The Immortality Project – or – Death and Denial – Guest Post by Humble Pie
Death has a tendency to put everything else into perspective.
My family recently suffered a bereavement. It wasn’t a sudden death but it was still far too quick and far too soon for any of us to get our heads around. As our loved one’s illness progressed, each of us, in our own way, began to prepare for the inevitable. In the end, whilst it was not unexpected, it was nevertheless very traumatic, for everyone concerned.
Grief is a strange and often debilitating set of emotions. Even now, a few months on, when the intense sadness and tears have given way (mostly) to disbelief, we still find it hard to fully comprehend what has happened. We might never completely ‘come to terms’ with that fact, however, we do accept that it DID happen, much as we all wish that it hadn’t.
Many of you will be familiar with the Kubler-Ross model of the five stages of grief; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. Well, I am aware of having experienced each of these stages over the last year, as well as a couple of others which I wasn’t prepared for (a lot of personal reflection, a little guilt and a not insignificant amount of pain).
It seems to me that the Rangers supporters have been purposefully ensnared in an interminable cycle of the first two stages of KR; alternating between the denial of the death of Rangers and anger at what they feel has been done to their beloved club then back again to denial. This, as any first year psychology student will tell you, is a very unhealthy state of mind which, if not addressed, can quickly lead to physiological and behavioural problems.
At its lowest level, for example, people throughout the ages have continued to set places at the dinner table for their long-dead loved ones. They know in their hearts that the person has died but are comforted by the familiarity of doing the same things that they have always done. However, in extreme cases people have even kept and maintained the actual cadavers of the deceased, dressed them, talked to them and watched TV with them, in a state of absolute denial.
In archaeology, accepting and recognising the inevitability of death through conducting ceremonial burial services is considered to be one of the very first signs of a civilised people. You see, grief is a uniquely human and cathartic process i.e. it can produce ‘a feeling of being cleansed emotionally, spiritually, or psychologically as a result of an intense emotional experience’.
In short, grief is ultimately a good thing which leads you through a series of natural psychological steps towards acknowledgement of an unalterable situation, allowing you to take stock, re-evaluate and start to move on with your own life in a positive way.
That is what should have happened with the fans of the old Rangers.
Instead, this ‘never-ending cycle of the undead’ was positively encouraged by those many unscrupulous individuals who saw a way of making a fast buck from maintaining the ‘Then, Now and Forever’ illusion. Worse still, this resurrection fantasy is being facilitated by the very people whom we have entrusted to stop this kind of thing from happening in the first place. If only the SFA or the MSM had told them the truth, they might have had a chance to actually face up to the situation.
Unfortunately, these two bodies were so complicit in Rangers demise, so right up to their necks in the brown smelly stuff, that they were too afraid to face the inevitable anger which would have rightly come their way. So, they made up grim fairy tales to feed to the bereaved souls about non-existent ‘holding companies’, the ethereal ‘club’ which transcends death and by suggesting that it is ‘all a matter of opinion’.
Ernest Becker, in his 1973 Pulitzer Prize winning book ‘The Denial of Death’, posits that “human civilization is no more than an elaborate, symbolic defence mechanism against the knowledge of our own mortality”. This fear of death acts as an emotional and intellectual response to our basic survival instincts.
‘By embarking on what Becker refers to as an ‘immortality project’, in which a person creates or becomes part of something which they feel will last forever, the person feels they too have become part of something eternal; something that will never die, compared to their physical body that will die one day’. When this ‘immortality project’ is threatened it leads inevitably to fear, depression, loss of identity and sense of purpose.
In that case, the initial reaction of the fans to the imminent demise of Rangers was entirely predictable and understandable. “No way, this can’t happen to us, we are the people”. However, as soon as the full realisation of their club’s inexorable slide into liquidation began to sink in, came the expected anger. But towards whom should their righteous wrath be directed?
“Who did this to us, who are these people?” they cried. “Not I”, said Sir Murray of the Mint, “for I was duped”, “Nor I”, said President Ogilvie, “for it was never my role”. “Nor I”, said Mr Smith, “for I never knew nothing or nothing”. “Not us”, squealed the media monkeys in unison, “for that’s what we were told”, “Nor us”, said the SPL “it was nothing to do with us”.
“Who then?, we demand to know who these people are”, howled the horrified hordes. “T’was the Whyte knight”, they all concurred, “he alone caused this calamity”. “And the bampots”, sneered the slimy slug. “And the taxman”, puffed the pundits. “And the unseen hand of Mr Lawwell”, whispered the bilious bears from the safety of their den.
There were even those who tried to warn them, not least Hugh Adam, Phil Mac and RTC but they didn’t want to know. Even when their very own Messrs Green and Traynor spelt out, in no uncertain terms, that liquidation meant the death of their club, still they chose wilful ignorance. The MSM, with access to the same information, encouraged them to keep their heads firmly ensconced, ostrich stylee, on the banks of that ironically blue and white river in Egypt. Which just goes to show ‘you can lead a lamb to knowledge but you can’t make it think’
The point though is that the Rangers fans have heard the truth and once you have heard something you cannot unhear it. Even if you reject it, even if you deny it, it gnaws away at the back of your mind, infecting your subconscious.
Almost a year ago, I posted the following on TSFM. http://theinternetbampot.wordpress.com/2012/09/ in which I postulated that the SFA were too frightened to say anything which might imply that The Rangers were a new club.
Looking back at that post, I am amazed at how little the landscape has changed.
A year on and it has become apparent that the corporate cancer that destroyed Rangers has continued to metastasize in its new host. Charlotte’s revelations may have shown us that the rabbit hole goes much deeper than we first suspected. However, in my humble opinion, the information provided has only succeeded in ‘poisoning the well’ and deflecting attention from the main culprits in this disaster. Layer upon layer of complexity has been added to an already opaque story and the majority of her utterances appear designed to engage the more enquiring minds on this forum and consume their excess mental energy.
I know that some people are bored with this ‘debate’ but, to my mind, the single most important step for the redemption of Scottish football is the fan’s acceptance that The Rangers, who currently ply their trade in the SPFL First Division, are a new club. Once they have accepted that then everything else that they perceive has happened to them will begin to make sense. They will see that rather than everyone having a fly kick at them when they were down, most were actually trying to help them. It will also dawn on them that the very people who have been telling them that there is an anti-Rangers conspiracy against them are actually the same ones who are screwing them over.
Rangers were not relegated to div 3, The Rangers applied as a new club and were granted entry into the bottom tier of Scottish football. They are not banned from European competition, merely ineligible as a new club without the requisite financial ‘history’. Any reference to ‘rulings’ from ECA, ASA, the BBC Trust and any internal or so-called ‘independent’ enquiries are completely irrelevant, as none of these bodies are the final arbiter in this case. Scots Law is clear that there is no distinction between club and company after incorporation, when the company dies the club dies with it. That is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact.
Sooner or later The Rangers fans are going to realise this fact and when they do, there will be hell to pay. Until they do, their new club can never become truly cleansed. Only then can they move on and only then can they join together with fans of other clubs to root out the real cancer at the heart of Scottish football. That’s why the MSM and the SFA are still petrified to say anything. In the meantime the real creators of this disaster are sneakily positioning themselves further and further away from the scene of the crime.
I am sure the majority of us would happily accept a new Rangers, cleansed of its financial, emotional and supremacist baggage. A club that all decent Rangers fans could support without feeling any guilt about Rangers downfall or that they were being taken for mugs. The prospect of a new dawn in Scottish football, where sporting integrity took primacy and clubs lived within their means was very real. However, as usual the SFA couldn’t miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
The truth is that Scottish football is in the state it is in, not because Rangers died but because those with the power and mandate to effect the prognosis sat back and did nothing. I am sure that they believe that ‘time heals all wounds’ and that the longer this injustice is allowed to stand the more likely it will be accepted by the man in the street. No doubt the authorities feel it is in the national interest to ‘let sleeping dogs lie’. However I cannot accept this. I believe that it is vital that we are able to face up to reality so we can move on for the benefit of all football supporters.
Scottish football is at a crossroads right now, I think we all feel it. Rampant corruption has become so mainstream that many of our fellow supporters have began to accept this as the norm. However, it just doesn’t sit right with me and I suspect that many regular contributors and readers of this blog feel likewise.
We have quite lost our way and we live in a society which spends vast amounts of money paying people like Jack Irvine to ensure that we stay lost. The mainstream media treat us like little imbeciles and demand that we conform to their assumed ‘professional superiority’. The PR machine plays up to our stereotypes and feeds our fantasies while the poorest people pay to swallow their poisonous propaganda and relentless trivia.
So what can we do ? Clearly, battering out a few blog posts and strongly worded letters to the various authorities involved has been rewarded by the square root of FA.
