Who Is Conning Whom?

What follows is a record of an exchange in October with David Conn of The Guardian in respect of an article written by him in August 2016 reporting the arrival of The Rangers FC in the top tier of the SPFL.

In that article David Conn suggests that there was no tax overdue in respect of “The Wee Tax Case” of 2011 because he was told by the SFA that agreement had been reached with HMRC to postpone payment until after the Takeover by Craig Whyte and on those grounds the SFA granted a licence.

For such an agreement to pass UEFA FFP rules muster it had to be in writing, signed by HMRC and dated 31st March 2011 or earlier. There were behind the scenes discussions on this point and attempts were made separately at the time to obtain such written unpublished documentation that complied with UEFA FFP regulations from Darryl Broadfoot the Head of SFA Communications, but in spite of promises it never arrived.

Not surprising as, had it existed, Celtic would certainly have been informed when they first wrote to the SFA in December 2011 – thereby rendering Resolution 12, placed at the 2013 Celtic AGM requesting UEFA to investigate the UEFA licensing process throughout 2011 as truly unnecessary.

The first e mail (edited with cosmetic changes to aid reading by  a wider audience but no change of sense) made the following points to Mr Conn on 9th Oct 2017…..


Dear Mr Conn.

On 5th August 2016 you wrote an article about the arrival of “Rangers” into the top tier of the SPFL.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/05/rangers-scottish-premiership-tax-issue

(* A relevant extract from that article – in italics – can be read separately at the end of this blog)

Given that the Craig Whyte trial in July 2017, revealed discrepancies (already known to the Celtic shareholders pursuing Res12) between  what was stated at the trial and what was reported to the SFA and UEFA during 2011 in terms of the status of the wee tax case liability, then it would appear that your article:

  1. Does not fully reflect what took place, giving the impression over two paragraphs that a written agreement signed by HMRC to postpone payment had been reached between HMRC and RFC by 31st March 2011. Had this been so it would mean that there was no overdue tax  payable at 31st March 2011 as UEFA define an overdue payable to tax authorities. 
  2. However what was revealed in court in July 2017 was that RFC had accepted the liability before 31st March 2011 and so it was not “potential” with “discussions continuing with HMRC to establish a resolution to the assessments raised”,  as reported in RFC Interim accounts on 1st April 2011. It was for this reason the SFA have asked their Compliance Officer to investigate what took place and had there been a written agreement to postpone prior to 31st March 2011, there would have been no need to describe the liability to the SFA in the way that it was. 
  3. Further your article does not fully reflect the reason why “Rangers” had to wait three years before playing in European competition, which was that UEFA viewed “Rangers” as a NEW club/company. This was not mentioned although the SFA,  who advised you they held an unpublished HMRC letter also held a copy of a letter  dated 8th June 2016 from UEFA Head of Club Licensing Andrea Traverso (copy attached) to that effect.

Consequently  will you be following the SFA Compliance Officer investigation, and indeed will you be telling him the basis on which you reported the SFA’s position in your article of August 2016 without revealing sources of course?

Importantly in terms of all your other investigatory work into skulduggery, are you also aware that despite what you may have been told by the SFA, Resolution 12 was and is ultimately about making the SFA more accountable and transparent to supporters, an aim which I think you would surely support and is there any chance of you helping with that aim by considering what has caused the SFA to finally capitulate and do what Res12 asked for in 2013, albeit domestically?

A national football association using the media to try to derail a genuine investigation into their behaviour is surely of national, never mind Scottish, interest?

In some ways it matters little now if Rangers gained and retained that licence by deception as the court statement indicates, with the result the SFA Compliance Officer is conducting an investigation.

What matters more is that the SFA have used the absence of accountability to cover up their part in the licensing process, not just from March through to September 2011 but to ignore genuine enquiries from supporter/shareholders of a member club from 2014 to  July 2017. During which time their positions;

  • that the bill had not crystallised, or
  • was subject to dispute or
  • was under appeal or
  • that after 31st March, monitoring was not an SFA function, as stated by SFA CEO Stewart Regan,

were exposed (in court) as self-serving myths.

