been a last desperate reach for a life-raft by the really scummy barra-boys on the Board.
The other scummy sharks keep circling, frightened in case the conspirators win, but even more frightened to bite in case the cheap goodies they fancy will turn out to be really, really, really toxic.
There is no one on the Board thinking of anyone other than himself, and there are no bidders with a fraction of the integrity of Fergus.
I state this view just in the passing, because, of course, the death of a one year-old football club is in itself not my principal interest. If it happens, it happens.
But, as said before, it is the near-certainty, in my mind at least, that there has been a measure of corruption in and around the governance of our game AND a complete lack of serious scrutiny of that corruption by the MSM, that keeps me glued to this blog.
And the death of a second, corrupt, club is to be welcomed if it brings about a cleansing of all that has been rotten in our Football governance and administration ,and the punishment of the guilty men.
john clarke says:
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 21:27
But, as said before, it is the near-certainty, in my mind at least, that there has been a measure of corruption in and around the governance of our game AND a complete lack of serious scrutiny of that corruption by the MSM, that keeps me glued to this blog.
And the death of a second, corrupt, club is to be welcomed if it brings about a cleansing of all that has been rotten in our Football governance and administration ,and the punishment of the guilty men.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Agreed. But did the wee man with the bunnet no make a bob or two out o’ the Celtic Fans?
There is corruption in the Scottish game – that much is obvious. But to my mind the “expose the SFA” campaign has been a long running one and indeed even the other half of the old firm support it. Why with the two powerhouses in the game are they still there?