How can we make this an opportunity for growth rather than contributing to the destruction of Scottish football ? It is not good enough to tear down a system unless we have a better system to replace it. However, I believe that it is not the system itself which is broken. It is that those charged with administering the system are hopelessly corrupted, hugely conflicted and unable to apply their rules without fear or favour.
By their incapacity and inaction (wilful or otherwise) the SFA have facilitated a motley crew of various spivs, chancers and con-artists to glean the last few meagre pickings from the bones of the emaciated loyal supporters of this new club purporting to be the once mighty Rangers. They have permitted these ne’er-do-wells to collectively appropriate many tens of millions of pounds from the Rangers fans, the creditors and the public purse. They have already allowed this corporate malignancy to spread to a new host, ‘The Rangers’, and the absence of ‘moral hazard’ makes it more likely that the disease will continue to spread.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “‘Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
Someone else once said, “The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it’s just sort of a tired feeling.”
I sense that we are all beginning to get tired of this. It is time to stand together, all football fans, face the facts and direct our anger against the officers of the SFA who have allowed this sham to develop into a catastrophe.
I have no doubt that my humble opinions expressed here will raise the ire of many deluded souls. However, I am comfortable in the knowledge that the only people who get mad at you for speaking the truth are those that are living a lie.
RIP Big Man.
redlichtie says:
September 15, 2013 at 9:58 pm
Indeed.
It seems being a Chartered Accountant doesn’t mean much when you take a position on the Ranger’ board. Brian Stockbridge doesn’t even know how much is in the bank.
I agree, we can do without the likes of Paul Murray in Scottish football. We have enough people who are either incompetents, liars, or both already.
Fairways says:
September 15, 2013 at 8:23 pm
“… Subsequently found out he had lined up a buyer for his shares even before he had bought them. ..”
—-
I know someone who bought a football club, a couple of Insolvency Practitioners, a bent lawyer, A Yorkshire school championship runner……….all for a pound!
broganrogantrevinoandhogan says:
September 15, 2013 at 9:54 pm
Forgive me, but my mind is troubled. Yes, I know that is an obvious statement with a plethora of evidence to suggest “deeply troubled” but bear with me.
Why on earth would the SPL grant a side letter in the terms produced by Charlotte in favour of Sevco Scotland Ltd ?
============================================
There may well be an SFA side letter too but on the other hand it may not have been needed. The SPL would in all likelihood be the body raising any action against ‘Rangers’. The SFA had probably already decided the best course for them was to remain above any such issues as the appellate body (a nice ‘body’ swerve).
Whether the gist of the SPL side letter was effectively also agreed by the SFA and informed their approach to the LNS enquiry however is another matter and of most serious consequence for the integrity of the enquiry. I suspect that LNS himself would have concerns about an indemnity being given prior to his enquiry being set up – surely witnesses would have been informed by their bodies of what had been agreed? Was testimony then delivered to secure the required result?
Have we actual match fixing rather than something only second to that?
Scottish football needs LNS to issue a statement regarding the recent revelations regarding his enquiry.
.
So the current board of Directors The Rangers Football Club Ltd is as follow
Craig Mather
Brian Stockbridge
James Easdale
Sandy Easdale
There must be some old Rangers supporters looking at this situation and almost weeping. Particularly when they have to look at scenes like this.
http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000ovyLFEy0Gsw/s/500/I0000ovyLFEy0Gsw.jpg
Exiledcelt says:
September 15, 2013 at 9:15 pm
13 1 Rate This
upthehoops says:
September 15, 2013 at 9:06 pm
Exiledcelt says:
September 15, 2013 at 8:48 pm
Co OP bank story, when did an unused facility have a repayment schedule?
According to Celtic PLC accounts there are repayments due at set times, only facility I saw mentioned was a £12m overdraft. The rest, £24m, appeared to be some form of loan
Also, last posted accounts of Celtic FC LTD shows £37.5m of current liabilities, up considerably from previous years. with a net value of £31.5m
https://www.duedil.com/company/SC223604/celtic-f-c-limited
There is no doubt Celtic are a well run club.
However, The accounts I have read also show a company that needs European football, Champions league, just to get close to break even, but then I look at the group, not just the PLC
I keep thinking back to Watergate and it was the cover-up that eventually brought Nixon down not the event itself.
Is that going to prove true with the likes of Ogilvie, Doncaster and Regan?
Who in the MSM is going to ask Doncaster if and why he gave a blanket indemity to Sevco prior to the LNS enquiry?
Who will also ask CO if the SFA were aware of this or themselves gave a similar indemnity?
As a follow up “Was the LNS enquiry thus a complete sham?”
Scottish football needs real journalists to start behaving as such.
LNS Commission Decision 28/2/13 Page 4 under History (8):
We’ve been talking about so many flaws in the commissioning of the LNS Commission,the remit of Commission etc here’s a very minor point:
In his decision dated 28/2/12 under History (8] “Newco became an associate member of the SFA”
that is incorrect,they got full membership of SFA transferred from dead club,& an associate membership of SFL.
Although a minor point how many flaws in this LNS Commission.
Because I know how precise legal people normally like to be
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed Alex Thomson tweeting in favour of the club continuing after liquidation. His argument is you can’t kill a club because it’s culture lives on. Today he tweeted the following:
” alex thomson @alextomo 1h
@PatersonTony ha! Nah – just making obvious point that company law cannot kill a wider culture like celtic or rangers. Idiocy to pretend so.”
I’m a bit disappointed that this journalist, having apparently lost all interest in the shenanigans at Ibrox, including the verbal assaults and threats on a fellow journalist, should find time to argue this point, which is, undoubtedly true, because RFC are dead, according to the law of the land, but their culture lingers on. But, of course, a culture is not a club, and it would be idiocy to pretend it is.
Allyjambo says:
September 15, 2013 at 11:05 pm
2 0 Rate This
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed Alex Thomson tweeting in favour of the club continuing after liquidation. His argument is you can’t kill a club because it’s culture lives on. Today he tweeted the following:
” alex thomson @alextomo 1h
@PatersonTony ha! Nah – just making obvious point that company law cannot kill a wider culture like celtic or rangers. Idiocy to pretend so.”
I’m a bit disappointed that this journalist, having apparently lost all interest in the shenanigans at Ibrox, including the verbal assaults and threats on a fellow journalist, should find time to argue this point, which is, undoubtedly true, because RFC are dead, according to the law of the land, but their culture lingers on. But, of course, a culture is not a club, and it would be idiocy to pretend it is.
*****
Allyj,
I suppose AT is correct in saying that their culture will live on.
That is not the same as saying that the club will live on
Personally, I would prefer if their culture died.
I’m still of the opinion that Channel 4 were told to back off the story, by who or why I’m not sure, but everyone just seems to want us to move along and forget it all happened!
AJ
I think that AT is making the very point that many people on here have been making for yonks – which isn’t at odds with the prevailing notion that TRFC are a new club.
Where I might part company with AT is here; I wonder what spirit or culture of Rangers would have survived had the Sevco application for membership of the SFA and SFL been treated exactly the same as any new club, and that they had been forced to wait their turn for a few years before being admitted to the senior ranks. Would Green’s now known to be absurd business plan have been treated to the same lack of scrutiny and control had it been submitted by Cove Rangers?
Of course we will never now for sure, but my feeling is that the Rangers culture only survived as a consequence of the authorities’ lack of due diligence, and that the wish you express in your last sentence would probably have come true.
Following the publication of the ‘SPL side letter’, I’ve been taking another look at the Five-Way Agreement (as posted by CF) and I’ve just spotted something I never noticed before, and don’t remember ever being mentioned here.
—
2.6 The SFA, the SPL, RFC and Sevco hereby agree that the transfer of the RFC Membership to Sevco is wholly suspensive and conditional on the transfer of the RFC Share to Dundee FC being registered by the SPL no later than midnight on 3rd August 2012.
3.3 Pending Completion, the SFA confirm it has granted Sevco conditional Full Membership of the SFA to facilitate the playing of matches by Rangers FC for the period until midnight on 3rd August 2012. In the event that the transfer of the RFC Share to Dundee FC has not been registered by the SPL by that time, then this Agreement will automatically lapse and the arrangements set out herein will not come into effect; Sevco’s conditional Full Membership of the SFA will automatically lapse; and all player registrations held by the SFA will revert to RFC and Sevco’s interest will be cancelled.
—
This seems to explain what the (in)famous SFA ‘conditional’ membership actually meant.
It appears it was a device to ensure the SPL share would be transferred from RFC to DFC in time for the new season, and Sevco’s SFA membership could be revoked if the transfer was not done within the stipulated timeframe.