The SFA and how poorly they serve the game in Scotland because they are accountable to no one is THE story of Resolution 12 and you could help bring accountability about by reporting how you were duped by the SFA in August last year and report on what the Compliance Officer finds.

As it is your August article has undermined your reputation somewhat as someone whom I understand seeks better accountability and transparency from football authorities.

PS what Celtic shareholders lawyers reported to SFA, and when, is available if you decide to engage.

Yours etc


After a couple of reminders, one copied to The Guardian Sports Editor a reply was received dated 8th November 2017 in which Mr Conn said.


Hello 

Thank you for your emails and apologies for not having replied sooner; I have been very busy recently. I have seen that some questions have been raised about the piece I wrote in relation to this. I understand that this issue has been of great interest to people; however, I do not currently have plans to revisit it.

Thank you for your interest and apologies again for not replying sooner.

D Conn


As the SFA Head of Communications, Darryl Broadfoot, who departed from his post in January 2017, would most probably be the person to whom David Conn spoke. He is the same person who failed to clarify this article at:

https://stv.tv/sport/football/1358000-uefa-won-t-investigate-resolution-12-rangers-euro-licence-claims/

by STV reporter Grant Russell, who also recently departed from his job at STV.

The STV article omitted certain references about UEFA treating The Rangers FC/The Rangers International FC as a NEW club/company, a piece of unsolicited information  that was contained in a UEFA response to Celtic shareholders’ lawyer from Andrea Traverso, Head of UEFA Club Licensing) and which was copied to the SFA a week before STV published.

Some may also remember the strange episode where The Guardian accepted an advert from the Celtic AGM Resolution 12 requistitioners in 2016 attempting to draw the attention of Resolution 12 on a tax evasion aspect to the wider tax paying British pubic. Having accepted payment for a “Persistence Beats Res12tance” advert, The Guardian for some unexplained reason changed their mind and decided not to publish and refunded the payment.

They have been coy on answering who, what or why they changed their mind and as can be seen from the above reply from David Conn appear unwilling to pursue the UEFA 2011 Licencing issue further (at least for now). Hopefully those plans will change when the SFA investigation is complete, whatever the result.

Mr Broadfoot although no longer an SFA employee, appears to be continuing in some capacity as an SFA spokesman given his appearance on BBC Sportsound on 8th November along with Paul Goodwin of the Scottish Football Supporters Association (SFSA) to discuss the findings of an SFSA survey involving over 16,000 supporters that highly criticised the SFA for their governance of Scottish football.  The programme segment can be heard here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sQRFX2vOWUvkaeRAEEYL3vzMqdXGFE8T/view?usp=sharing

The overriding point here though is not the credibility of main stream media outlets, which is at an all-time low, but the use of those outlets by the SFA officials using the media in an attempt to produce an outcome that suits them and a single SFA member club at the expense of the value of the shares held by shareholders in another SFA member club.

Awareness of the impact on shareholder value of member clubs by SFA decisions is yet another issue that an enquiry into SFA methods/processes should address, particularly since HMRC made the SFA aware in 2009 of their concerns about Rangers use of ebts in player contracts.

Until such an investigation takes place the SFA will be viewed as no longer fit to govern Scottish football in its present form.

 

Extract from Conn Article of 5th August.

Even now, an allegation persists the SFA was deficient in allowing Rangers a licence to compete in the Champions League during that season, 2011-12. The case, based on leaked documentation from the time and pressed by a group of Celtic supporters on their club to pursue as resolution 12 of the 2013 annual general meeting, was recently argued strongly in a report by the Tax Justice Network campaign.

The argument is that in breach of Uefa rules against clubs having overdue tax payable, Rangers owed £2.8m on a discounted options scheme following a successful HMRC challenge known as the “wee tax case”.

The SFA is adamant its committee which considered the licence dealt with the issue thoroughly and received the necessary evidence the tax was not overdue according to Uefa rules. One informed source involved with the issue at the time, who did not want to speak publicly owing to continuing criminal proceedings against Whyte arising out of his tenure at Rangers, said that at the initial deadline, 31 March 2011, HMRC had agreed that the £2.8m did not need to be paid until after his May 2011 takeover.