Maybe this is old hat and generally known, but it’s news to me…
ecobhoy says:
September 15, 2013 at 3:01 pm
broganrogantrevinoandhogan says:
September 15, 2013 at 11:56 am
Auldheid says:
September 15, 2013 at 1:43 pm
Bangordub: So the SPL can take action against Sevco Scotland Ltd re the EBT’s IF it proves that those EBT’s constitute a CW event or act as defined?
I would need to check back to see who that is defined.
===================================================================
However this revelation by CF today is another bombshell for Scottish Football because before LNS had even sat the Scottish Footballing Authorities had reached a secret agreement that Sevco Scotland Ltd would escape punishment for EBTs and also for failure to submit the necessary paperwork to the SFA as covered by: ‘any and all arrangements, agreements and/or undertakings relatingto or concerning such payments’.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As far as I understand it Old Rangers and Sevco are two different “clubs”. So why would Sevco not want to be indemnified from being punished as the Old Rangers – unless of course everyone was in agreement about pretending Sevco were Old Rangers.
Smugas says:
September 15, 2013 at 3:38 pm
I am intrigued.
Why would CF release this now? I know conventional wisdom said she had ’000s of docs to go through but you’d surely do search for a 5 way agreement or similar first (or at least in the top 3). My guess, for it is only that, is this was one of, if not her only smoking gun. So again, why release it now? Deal done (between whomsoever and CF) and the SFA are just collateral baggage?
Also, a point not covered. Was PM invited on to the show last night in which case the touchy feely makes more sense or did he ask for the publicity (in which case if we ever needed a paxmanesque interrogation that was it).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I am permanently intrigued!
Isn’t Paul Keith Jacksons main source. I suspect Keith organised his appearance as part of the wider DR campaign to get true Rangers Bandits in place to takeover from the weary carpet baggers
TSFM says:
September 16, 2013 at 12:07 am
‘…but my feeling is that the Rangers culture only survived as a consequence of the authorities’ lack of due diligence…’
——
As a matter of interest, what would have been situation vis-a-vis any kind of membership of any league if the new club had not been admitted irregularly into the SFL as it then was?
What would it have had to do in order to become eligible to play in SFA- governed football at any level?
Drew Peacock says:
September 16, 2013 at 12:25 am
‘..Isn’t Paul Keith Jacksons main source. I suspect Keith organised his appearance as part of the wider DR campaign to get true Rangers Bandits in place to takeover from the weary carpet baggers’
——
Would Spiers have been told in advance that P Murray,CA, was to be a ‘guest’?
Would he have conspired to aid Jackson in his support of the Rangers Bandits?
Would Kenny Mac and the show’s producer be involved in partisanship?
Would BBC Radio Scotland allow same?
I know my answer to that!
Your Lordship, Ooh err Missus, not everyone is aware that the Scottish term for selling stolen or purloined goods is ‘reset’ , your earlier joke may have gone above the heads of our broader audience. Settle down, settle down! Yours in Frankiehowerdom.
john clarke says:
September 16, 2013 at 12:38 am
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
These questions must remain unanswered for now until the side letter dealing with the appearance fees is leaked.
I haven’t commented on the Sportsguff Wireless programme until now. My assessment is Murray thinks he’s a teflon man act with all his denials, obfuscations and dissemination -is he going to impress bears (it might – they’re desperate). Blin left because he got a peak at the books and the calibre of his cell mates. McColl doesn’t need this crap and Speirs licks arse. English is useless and Jackson is the sports journalist of the year!
Something has just occurred to me. ❗
We know that LNS had sight of the 5-way-agreement.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/143094729/spl-commission-reasons-for-decision-of-12-september-2012 [Page 3]
The Commission would therefore know that the 5-way-agreement (on the face of it) meant that Sevco could be dealt with as if it had always been “Rangers FC”
http://www.scribd.com/doc/164650989/5-Way-Agreement-as-Issued-to-All-Parties-for-Signature
So why then, within the Lord Nimmo Smith Commission’s “Reason for Decision” (12 September 2012), was so much time given to arguing in support of a different reason that “Newco” Rangers had a potential interest in its work.
In very simplistic terms, the commission argued that Sevco had bought more than simply the assets of Rangers FC. The commission argued that Sevco purchased the “Club”. Consequently, if the “Club” was found guilty of breaking the rules, a punishment could be still be applied – even though the alleged rule-breaking was committed whilst under the stewardship of the previous “owner & operator”.
Why did the commission not simply state that Sevco had taken on RFC’s liability as per the 5-way-agreement?
Unless, of course, the commission also had sight of the SPL Undertaking Letter to Sevco.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/168340366/SPL-Undertaking-Letter
Assuming always that the documents are genuine. ❓
Tom English article reflects views expressed on TSFM.
And with a ‘wee fly kick’ at McCoist added for good measure… 🙄
====================================================
“…How could the Rangers manager not have an issue with one of his players taking the field having had a bet on his team not to win the match he was playing in?
McCoist’s words are actually a betrayal of sorts. Imagine McCoist trying to explain himself to a Bill Struth or a Scot Symon? Imagine those gentlemen trying to get their head around this business of Black betting on Rangers drawing with East Stirlingshire before going out to play against them?…”
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/tom-english-ian-black-betting-punishment-mystery-1-3094252
StevieBC says:
September 16, 2013 at 1:39 am
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
At least Tom keeps alive the suggestion that something is rotten at Ibrox without saying much more.
Whilst writing about Black’s bet he does create a sense of mystery as to why he would even think the Eastie’s would get a draw – that’s not a bad question? Have the bookies grassed up all the bets made by IB and others that day?
Morning all.
2 things I took from Paul Murrays interview on RS:
He said the city investors approached him and asked him to act on their behalf.Why?.
These companies are more than capable of asking questions themselves.More likely Murray approached them to see what interest he could generate wrt possibly removing the spivs.
Secondly,he claimed to have the 3 biggest shareholders on his side.Now I may be wrong but is Charles Green not the biggest shareholder at this time?.
He has a binding agreement to sell to the Easdales some time in the future but right now he’s still a shareholder.
Has he swapped sides?.
Murray got free publicity on the BBC on Saturday night and blew his chance to convince anyone with a bit of common sense he’s the right guy to run TRFC.
torrejohnbhoy(@johnbhoy1958) says:
September 16, 2013 at 6:25 am
Murray got free publicity on the BBC on Saturday night and blew his chance to convince anyone with a bit of common sense he’s the right guy to run TRFC.
===========================================
He convinced Keith Jackson and Graham Spiers, although they were probably convinced anyway. Tom English of the three is most likely to ask questions so he should probably get the benefit of the doubt. Jackson and Spiers are convinced by anyone who is a traditional brown brogues wearing Rangers man. Nothing else really matters, as there is already evidence that type of Rangers man can shout WATP live on telly without as much of a murmur of disapproval.
andygraham.66 says:
September 15, 2013 at 9:25 pm
13 0 Rate This
I suggest a wee look at http://www.twitter.com/bglendenning – he of the guardian podcast. Mentioned the H word in reference to the Govan club
I don’t think he got away with it
Just wait til they find out he’s Irish
———-
I think someone has. Barry is an amusing contributer on the entertaining Guardian podcast. His irreverent, permanant hung-over persona is the antithesis to James Richardon’s quick-witted, savvy intellectual. Barry is Frankie Howard without the inuendo (turns out he was a big fan of Queens, titter ye not …). His lack of interest in Scottish football is nothing short of overwhelming, so this has probably made him chuckle. Especially since his sharp retort that he used the H word because there was no space for ‘Rangers’ was misinterpreted as being serious.
The good thing is that the Jim Spence attack dogs are now drawing attention to themselves on the national, and possibly international stage. The podcast has a large following.
And to think it all seems to have started with this retweet about Kiev Fashion Week, to which someone took offence:
@PoppyD
Who says football can’t be fashionable? Cc @bglendenning #LFW pic.twitter.com/Nw0m7YPijE
12:38pm – 15 Sep 13
SFA INDEPENDENT JUDICIAL PANEL
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/tom-english-ian-black-betting-punishment-mystery-1-3094252
Tom English says
” . . . . . but what has to be remembered is that it was their (the SFA) judicial panel
which handed down this sanction on Black and
that that panel is independent.
It stands alone . . . . .”
My concern here is the word ‘independent’.
This is a label stuck on the judicial panel system by the SFA –
but has it stuck?
Answer – no.
Would an independent panel from the English Premier League
have reached the same conclusion ?
Not in a million years.
“Hard to fathom” says Tom English
No it’s not Tom.
Football fans in their tens of thousands across Scotland
have got it all figured out Tom.
redlichtie says:
September 15, 2013 at 10:44 pm
Who in the MSM is going to ask Doncaster if and why he gave a blanket indemity to Sevco prior to the LNS enquiry?
____________________________________________
I think a more pertinent question would be; why did he give Sevco anything in the way of concessions at all? The ball was clearly in the SPL’s court (unless there’s some secret much worse than any of us realise), so why concede anything? The SPL should have been making demands of Green, and Green should have been crawling on his hands and knees, but instead it looks like (and I don’t doubt it) the football authorities were more desperate to have a ‘Rangers’ somewhere in the league than even Green was. Or else Green knew a secret, and it was more than a handshake!
TE appears to know that IB placed an accumulator bet which included TRFC V ES to draw. As he correctly states this makes no sense.
The only way it does make sense is if it was a HT/FT bet.
Everyone knows TRFC won the game…did IB win the bet?
Allyjambo says:
September 16, 2013 at 8:21 am
1 0 Rate This
———-
Not convinced that any of this was ever black and white from the SPL Ally. I’m sure there must have been dissenting voices on the inside. They were never going to do a Turnbull Hutton if they were a minority view. Some people were convinced that the old club had cheated, otherwise the suggested title stripping would never have been a subject of debate. Seems to me the real stench is coming from the SFA.
Allyjambo says:
September 16, 2013 at 8:21
The SPL should have been making demands of Green, and Green should have been crawling on his hands and knees, but instead it looks like (and I don’t doubt it) the football authorities were more desperate to have a ‘Rangers’ somewhere in the league than even Green was. Or else Green knew a secret, and it was more than a handshake!
_________________________________________________________________
Nail firmly knocked on head AJ. The fact that Doncaster and Regan appear to have rolled over I supplication to Green is the really unfathomable item here.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t wish to extrapolate, but the lack of transparency certainly invites the inference that the authorities’ behaviour last summer had more to do with cover-up and self-preservation than TRFC-preservation.
I think both Green and Whyte know where these particular SFA/SPL bodies are buried. I wouldn’t bet on it remaining a secret for ever.
http://t.co/fLLsfJK9WP This journo seems to have forgotten what hapened to ‘The Old Rangers’. As one comment states ‘Is this really how the BBC back their journalists’?
The darkest dirtiest secret in Scottish Football has now been revealed and it will shake the Beautiful Game to its core as well as the Scottish legal system.
Boiled down and stripped of legalese the shameful guarantee states: ‘The SPL hereby undertakes solely and exclusively to Sevco and to no other Person . . . that the SPL shall not . . . take or commence disciplinary proceedings against Sevco . . . in respect of any EBT Payments and Arrangements’.
What is even more incredible is that this deal was struck and distributed with the 5-Way Agreement before Lord Nimmo Smith began his enquiry and before the FTTT announced its verdict on the Rangers tax allegations.
We need clear unequivocal statements by Lord Nimmo Smith and Neil Doncaster and someone, anyone at the SFA who isn’t ‘conflicted’ to reveal the long hidden truth behind the most serious revelation ever to shine daylight on the many dark secrets held in the Hampden bunker.
Many of us have incessantly debated the controversial findings of Lord Nimmo Smith’s Inquiry into Rangers’ EBTs since its release in February this year. There was widespread disbelief at the conclusions and many believed it was just another example of how the scales were weighted in favour of Rangers.
Anyone who has followed my posts will know that I have always supported the integrity of LNS and his two learned colleagues in the sense that the woeful preparation and presentation of the SPL case gave the Tribunal little or no room for manoeuvre in reaching its conclusions. And of course there was the ludicrous intervention of the SFA’s top man in Player Registration which made the name ‘Bryson’ synonymous with ‘clown’ among Scottish Football fans.
On top of that LNS breathed life into the’continuing club’ controversy which has fuelled incessant and often bitter internet debate and indeed sparked the recent vicious attacks on Jim Spence and his family and BBC Scotland – once again – by Rangers fans many of whom openly boast they refuse to buy a TV Licence to support an enemy of Rangers.
For months now we have witnessed an outpouring of information from Charlotte Fakes who has risen above early suspicion that her works were indeed clever fakes to the point that no one disputes their authenticity and, indeed, she has allegedly been reported to the Information Commissioner which is probably the best possible guarantee of the authenticity of the documentation she has provided even though her motives are still unclear.
She recently released what appears to be the final draft of the 5-Way Agreement between Oldco Rangers, Newco Rangers, the SFA, SPL and SFL which had important snippets not present in previous versions including a promise by Rangers and a prominent external newco shareholder not to take legal action the SFA, SPL and SFL and their officers and officials.
This was first alluded to in the Rangers AIM Prospectus in December last year but the reasons for the Rangers undertaking have never been clear although the documentation seemed to suggest that Rangers had been wronged in some way and was holding back on justifiable legal action possibly because it felt blackmailed by the threat of total expulsion from Scottish Football if it didn’t agree to the sanctions of the 5-Way Agreement which had originally mooted title-stripping.
One thing that puzzled me when the 5-Way Agreement was revealed was why there had ever been any need by the Scottish Football Authorities to keep it so tightly under wraps. Everything was basically in the open by then in terms of sanctions although there was the curious matter of the no legal action clause.
But yesterday Charlotte Fakes released a brutal hammer blow which will destroy all remnants of tattered credibility in the Hampden suits and, more importantly, cast serious doubt on the integrity of the Scottish legal system which must be urgently dealt with.
So what has Charlotte gone and done? Only release to the world details of the secret and tawdry side deal proposed by the SPL and agreed to by the SFA and SFL to grant immunity to Rangers newco (TRFCL) from any disciplinary action arising out of the use of Rangers EBTs and the failure to annually register the payments involved with the SFA.
This guarantee was made months before the Lord Nimmo Smith Inquiry sat for the first time and even before its Notice of Commission was prepared and it was given even before the FTTT largely ruled in Rangers’ favour over its use of the EBTs.
At this stage we don’t know if Lord Nimmo Smith and his two colleagues were aware of this incredible secret stitch-up between the signatories of the 5-Way Agreement before they heard any evidence or whether they too were kept in the dark by the Scottish Footballing Authorities who have honed their skills as mushroom farmers for decades by feeding BS to Scottish football fans.
What we not only need but deserve is a clear statement by Lord Nimmo Smith on behalf of his tribunal and its decision as to whether he knew before any evidence was given that a secret guarantee of immunity had been given to The Rangers Football Club Ltd. If he did know can he explain why he was prepared to proceed on that basis and help create some of the aggro which is tearing apart the fabric of Scottish Football and poisoning Society with strange and alien concepts of a never-ending always continuing football club which defies liquidation of its legal operating entity and repeatedly and eternally rises intact from the ashes as a company with a brand new legal entity but which isn’t a Phoenix company.
As to the SFA and SPL/SFL now in the persona of the shiny, brand-new SPFL – unless it too takes no responsibility for the deeds of its deid ancestors – what we need is a straight answer to whether the Charlotte Fakes documentation is bona fide and whether it was signed by Neil Doncaster whose name is on the draft and distributed to the SFA and SFL as stated along with the 5-Way Agreement.
And as for the SMSM isn’t it time you actually grew a pair and dealt with the serious allegations raised by the release of the Charlotte Fakes material. Does the public interest count for nothing in Scotland? If you or your editors are frightened of the ‘dirty little secrets’ an aging and failing PR man in crisis has on you then now is the time to be Spartacus and if you can’t manage that at least do a Jim Spence. You don’t need to use the documents if you are scared – all you need to do is ask the questions.
If you are told ‘No Comment’ then publish and be Spartacus and let the public know the truth and make their own judgement on the way Scotland and Scottish Football is run. If you continue to hide behind weak excuses think about moving to PR as that would seem to be your true home and there will be no crisis of conscience as none exists there as far as representing commercial non-ethical clients.
However be assured that if you cower in a dark corner, close your eyes and dream of being a Twitter Warrior then your readers will continue to judge your inability to tell the truth and turn, in ever increasing numbers, to the internet for their news albeit with many imperfections but at least with lots of people trying to prevent the truth being choked by a surfeit of succulent lamb.
And Lord Nimmo Smith as probably your staunchest supporter since your tribunal decision was issued I think I am entitled to ask another question on behalf of the much-respected poster Auldheid who truly has the wisdom of age – as reflected in his moniker – and the energy and perseverance of a young bull elephant when it came to uncovering and revealing the implications of Rangers DOS and the reluctance of all concerned inluding SMSM to mention it.
I had always thought that this cloak of secrecy was to hide the implications of the Wee Tax Case which should have prevented European entry for Rangers, without the sleight of hand of the Hampden suits. But now I wonder if there was a much darker motive in play as part of the secret immunity for TRFCL.
Quite simply LNS! Were you ever told or given evidence concerning the details of the Rangers Discounted Options Scheme as distinct from their EBT scheme and were you aware of the un-appealed FTTT Decision in the Aberdeen Asset Management(AAM) case concerning DOS schemes which ruled them as illegal under tax laws?