Before subsequent 30 June and 30 September deadlines, Rangers, by then owned by Whyte, are understood to have told the SFA they were in discussions with HMRC over the money owed. Uefa rules allow tax not to be treated as “overdue” where there is a written agreement with the tax authority for payment to be extended.

The SFA, although declining to disclose details of the documentation it received, citing confidentiality with its member clubs, told the Guardian via a spokesperson: “The Scottish FA has always been clear the licensing award issued to Rangers in 2011 by the licensing committee was correct. The process is audited on an annual basis by Uefa.”

Uefa, pressed on the issue again recently, said: “The licence for the 2011-12 season was granted by the SFA and there was no reason for Uefa to doubt this decision.”

Uefa has said it has no need to investigate further if the tax was in fact overdue according to its definition, because after that season, Rangers’ fate anyway equated to a sanction for breach of the rules: they could not play in European competition for the following three years. HMRC, taking a stern view of clubs defaulting on tax, declined to approve a company voluntary arrangement with creditors and Rangers went into liquidation.

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Auldheid

About Auldheid

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

818 thoughts on “Who Is Conning Whom?


  1. Well I never saw that one coming after the last few days of blog surfing 
    DM has decided to stay put .
    The Level 5 office will be like a spinning like a waltzreathon,
    for me
    Milne was demanding the full cash up front and informed DM of this 

    DM was not willing to buy out his contract and take TGSL word for it that he would be payed back in installments 

    I predict many L5 plants on the boards declaring they never wanted DM in the first place 


  2. MACFURGLYDECEMBER 7, 2017 at 21:08
    That is the post of the night 
    spot on 


  3. From the RFC CVA proposal

    CVA Assets
    5.9 If the Conditions are satisfied and the Sevco loan is drawn down, the CVA Assets available to creditors will comprise:
    5.9.1 £8,300,000;
    5.9.2 The Player Transfer Fees;
    5.9.3 Any sums awarded and paid (less applicable costs) to the Company in respect of the High Court Proceedings less costs and expenses of the Administration, or of the Joint Administrators, and CVA Trading Costs;
    5.10 The Excluded Assets will be excluded from the CVA, as they are required to be utilised by the Company for the purpose of continued trading of the Company.
    5.11 For the avoidance of doubt, the proceeds of all sums due from the SPL together with any broadcasting monies payable to the Company will be payable to the Company but for the benefit of Sevco (in the event that this Proposal is approved and the Loan drawn down) and shall be Excluded Assets.


  4. Thursday, 07 December 2017, 21:40by Rangers Football Club7THERE has been a great deal of media speculation regarding the appointment of a new manager. We assure all supporters that they will be the first to know when we are certain we have someone with the correct qualities required by our club.
    The Chairman made it clear at the AGM that the club did not consider there to be an outstanding candidate among those who had applied for the position and the club was therefore considering managers currently under contract. This requires permission from their present clubs.
    The position of Rangers manager requires an ability to win football matches and the mentality to cope with the demanding off-pitch environment that goes with being the Rangers manager. This is a critical aspect of our assessment of any candidate during the interview process.
    After the two games against Aberdeen, we requested permission to engage with their manager to assess his readiness and willingness to consider the Rangers position. This was declined. We were subsequently made aware by Aberdeen’s statement that, at this stage in his career, it would be best for him to remain in his current post. We endorse that position because moving to a massive club like Rangers is a big step with concomitant risk. We continue to consider candidates but will only appoint someone in whom we have full confidence and who feels he is ready for the job.
    In the meantime, we have great confidence in Graeme Murty, who will continue as interim manager at least until the end of the year. The manner in which he has approached this task is a credit to himself and the club.

    FOR ANYONE WHO DIDN’T WANT TO CLICK ON IT


  5. From the D&P Creditors report of 24 Aug 2012
    6.4 As has been widely publicised, the Purchaser was unsuccessful in its application for the transfer of the Company‟s SPL share and following further negotiations with the Football Authorities, ultimately agreed such terms as were necessary to obtain the transfer of the Company‟s SFA membership and gain membership of the SFL. The terms of these agreements were, inter alia:
    6.4.1 that the Company‟s SPL share was transferred to Dundee Football Club.
    6.4.2 that the Company‟s SFA membership was transferred to the Purchaser.
    6.4.3 that the SFA Appellate Tribunal, which was due to be reconvened following the Interlocuter of Lord Glennie on the Club‟s Judicial Review, was empowered to impose the Transfer Embargo.
    6.4.4 that the Purchaser is required to assume liability for all football-related creditors, being all creditors of the Company that are football clubs, the Football Authorities or clubs of the other national football associations. This includes outstanding transfer fees and SFA disciplinary fines arising from the SFA Disciplinary Tribunal commented on in previous reports.

    6.5 For clarification, any monies due from the SPL were included amongst the assets of the Company sold to the Purchaser and were reflected in the sale consideration paid. It was therefore for the Purchaser to negotiate with the SPL regarding payment of these monies, which was concluded in the above noted agreements.

    (The “above noted agreements” were those that formed the 5-way agreement, although the agreement wasn’t specified as such in the Creditors report)


  6. Statement O’Clock

    https://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/club-statement-83/

    THERE has been a great deal of media speculation regarding the appointment of a new manager. We assure all supporters that they will be the first to know when we are certain we have someone with the correct qualities required by our club.

    The Chairman made it clear at the AGM that the club did not consider there to be an outstanding candidate among those who had applied for the position and the club was therefore considering managers currently under contract. This requires permission from their present clubs.

    The position of Rangers manager requires an ability to win football matches and the mentality to cope with the demanding off-pitch environment that goes with being the Rangers manager. This is a critical aspect of our assessment of any candidate during the interview process.

    After the two games against Aberdeen, we requested permission to engage with their manager to assess his readiness and willingness to consider the Rangers position. This was declined. We were subsequently made aware by Aberdeen’s statement that, at this stage in his career, it would be best for him to remain in his current post. We endorse that position because moving to a massive club like Rangers is a big step with concomitant risk. We continue to consider candidates but will only appoint someone in whom we have full confidence and who feels he is ready for the job.

    In the meantime, we have great confidence in Graeme Murty, who will continue as interim manager at least until the end of the year. The manner in which he has approached this task is a credit to himself and the club.


  7. tonyDecember 7, 2017 at 21:47
    Thursday, 07 December 2017, 21:40by Rangers Football Club…..
    ———
    That statement is embarrassingly weak. If Traynor drafted it, and that’s the best he can do, then they are heading down the slope fast from here.


  8. Bloody long-winded TRFC statement, just to say;

    “We’re still looking.”

    Mibbees King will write a letter to Santa insisting he has been a good boy all year, and not told any lies either – honest! 😉

    And top of his pressie list could be an accomplished manager / magician who can pull the title out of the hat with no money?


  9. That statement clears the air.  The SMSM clearly didn’t appreciate how much TRFC didn’t want McInnes anyway, that’s ’em telt.


  10. Court business for next Friday morning:
    LORD TYRE – C Munn, Clerk
    Friday 15th December
    By Order
    Between 9.00 and 10.00am
    P115/17 Note: RFC 2012 Plc for orders under para75  –  Shepherd & Wedderburn LLP  –  Wright Johnston & Mackenzie LLP

    This is the BDO action against the administrators

    … also

    LORD DOHERTY – E Hunter, Clerk
    Friday 15th December

    P997/17 Note: RFC 2012 Plc for orders under4.16 –
    Dentons – Brodies LLP


  11. tonyDecember 7, 2017 at 21:47
    ‘….. We assure all supporters that they will be the first to know when we are certain we have someone with the correct qualities required by our club.’
    __________
    Is that a wee bit of bitchiness coming through? They go for DM, he turns them down, and they then decide that he doesn’t after all have the ‘correct qualities’? 
    Is there really no one on the TRFC Ltd or RIFC plc boards who has the ability even of the wretched SDM to turn a fecking calamity to some kind of PR advantage?
    That is an abominably bad statement, pathetic in its mean-spirited , spiteful  and aggressively defensive tone.
    The fat-ars.d hack who wrote it , and the jackasses who authorised its release, clearly have no idea  of what good PR is meant to be.
    Geez, they could have come out of that shambles smelling of roses with a better-crafted statement.
    Sack Level5 ( are they still the PR outfit? I’ve lost track?) but sack whoever wrote that statement, would be my advice.