In your tribunal decision you refer to treating the EBT scheme as a continuation of the DOS scheme – cloaked under a suitably confusing name – but did you know that one very senior witness to your enquiry was well aware of the differences and I would find it incredulous that they were unaware of the implications of the AAM FTTT Decision on the Rangers DOS.
And if you weren’t apprised of the differences then it’s over to Neil Doncaster to explain whether this was another dirty secret and if not how did the SPL fail to discover and present absolutely critical evidence re the Rangers DOS which IMO could well have led Lord Nimmo Smith to stripping titles.
UNDERNOTE
The document released by CH detailing the squalid immunity deal for TRFCL can be found at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/168302228/SPL-Undertaking-Letter
StevieBC says:
September 16, 2013 at 1:39 am
I think we see in this article that Tom English is still prepared to peek over the parapet, but not yet ready to go over the top. Rather than a hard hitting piece it’s like a ‘wee fly kick’ in the direction of Black, McCoist and TRFC; it has enough criticism of the main players to merit being considered a true summation of the matter, but he doesn’t make enough of points like his comparison of Sandaza’s ‘disloyalty’ and just how disloyal betting against your own team is. That is a point that many a bear would empathise with as many would be angry with a fellow bear who bet against Rangers (either of them), let alone one of their players doing it.
To me, that should have been the main thrust of his article, not just the tailpiece. He should have questioned McCoist’s loyalty too in light of the way he has downplayed Black’s own disloyalty. He could even have flirted with controversy by comparing the Rangers of Struth and Symon to the Rangers of Green and Mather – and how standards of Rangersness have fallen. (Introducing a hint of ‘old club/new club, but without actually doing it).
I can’t help feeling that had Black still been with Hearts, or ICT, English would have written a much harder hitting piece than this, highly critical, not only of the manager, but of the club itself. Even if, as we suspect, the punishment handed out had been far more severe.
ecobhoy says:
September 16, 2013 at 8:43 am
Ecobhoy, outstanding. I can feel the anger bubbling below the surface in every word. Well done for controlling it.
Me? I’m raging, every day another kick in the teeth. Yet still no statement from the powers that be.
davythelotion says:
September 16, 2013 at 8:33 am
TE appears to know that IB placed an accumulator bet which included TRFC V ES to draw. As he correctly states this makes no sense.
The only way it does make sense is if it was a HT/FT bet.
Everyone knows TRFC won the game…did IB win the bet?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ally McC stated that he had seen the bet and that it was a ten match accumulator that would have allowed IB to retire had it come up.
The Drum………Things bubbling up nicely, the outside world getting involved at long last.
International journalism body calls for action over threats and intimidation of journalists covering Rangers crisis
The tribulations facing BBC Scotland football pundit Jim Spence over the last week have again highlighted the intimidation tactics faced by some journalists in Scotland over the coverage of Rangers FC’s financial collapse.
The issue has even caught the attention of the International Federation of Journalists – a body that speaks for the profession within the United Nations. The organisation, more used to defending journalists in less stable parts of the world, described the situation as “unacceptable”. Meanwhile, the BBC and NUJ have come out fighting after Spence received “vile and disgusting” emails and texts and the BBC received over 400 complaints over a comment about the status of the club following its liquidation in 2012.
But the level of abuse directed at Spence over his comment was reported to have left him considering voluntary redundancy, fuelling concerns that intimidation tactics against journalists reporting on the story have not eased. Professor of journalism and Guardian media blogger Professor Roy Greenslade has described the situation as “very worrying” and BBC Scotland sports pundit Stuart Cosgrove said the “incoming fire” was forcing journalists away from reporting the story.
“I think that they’re facing an alarming situation in Scotland where newspapers and broadcasters are being intimidated into concealing reality and concealing the truth and that is very worrying indeed,” said Professor Greenslade.
“Clearly, a journalist should never face a threat for merely carrying out his job. It’s unacceptable to abuse someone who has merely attempted to report the truth.”
Last year, Channel 4 News broadcast a segment revealing a Scottish QC, Gary Allan, had been given anti-terror guidance from Scottish police after sitting on an SFA panel examining potential rule breaches by Rangers. Another panel member, chairman of Raith Rovers Football Club Turnbull Hutton, described a phone call from Fife police informing him that people had been “lined up” to torch the Raith Rovers stadium.
The incidents were part of a bigger picture. In last year’s Channel 4 News broadcast, NUJ Scotland organiser Paul Holleran said he had been contacted by more than 30 journalists in Scotland who had reason to be concerned for their safety after working on the story. But although he says indications are that the situation has calmed in the last 12 months, he says he believes the tactics have resulted in censorship for some.
“The situation has improved with far less complaints being registered with the union. However, every now and again, like this week, the situation reverts back to high levels of abuse,” he says.
“It is of course a way of attempting to censor journalists and stop them raising certain issues. I believe there has been some self-censorship because of the levels of abuse.”
Holleran said he has intervened three times with employers in a bid to tackle the problem and said the NUJ would take all steps it could to support those being targeted.
“We exist to protect journalists and journalism and we will not stand by and do nothing. We have taken steps this week which we believe will send a message out to the worst offenders but it is a problem for wider society to tackle.”
Of the latest developments in the now long-running saga, a spokesperson for the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists said: “We stand firmly with all the journalists who have been targeted by these threats and urge the Scottish authorities to take them seriously, investigate them thoroughly and bring those who are behind them to justice.
“Together with our regional group, the European Federation of Journalists, we consider that these reported threats to journalists in Scotland are an attempt to intimidate our colleagues and stifle public debate, something which is unacceptable.
He added: “There are legitimate venues for redress to those who wish to raise their concerns over publications in the press but threatening journalists with violence should not be tolerated in a democratic society.”
The Jim Spence incident comes almost exactly a year after the Scottish Sun pulled a serialisation of a book on the Rangers story, Downfall, by campaigning journalist Phil Mac Giolla Bháin, following a massive backlash by Rangers fans.
Upon publishing an interview about the death threats Mac Giolla Bháin had received after breaking many of the major stories charting Rangers’ descent into crisis, the journalist who conducted the interview, Simon Houston, was then deluged with abuse himself on social media.
“He wasn’t prepared for that,” a source close to Houston told The Drum. “He called police in when it became clear on Rangers fan forums that there were attempts to track down his address. There was some really horrible stuff said about his family members. He came off Twitter for a while to let it die down.”
Mac Giolla Bháin believes the levels of abuse facing journalists in Scotland have impacted on their ability to do their jobs properly for fear of the consequences.
“Several journalists based in Glasgow have told me that they ‘tone it down’ when they are required to write about the behaviour of that section of Rangers supporters who indulge in racist and sectarian chanting because of direct threats made to them or because they know of what has befallen other colleagues,” he says.
“I think this is one of the reasons that sports journalists in Glasgow were slow to investigate the impending financial collapse of Rangers in 2010 and 2011.”
Mac Giolla Bháin, who lives in Ireland, is another on the list of journalists who have called in police after serious safety concerns.
“When my home address in Donegal appeared on the Follow Follow website and there was a free flowing discussion then about how and why I should be killed,” he went on.
“Further threats were made against me this year on two separate occasions via Twitter and once more the police here in Ireland were excellent.
“That was in June and although An Garda Síochána have been very diligent in keeping me in the loop I have not heard of any action being taken in Scotland about these threats.”
For some, the Rangers story has been a prime example of an emerging problem presented by the tools and influence digital technology now offers and there could be wider implications for the media if forms of intimidation online are not faced down.
Director of creative diversity at Channel 4 and BBC Scotland football pundit Stuart Cosgrove said the “democracy of debate” was being threatened.
“Online abuse is unacceptable in any context and passion for your club is not a credible excuse. We have gone through a period of extreme tribalism over the last year and some web forums have heightened emotions. It is now very easy to make ‘cut-and-paste’ complaints and therefore to use complaints as a tactic of intimidation.
“Some journalists can’t be bothered with the incoming fire and so avoid controversial football subjects which compromises the democracy of debate. When people bring a journalist or broadcaster’s kids into the fray you wonder if they have abandoned their humanity in the name of football.”
He added: “If you cannot advance reasonable opinions then something has gone wrong with the democratic mood and all titles and broadcasters should want to protect that fragile idea. All reasonable people whether they are journalists or hard-core football fans should respect diversity of opinion.”
According to the NUJ, BBC Scotland’s plans to back Jim Spence include taking its fight to the BBC Trust and challenging a ruling made in June that upheld complaints that the broadcaster’s use of the terms “old” and “new” to describe Rangers FC did not meet accuracy standards, despite liquidation over a year ago. Professor Greenslade has thrown his full backing behind plans to fight the case.
“I think the BBC Trust should reconsider their ruling in the light of better evidence that shows that BBC Scotland reporters were attempting to tell the truth and their ruling was a mistake.