  12. I am neither Derek McInnes or an Aberdeen supporter.

    Sorry if anyone is shocked by that revelation.

    However if I was I would find that Rangers statement insulting and condescending.

    The position of Rangers manager requires an ability to win football matches and the mentality to cope with the demanding off-pitch environment that goes with being the Rangers manager. This is a critical aspect of our assessment of any candidate during the interview process.

    After the two games against Aberdeen, we requested permission to engage with their manager to assess his readiness and willingness to consider the Rangers position. This was declined. We were subsequently made aware by Aberdeen’s statement that, at this stage in his career, it would be best for him to remain in his current post. We endorse that position because moving to a massive club like Rangers is a big step with concomitant risk. We continue to consider candidates but will only appoint someone in whom we have full confidence and who feels he is ready for the job.

    Absolutely disgraceful.


  13. EASYJAMBO
    DECEMBER 7, 2017 at 22:32
    ================================

    Is that the £29m that was mentioned in the BDO update EJ.


  14. I’m afraid I’m away on holiday while next Friday’s hearings are on. I’m unsure if JC is similarly unavailable.


  15. JOHN CLARKDECEMBER 7, 2017 at 22:32
    Sack Level5 ( are they still the PR outfit? I’ve lost track?) but sack whoever wrote that statement, would be my advice
    —————–
    Michael Stewart@mstewart_23 Insinuating that Derek is not ready for the job really is a jilted lovers response. This whole episode does not look good for Rangers.
    ———-
    Level 5. what a wast of money that could be spent on getting a manager.
    Ps do the ibrox fans ever question just how much their cash strapped club spend on Level5 getting it wrong all the time?


  16. easyJamboDecember 7, 2017 at 22:32
    ‘..This is the BDO action against the adminstrators’
    ________
    Thanks, eJ.
    I have been trying to have a daily look at the Rolls of Court,but I wasn’t able to look in after 5.00 pm this evening.
    That’s in my diary, for next week.
    I keep looking in on the ‘Court of Session judgments’ page to see whether Lord Bannatyne has arrived at his judgment and published it.
    It seems that the publication of a judgment can be several months after the date of the judgment.
    I suppose that means that in some cases the parties are told long before the judgment is made public.
    So, maybe Lord Bannatyne has decided , and King and the Takeover Panel have already [ since the date (30 November) when I got the email saying that the Takeover panel were still awaiting the decision] had the decision.
    Probably not.
    I suppose we have to watch the RIFCplc ‘investor’ page on the website,where details of an offer (if the decision was/is that King has to make an offer , by a specified date,or be held in contempt) have to publicised.
    One wonders at how the judges cope! They hear very complicated , lengthy cases, have to ponder their decision and write their judgments, while still hearing new cases in Court. When do they find the time to write their judgments?


  17. The applications they received up to now have been publicly rejected, next step in the search was to approach people who were under Contract.
    This targetted search threw up McInnes who is, apparently not up to the job; it would appear from the statement that they consider him a bit of feartie.   
    So, back to the start !
    I am glad that McInnes has honoured his contract and the spirit of the statements made by himself and Milne last week. Suggests he is a man of some character.
    By the way; Sevco, MASSIVE,  by what measure ?  


  18. easyJamboDecember 7, 2017 at 22:40
    ‘…I’m afraid I’m away on holiday while next Friday’s hearings are on.’
    _____________
    That’s a blow!
    Your hearing, and memory recall, is so much better than mine!Even in the smaller court-rooms you seem to hear more clearly than I.
    But, of course, you are much younger than I!03


  19. Kris Boyd – there is still hope! :
    “Derek has decided to stay at Aberdeen and that’s a surprise to everybody because the majority in Scotland thought he would have gone to Rangers, myself included.
    “They (Rangers) are not going to open up the books for Derek to go through, so if he’s not been given permission to speak to Rangers, then’s he’s probably taken it off his own back to say he wants to stay at Aberdeen.
    “But is it dead? we just don’t know.”

    (SKY Sports)


  20. DenDecember 7, 2017 at 23:19
    ‘..I am glad that McInnes has honoured his contract and the spirit of the statements made by himself and Milne last week. Suggests he is a man of some character.’
    ______________
    There was a very understandable moment of indecisiveness.

    After all, who among us cannot say in his/her heart that they would not love to have been a ball-boy at their club, never mind play for it, never mind becoming ‘Manager’ of it!

    And who is there among us who would not enjoy the prospect of increased (?)remuneration, increased challenge, increased (?)status …..

    McInnes , however, has shown that he has the savvy to take on board that the club that is TRFC Ltd is not at all the same club that he once played for, but a mere artificial construction made by the big  hands of a Yorkshire schoolboy foot-race champion who would have made the Glasgow barras hucksters look like rank amateurs!

    And it was, fair do’s, brave of him to rise above the frenzied incitement of the SMSM hacks- who are all now denying that they had any part in supporting the attempted destabilisation of Aberdeen football Club.

    He now has to try to show the Aberdeen support that his two defeats v TRFC Ltd were in no way connected with any interest on his part in securing the TRFC Ltd job.

    Good luck.


  21. Mibbees this manager shambles will produce an unintended consequence for the Blue Room?

    It should now – finally – be clear to the bears that;

    – the SMSM is crap, and is just an unpaid PR outlet for TRFC
    &
    – King and co are incompetent and the club has no cash.

    And it’s a poor show that their youth coach is left to carry the can in the meantime.


  22. All I’ve read on a number of blogs tonight is people blaming James Traynor or Chris Graham for that appalling statement from Sevco. I don’t believe it was either of them. The statement has a number of petty digs at McInnes very similar to the petty digs in previous statements aimed at Celtic, Dundee Utd and others. And we know who the author of those statements was. David Cunningham King.
    And that word, ‘concomitant’. It’s exactly the kind of verbiage King employs when attempting to present himself in that smug, non-glib and shameless liar, kind of way.
    So I decided to randomly choose an interview/speech of Kings and see if, by any incredible coincidence, Mr King might have used that word before. 
    Sevco AGM from last year, David King’s, Chairman’s speech. And there it is, all of 4 minutes and 29 seconds in:
    “CONCOMITANT.”
    https://youtu.be/JxNDa1L-_g8
    I wonder what the Ibrox faithful will think about that given the pelters they have been giving Jabba and Chris Graham?


  23. DenDecember 7, 2017 at 23:19 
    The applications they received up to now have been publicly rejected, next step in the search was to approach people who were under Contract.This targetted search threw up McInnes who is, apparently not up to the job; it would appear from the statement that they consider him a bit of feartie. So, back to the start !I am glad that McInnes has honoured his contract and the spirit of the statements made by himself and Milne last week. Suggests he is a man of some character.By the way; Sevco, MASSIVE, by what measure ?
    ______________________

    Level of debt? They certainly win hands down on that one!


  24. By the way; Sevco, MASSIVE, by what measure ?
    ————–
    massive(ˈmӕsiv) adjectivehuge or heavy. a massive building; a massive burden of taxation. massief, enorm ضَخْم، كَبير масивен maciço masivní; těžký massiv massiv; enorm ογκώδηςenorme, monumental
    ————
    MASSIVE, by what measure ?….Laughter over these last years. No other club comes close.


  25. So we’ve now had about ten hours to digest the belter of a statement from Dave King & co. last night. Their arrogance clearly knows no bounds.

    Anyway, if only wee Stevie in IT was a Dons fan – he might have chosen to edit the statement before publication. Something along the lines of;

    ‘We endorse that position because moving to a brand new club like The Rangers is a big step with concomitant (09) risk, driven by the unrealistic expectations of the senior management and the fans, and the non existent resources available to meet such expectation’

    Okay, it’s maybe not nearly as amusing as the original statement, but it’s definitely 99.9% (©Kris Boyd) more accurate.


  26. On this part of the TRFC amateur hour statement:

    ‘We were subsequently made aware by Aberdeen’s statement that, at this stage in his career, it would be best for him to remain in his current post. We endorse that position because moving to a massive club like Rangers is a big step with concomitant risk.’ 