“There were clearly unaware of the special circumstances and BBC Scotland should return to argue the case. They need to understand the situation better.”
Read the author’s story, Angela Haggerty, who has experienced the problem first hand having edited Mac Giolla Bháin’s book, Downfall.
While not fan of the SMSM I can’t see why some people are giving the BBC a hard time for having Paul Murray on the show.
The announcement of the Requesitioners failing to reach agreement with the board was the big story at the end of last week.
The main players are the existing board and Jim McColl’s group.
I believe, currenlty, the BBC are still presona no grata down Govan way, therefore only one side of the story were available to give them comment.
Blin has walked and McColl seems hesitant to give live public interviews, thus step froward Paul Murray who will attend the opening of an envelope when it comes to the omnishambles.
Yes the questions were not tough enough but if they hadn’t covered the story with Paul Murray then we would have been moaning about them not giving it enough air time or that the same journos where just talking nonsense amongst themselves.
My citicisim is that once Paul Murray was in the hot seat the people on the panel never ever ask the questions that the man in the street want to ask and they never challenge the statements made in the same way the man in the street would. However that happens a lot of time regardless of who is being interviewed.
The problem is that we can all sit here and chat amongst ourselves but we know that our audience is limted.
There are of course very few football phone-ins now and if Sportsound Extra and Clyde were swamped by even half a dozen people from this and other blogs the shows would get ripped apart re the nonesense they talk about T’Rangers but folk on here tend to pooh-pooh them as opposed to getting tore in about them.
In many ways the fans get the shows they deserve.
PS
All of us who feel Paul Murray got an easy ride can try and call Sportsound Extra next week and challenge the show. on what was said.
While talking of radio shows it was of interest to note on SSB that Mark Guidi opined to jolly Derek Johnstone that in the rotund one’s playing days Jock Wallce would have kicked a players backside down Edmiston Drive for betting gainst his own team..
DJ replyed that the kicking would have started long before the exit door from the stadium.
Oh how things have changed!!
===========================================================
On a more serious note
a) Have the board missed a chance of cost cutting a la Sandaza ( and lets not forget Darren Cole shown the door for missing a reserve match)?
b) Would they have liked to have cut costs by booting IB out but by keeping him at this time of turmoil they are wanting to give the impression they are financially secure?
c) They are financially secure so can keep IB and pay his salary?
scottc says:
September 16, 2013 at 9:38 am
Ally McC stated that he had seen the bet and that it was a ten match accumulator that would have allowed IB to retire had it come up.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
So Sandaza gets sacked for stating that he was at Ibrox for the money and Back gets supported for betting against his own team with a view to getting an early exit from Ibrox. Hypocrisy of the highest order. Once more Sevconians display the famous Dignity which their predecessors were founded on, according to the spinmeisters
Never in the history of RTC and TSFM have I read up on the last 24hrs posts and “needed” to get to the office more!
Eco and BRTH (with honourable mentions to others). Surely the most obvious interpretation is this.
LNS saw the 5WA and attempted to manouvre around it as best he could confined as he was by the law (and the seemingly very selective dates of commissioning chosen). BRTH asked why the side letters and why only SPL and RFC in whatever guise. I’m willing to bet LNS never saw the side letters, that’s why! It is not beyond the stretch of anyone’s imagination that RFC (times two) the SPL and the SFA each committed to not sue the other. RFC and their supporters (and I specifically include ND and SR in that, since their stance last summer was continuation at any cost) could not run the risk of LNS finding against, especially when the case against appeared to be “a stone waller.” So a tawdry little side agreement, plus a collective decision to torpedo LNS in whatever way was required.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
With apologies to the people on the St Mary’s tube escalator!
Good Morning.
There is an excellent resume and summation provided by ecobhoy above. Very much worth reading again.
However, before you do, can I suggest that anyone interested in where this latest Charlotte revelation takes this should read the article from Paul McConville which I link here:
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/is-the-nimmo-smith-commission-decision-binding-on-the-spl/
It is from March of this year and examines the aftermath and legal effect of the LNS findings.
You may find that it tweaks your curiosity!
This photo was linked to on twitter by @scotzine
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7437/9753350674_d444815416.jpg
My overwhelming reaction BRTH, given the above post and your Paul McConville reminder is at least now I understand what caused Mr Mckenzie to drive off the road! Getting instructions by phone perhaps? Tears of laughter? Or just tears?
Chapeau Ecoboy, but even after reading that excellent piece, I’m still worried about the post above yours.
Carfins Finest says:
September 16, 2013 at 8:43 am
===============================
Williams is obviously an Irvine attack dog and the complaints are more than likely being driven as part of an agenda to silence the truth, this is quite a disturbing turn of events. It’s an attempt to silence the only media outlet where any truthful voice can be heard.
davythelotion says:
September 16, 2013 at 8:33 am
TE appears to know that IB placed an accumulator bet which included TRFC V ES to draw. As he correctly states this makes no sense.
The only way it does make sense is if it was a HT/FT bet.
Everyone knows TRFC won the game…did IB win the bet?
++++++
The ‘Shire were losing at HT/FT. Regarding Black, and using ‘mud sticks-no smoke without fire’ reasoning: the bets revealed were those placed at Ladbrokes. Any of the folk on here who gamble: do you always bet with the same company? I’d wager( 😉 ) Mr Black has used other bookies too…..
Re the recent emphasis in the SMSM about which ‘board’ the Easdale Brothers will serve on at Ibrox, stories such as http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24091694 and http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/sandy-easdale-joins-rangers-club-board-1-3093763, I can’t recall weight being placed on the difference between two such board previously.
Perhaps we are being prepared for another financial collapse, where again it can be dressed up as a continuation of the football side coupled with shedding of the debts.
Finally, to the Neil Doncaster involvement in granting Sevco immunity, the man is an embarrassment to the game. Top contributor ecobhoy sums up the situation comprehsively, TU for this.
I wonder whether all here saw Doncaster’s interview on BBC a few days ago (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24056580). He explains why we have to pay more for entry to matches in Scotland than fans in Germany: ‘What’s not so well understood about the German model is that the German clubs get huge financial support from local businesses’.
Now, I thought a large part of Doncaster’s remit would be to secure ‘financial support’. Yet he appears to be finding it excusable that his failing is the reason he gives for German football being a cheaper product to visit. And he talks there about ‘what’s not so well understood’: does he understand that the German clubs pay salaries to their players far greater than those issued to Scottish footballers, on average? That is what much of the ‘huge financial support’ goes towards, not the cheap standing places he suggests.
Yet he is not taken to task by the interviewer on those points.
WARNING: smug grin from Doncaster at outset might put fans off of Scottish football for life.
In the interests of balance by the way, prompted by reading the herald piece referred to above I would like to register my disagreement with the following post.
TSFM says
September 16, 2013 at 12:07.
I agree entirely with AT on the point of not killing the culture, brand call it what you will (but not ‘club’ as some are easily offended, apparently). Yes, per TSFM’s point had the club (now lets be clear now we’re talking about the official registered walk up and touch legal entity here) been resigned to the junior leagues, or even if it had stalled in the 3/4th division then yes the support for the ‘club’ would have dwindled, just like we saw in the 80’s. I personally do not feel support for the brand would ever have died completely, as was intimated in your post.
Anyway, back to the somewhat larger story of the day.
I note that Keith Jackson has followed up his ‘Rangers Men’ cheerleading act in todays Daily Record
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-rangers-fans-decide-2276500
However right from the title he lets the less enlightened fans down by implying they have some role to play.
The AGM will be sorted out by how the shareholders vote. Only a handful of fans will have any role to play in the outcome.
From RM it seems the views on the current board and McColls gusy are 50/50, therefore I don’t see any major boycotts, demos or the like in the near future.
As always only a foresnic examination of the fully auditied accounts is going to resolve this one.
BigGav says:
September 15, 2013 at 7:37 pm
By the way, I see some clever posters have worked out how to enclose quoted material inside a nice box. Is there a page somewhere that explains this and other formatting tricks?
(Perhaps it could be added to the FAQ.)
=====
No-one prepared to reveal their secrets?
Come on, don’t be a Doncaster. 🙂
BigGav says:
September 16, 2013 at 11:10 am
1 0 Rate This
… No-one prepared to reveal their secrets?
Come on, don’t be a Doncaster.
——-
Haha, good one. You know, if there was ever a protest happening outside Hampden it could include ‘Doncaster Rides’. I’m sure there are some stables that could supply the appropriate donkeys 🙂
Ah’ll get ma bucket and spade …
Seeing as SPL/SFA couldn’t deliver the promised SPL football,then 1st Divsion to Sevco Scotland,maybe this SPL guarantee(re LNS EBT Commission) in favour of Sevco was the price SPL had to pay to keep all sides happy & quiet.
BigGav says:
September 16, 2013 at 11:10 am
Use blockquote with at either end a ‘less than’ and then a ‘greater than’ before the start of the quote, and a ‘less than’ and then a ‘greater than’ preceded by a /
‘Less than’ is above the comma on your keyboard, ‘greater than’ is above the full stop.
It’s hard explaining this!
Danish Pastry says:
September 16, 2013 at 11:20 am
Haha, good one. You know, if there was ever a protest happening outside Hampden it could include ‘Doncaster Rides’. I’m sure there are some stables that could supply the appropriate donkeys 🙂
Ah’ll get ma bucket and spade …
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
….or some KY jelly !!
Some great articles about 5wa and LNS verdict.
Seems the level of corruption concerning sevco, SPL and SFA has no limit to keep the club that used to be rangers alive in some shape or form.
Anger, frustation and depression are terms that I think of because of this continous corruption throughout our game because of one club.
These feelings will be 10 fold if nothing changes and if this dead rotten club with such a corrupt history which involved the HEAD of the SFA are not brought to task for their actions.
Can anyone think of any country that would protect one club to detriment of all the other clubs no matter what crime they committed.
The sad answer is my country.
wottpi says:
September 16, 2013 at 11:01 am
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-rangers-fans-decide-2276500
You have to laugh at the comedy of it all. Keith Jackson, the man who gave us ‘wealth off the radar’ and other sycophantic BS has this to say about jack Irvine:
“Irvine – the man who told the world Craig Whyte was good for Rangers – called McColl a Bull**** Billionaire.”
Keith,
Was it Jack who gave you all the puff pieces that you printed without even the most basic of checks? Or did you just make it all up yourself?
You might know Paul Murray, and find him a decent upstanding kinda guy, but your judgement of character could justifiably be called to question on a number of counts, and you manage to miss out, in this most recent puff piece, Paul Murray’s part in Rangers’ original downfall; either complicit or just plain stupid. At best he stood back unquestioningly while Rangers burned (money – money they didn’t have), and yet you see him as some kind of messiah, set to bring TRFC to safety. Don’t you get it, he was part of the problem then; is part of the problem now; and, if you get what you want, part of the problem forever, or at least for as long as it lasts.
Off Topic
blockquotes explained
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_blockquote.asp
Carry on
Now let me guess which particular readership Keith is trying to get back onside with the Dairly Record.
“KEITH reckons that while Rangers held on to their history, trophies and titles – the club lost its heart and soul after Craig Whyte plunged it under”
So Rangers is still rangers, and anything which went wrong is Craig Whyte’s fault. That kind of sums up what your particular audience want to believe Keith. You couldn’t really be more transparent.
Tif Finn says:
September 16, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Surely Charles Green ‘bought’ the heart and soul too as part of the package?
Keith, do you remember penning this, it’s not that long ago.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/craig-whyte-profile-the-scots-billionaire-1076110
Craig Whyte profile: The Scots billionaire on the brink of taking over the club he loves
FINANCIAL whizzkid Craig Whyte stands on the brink of pulling off the biggest deal of his life – and finally bringing the curtain down on one of the longest-running sagas in Scottish football.
Craig Whyte started playing the stock market at the age of 15. By the time he left school he had more than £20,000 in his bank account.
Today, aged just 39, this financial whizzkid from Motherwell stands on the brink of pulling off the biggest deal of his life – and finally bringing the curtain down on one of the longest-running sagas in Scottish football.
Record Sport understands self-made billionaire Whyte has entered into the final stages of negotiations to buy control of the club he loves from Sir David Murray.
And he’s still one year younger than captain Davie Weir.
A deal worth around £30million is now believed to have reached such an advanced stage that sources say Whyte, a high-roller who splits his time between a home in London and the idyllic Castle Grant in Grantown-on-Spey, could even have the keys to Ibrox in time to fund a major refurbishment of Walter Smith’s top-team squad in January.
The news will delight Rangers supporters who have been fretting over the future of their club ever since Murray first slapped a For Sale sign on the front door of Edmiston Drive around three years ago.
As the club’s financial health deteriorated to such an extent the banks moved in to control the purse strings, a series of false dawns came and went.
First, a consortium headed up by South African-based tycoon Dave King came to the fore only to fail to meet Murray’s asking price.
Then, in March this year, Londonbased property developer Andrew Ellis emerged as the frontrunner and was granted a period of exclusivity in order to get the deal done.
But Ellis, now part of the consortium, did not have the financial clout to back up his bold promises and his bid collapsed, leaving Rangers firmly in the grip of the Lloyds Group.
Exiled Glaswegian King was then talked up once more as the possible saviour but he was also engaged in a long-running battle with the tax man and while those issues remained unresolved, he too looked l ike an increasingly unlikely white knight for a club now engulfed by crisis.
But yesterday, quite out of the blue, Record Sport learned a new man is at the table and that a deal to end Murray’s 22-year reign is ready to be completed.
And that man is a relative boy.
By the age of 26, Whyte was already Scot land’s youngest self-made millionaire. Now, 13 years on, and in charge of a vast business empire, his wealth is off the radar.
Whyte is a venture capitalist who has made his millions from playing the markets – a skill he secret ly began honing in his third year at Glasgow’s Kelvinside Academy. In one of his few interviews he revealed how he immediately regretted going to the private school – because he despised playing rugby.
He said: “I hated the discipline of it. It was a rugby-only school, which I didn’t play as I was interested in football.” Whyte worked weekends for his dad’s plant hire firm. And he saved up his wages to fund his habit of gambling on Stock Exchange.
It is said that, by the time he left school, he had more cash in his bank than many of his teachers.
At 19, he was in charge of his own hire plant.
Now he owns his own castle – one of the most historic buildings in Scotland. And very soon he could be adding Rangers to his portfolio. It remains to be seen if Whyte’s move to capture the club will f lush any other parties out of the woodwork because – despite their failure to strike a deal with Murray – King and his consortium have yet to throw in the towel on their own ambitions.
They had put together a package worth around £18m but this was flatly rejected and Ellis drove the price up when he agreed to pay Murray more than £30m.
The club’s debt has been reduced by around £10m since then but the selling price remains the same.
Now, quite clearly, Whyte believes he will be able to close the deal and the young gun must have said enough to impress Murray, who has stated all along that he will only sell the club to the right people – men with enough money to take the club forward.
Who knows? Murray may even regard Whyte as something of a kindred spirit.
After all, Murray was himself aged just 37 back in 1988 when he launched a takeover of the Ibrox club.
It was the beginning of one of the most successful periods in Rangers’ history but Murray’s aggressive pursuit of European glory eventually saw him writing the kind of cheques that his club could simply not afford.
Now Whyte is bringing his money to the table but it remains to be seen if he will adopt the same scatter-cash approach as the man who has owned the club for the past two decades.
But if he brings in even half of the number of trophies Murray delivered then the fans are unlikely to be complaining.
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Let’s just look out your best quote ever, the one you will be remembered for.
“By the age of 26, Whyte was already Scot land’s youngest self-made millionaire. Now, 13 years on, and in charge of a vast business empire, his wealth is off the radar.”
You helped get the fans onside Keith, you were a large part of their downfall. Their administration and liquidation. You should have reported it properly, you didn’t.
ecobhoy says:
September 16, 2013 at 8:43 am
” ..The darkest dirtiest secret in Scottish Football has now been revealed…”
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Excellent post.
Not to impose a burden on you, ecobhoy, but would you consider writing to LNS giving an objective statement of what we believe to be the facts and asking for his observations?
I doubt if any organ of the Press will.
Since, as far as I know, he is not still sitting as Judge, there would be no impropriety in so writing, no ‘murmuring of the judge’ or any kind of ‘conrempt’?
john clarke says:
September 16, 2013 at 12:31 pm
1 0 Rate This
Not to impose a burden on you, ecobhoy, but would you consider writing to LNS giving an objective statement of what we believe to be the facts and asking for his observations?
I doubt if any organ of the Press will.
Since, as far as I know, he is not still sitting as Judge, there would be no impropriety in so writing, no ‘murmuring of the judge’ or any kind of ‘conrempt’?
——–
Here here, on behalf of TSFM.
Danish Pastry says:
September 16, 2013 at 11:20 am
BigGav says:
September 16, 2013 at 11:10 am
… No-one prepared to reveal their secrets?
Come on, don’t be a Doncaster.
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Haha, good one. You know, if there was ever a protest happening outside Hampden it could include ‘Doncaster Rides’. I’m sure there are some stables that could supply the appropriate donkeys 🙂
Ah’ll get ma bucket and spade …
===================================
I think skip and JCB might be required to deal with the amount of BS 😆
Danish Pastry says:
September 15, 2013 at 9:12 am ‘
‘….A good antidote is to visit a local junior or amatuer club. .’
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Enjoyed that post, DP, and this morning I shared , in a vicarious kind of way, the pleasure that is to be obtained from football , when I drank my coffee while reading in today’s ‘Scotsman’ the match reports of the 18 games in the first round of the Scottish Cup .
I all of a sudden grew nostalgic, thinking of the first ‘real’ game I ever attended- Parkhead Juniors- and my first football hero, Jim Barry, who lived up the stair from me.
Ash pitch, railway sleeper ‘terracing’, corrugated iron fence, and the wee man whose right-angle measurements were a joy to watch as he lined the pitch with saw-dust.
There may have something less than silky football.
There was a lot more integrity.
What a state we are in.
To what end I ask myself.
What purpose worth such trouble
What cause so dear as to engage the high and mighty in it’s service
What nation’s truth , buried so deep in secrets
Is something broken which must be repaired
A jewel perhaps in the nation’s crown
or just the ruling and reigning
to be restored
.
Time for a lie down I think . . .
Danish Pastry says:
September 16, 2013 at 12:40 pm
john clarke says:
September 16, 2013 at 12:31 pm
Not to impose a burden on you, ecobhoy, but would you consider writing to LNS giving an objective statement of what we believe to be the facts and asking for his observations? I doubt if any organ of the Press will. Since, as far as I know, he is not still sitting as Judge, there would be no impropriety in so writing, no ‘murmuring of the judge’ or any kind of ‘conrempt’?
——–
Here here, on behalf of TSFM.
—————————————————–
I have no problem in murmuring a judge if I believe I am correct in what I say. However I still think that there is a possibility that LNS was ‘used’,
I have often felt and posted on here more than once that the powers that be seemed to want or hope LNS would do their dirty work and strip titles which would then be overturned in a legal action by TRFCL. This would of course have let the SPL off the hook.
Little did I know that TRFCL was cup-tied but only to an extent and, in any case, perhaps the way that the RFFF was introduced late on to the proceedings was a clever move on Green’s part as they weren’t covered by the legal bar contained in the SPL’s shameless manoeuvre.
The way to LNS is possibly though an intermediary and I would be happy to meet with him so if anyone has any suggestions then pls PM me. I could not presume to take on the mantle of TSFM but would only do so in my own right.
I believe the first step in that would be to ascertain if LNS was shown the side letters (can’t believe we’re using that term again) as well as the 5WA itself before he made his initial pronouncement. That is a procedural question that doesn’t actually drag in what is presumably now a wizened old man who probably could do without any aggro at this stage of life. If ND (or whoever) says he was we will take his silence as agreement to the point in which case he was most certainly not “used” and instead chose to deliberately peddle a myth and collect his 30 pieces of silver for whatever reason. I suspect that this is not the case however.
Seriously, can this website do any more to hand a reporter the nation’s watergate on a plate?
Was reading catch up this morning and, on seeing his post, immediately decided to ask if there was some way to bring Eco’s post to LNS’ attention. I then read on to the most recent post and saw JC (and DP) had already had the same thought.
Eco, as the author, and a well informed poster to boot, do you know of a way to do this direct, or to get it into the public domain sufficiently well, so that he would definitely see it? I do believe his view on this latest leak that there had been a carve up before he ruled is VERY important.
Oh for a journalist who might actually ask the question!
Anyone running a book on when, should that be if, the Audited Accounts will appear?
I’m suprised no one has picked up on this, but the Sevco immunity was actually put to use in the aftermath of LNS.
I commented on this at the time (under my previous ‘Areyouaccusingmeofmendacity’ profile before the revamp of TSFM put paid to that!) as I couldn’t quite believe what I’d just read, and even as a layman in the legal context, I could see what was being enacted was completely wrong.
If you remember right, the outcome of the investigation was that ‘Rangers’ were fined £500,000 for their sins, except,.given the lengths that LNS had gone to establish that Rangers were, to all intents and purposes, the same club as before, this was explicitly to be the responsibility of ‘the old co’ – effectively, the punishment for the club was being levied on the owners, rather than the club itself. As I said at the time, how could this be? It completely undermined any authority that the SFA would have over clubs. Did this not mean that the next time a player was banned for some offence, then the club in question could turn around and go ‘Well, we now believe this is a matter for the owners of the club rather than us, so our player will continue to be picked’?
Suddenly, if Sevco were to be discharged of any responsibility for what had gone before despite claiming to be the same club, it all makes sense. There’s your smoking gun right there – not only is there allegedly a sideletter to this effect, we actually have evidence of this being put into action!
Am I missing something obvious about the side letter?
Clearly there was an agreement between all of the parties that TRFC were to be regarded as the same “club” as the Old Rangers and that this myth was to be perpetuated at all times following the transfer of the SFA licence from Oldco Rangers to TRFC.
No doubt it occurred to TRFC that if that was the line they were taking there was a possibility that any punishment arising from the LNS enquiry may be visited on TRFC as part of the myth and they therefore sought to draw a legal distinction between the two entities by asking for an indemnity for TRFC.
By giving the indemnity are they not actually rubbishing their own myth? If the old Rangers died then it was the one to be punished for EBT connected offences and not TRFC who are nothing to do with Old Rangers and did not exist when the offences were committed.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Shooperb says:
September 16, 2013 at 1:21 pm
You beat me to it. I concur with your findings.
Like your thinking, Drew!
I equally concur on one level Drew, re the legal entity that is ‘the club.’ But you don’t, at massive expense to the football paying customer, allegedly railroad an independent enquiry, either by deliberate deception, or worse, active collusion just to win a club versus new club arguement. Or perhaps you do Mr Ogilvie!
I have made this point before, but I shall make it again, you can have as many goes at Messers Regan and Doncaster as you like, you can even remove them from the scene, and it will change absolutely nothing. These guys are just very well paid monkeys, if you want real change then the organ grinders need to be held accountable. Its the men who sat and continue to sit on the various SFA and now SPFL boards who are the real villains in the football governance side of this, not the two pantomime dames who were just doing as they were instructed, hence the new job and/or pay rises they received as rewards.
Sadly too many are willing to defend these people, as a result of partisan blinkers, until that changes, it will always be business as usual at the SFA and SPFL.
Shooperb says:
September 16, 2013 at 1:21 pm
Shooperb point 🙄 , Shooperb. It really amazed me how LNS made the ‘same club’ reasoning that seemed to open the way to any penalty actually being meaningful then made that redundant by saying, ah, but it was the company that was guilty! If that was the case, why on earth was it Rangers Football Club that was in the dock, and not the company? If I remember correctly there seemed to be a bit of a panic around TRFC when he announced they both, old and new, were treated as the same club under SPL rules. Could it be that, rather than trying to secure the notion that RFC and TRFC were one and the same club, he was merely separating the two bodies, the club and the company, to facilitate the 5 Way Agreement side letter?
Allyjambo says:
September 16, 2013 at 11:47 am
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-rangers-fans-decide-2276500
You have to laugh at the comedy of it all. Keith Jackson, the man who gave us ‘wealth off the radar’ and other sycophantic BS has this to say about jack Irvine:
“Irvine – the man who told the world Craig Whyte was good for Rangers – called McColl a Bull**** Billionaire.”
Keith,
Was it Jack who gave you all the puff pieces that you printed without even the most basic of checks? Or did you just make it all up yourself?
You might know Paul Murray, and find him a decent upstanding kinda guy, but your judgement of character could justifiably be called to question on a number of counts, and you manage to miss out, in this most recent puff piece, Paul Murray’s part in Rangers’ original downfall; either complicit or just plain stupid. At best he stood back unquestioningly while Rangers burned (money – money they didn’t have), and yet you see him as some kind of messiah, set to bring TRFC to safety. Don’t you get it, he was part of the problem then; is part of the problem now; and, if you get what you want, part of the problem forever, or at least for as long as it lasts.
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Try replacing Paul Murray with Campbell Ogilvie in your rant above and you’ll see it works just as well 🙂
The Jambos who met CO during his time at Hearts say he came a cross as a decent type of bloke but frankly I don’t buy it. Like Paul Murray he is either devious or wholly incompetent.
wottpi says:
September 16, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Yes, Ogilvie is definitely of the same ilk. I don’t know how complicit he was at Hearts for the mess the club is in now, but, if he showed the same interest in the reality of Hearts under Romanov as he claims to have shown at Rangers ie I know nothing, then he certainly must carry some of the blame. Sadly, in my experience, men like Ogilvie and Murray are all too common in business, able to create an aura of extreme competence, while in fact being experts at ‘getting on’ while avoiding ever rocking the boat, or pointing out to their bosses the possibility that they, the bosses, may have made a serious, or even minimal, mistake. They are, generally, very likeable people, or they wouldn’t be able to get away with it!