    I’ve just re-read the Aberdeen statement and see no mention or hint of ‘at this stage in his career it would be best for him to remain in his current post’ or even the slightest hint that he thought the TRFC job to be to big for him (even at this stage in his career), What he did say, though, was:

    ‘…I spoke with Derek who felt it was a major thing to be considered for the managerial position at a club such as Rangers…’

    Now, is there anyone here who doesn’t think that Milne was being diplomatic here and wouldn’t have referred McInnes to TRFC’s accounts and their track record of losses, and that that is what he meant by ‘a club like Rangers’? Does anyone think that had Milne told him that he thought he wasn’t ready to take over at Ibrox, that McInnes would have been happy to accept that, because ‘not ready’ is tantamount to saying ‘not good enough’, or ‘not capable of’? That is not the way to get an experienced and ambitious manager to stay at your football club, but I would be very surprised if a club chairman such as Milne wasn’t fully aware of TRFC’s problems, and, though he might never discuss them publicly, would have appraised McInnes of everything he should really know about a ‘club like Rangers’!

    I hope Stewart Milne is paying attention to yet another example of what happens when he throws TRFC a bone – they twist it to their pathetic advantage by, in this case, insulting both Aberdeen FC and it’s manager. 

    It really is way beyond the time for every club in Scotland to start speaking the truth about TRFC!


  27. “Take away non-reoccurring expenditure like stadium repairs and Sports Direct compensation and add historical retail profits plus some extra football prize money” – so take away actual costs and add hypothetical revenue and hey presto the books will balance!

    With financial acumen like that, you should be on the NewGers board!


  28. Evening Times salutes TRFC’s “endorsement ” of Derek McInnes’ decision. Didn’t see that coming.


  29. Just had a quick browse through sheepish fan forums.  Seems a general inclination to back McInnes.  Also seems that statement from Rangers will have been very helpful to McInnes in getting continued backing from AFC fans.


  30. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41810807

    On 30th October there were many reports like the one above indicating that T’Rangers were going to be doing their ‘due diligence’ in terms of identifying a new manger.

    Given the club’s statement last night can we expect someone (perhaps Mark Allen)  to be fired for failing to notice that their number one target clearly has no backbone whatsoever and was so obviously not up to the task of managing such a massive club? 

    Surely that should have been identified as a key factor when assessing the pros and cons of McInnes as a potential manager.

    It surely isn’t the case that they just thought he would up sticks from Pittodrie  because he is supposedly a ‘Real Rangerz Man’?


  31. I think it’s reasonable to assume that Rangers would have offered Derek McInnes personal terms which at least matched those which he has at Aberdeen so there have to be other reasons that he did not want the job. I just thought I would have a think about what those might be and jot a few down.

    1, He is happy at Aberdeen and doesn’t actually want to go anywhere.

    2, The other club did not want his backroom staff as part of a package and he likes working with them.

    3, Rangers would not pay the compensation so he would have had to breach his contact and then be sued by Aberdeen. He was not willing to do that.

    4, He did not want to work under a Director of Football. Or the specific one at Rangers.

    5, He did not want to work for the Rangers board, either not liking or not trusting them. Possibly both.

    6, He did not want to manage a team whose support turn on people, and whose expectations far exceed reality.

    7, He knew that he would have to seriously re-build the squad and knew there simply weren’t the resources to do it properly. (See 6)

    8, He did not want to put his family through the consequences of perceived failure (See 6)

    I’m sure other people can come up with more good reasons for declining the post. The point is, there are a lot of them.

    The only plus seems to be “But we’re Rangers and we’re massive”.

    The problem with the plus side is … well it isn’t really true.


  32. SMUGASDECEMBER 8, 2017 at 10:32

    Well indeed.

    It is interesting to note that there seems to be a total lack of comment in the SMSM that T’Rangers appear not to have stumped up the required cash to even speak to McInnes.

    Both Milne and McInnes and the respective reps must have fully understood the conditions of the new contract they signed this past summer after McInnes turned down the Sunderland job.

    McInnes knew exactly what he was getting himself into and the commitment of the Dons to him and vice versa.

    If Skinto FC can’t stump up the required cash for opening up discussions, even by using any of the short term loan companies that advertise on the TV,  I can’t see why McInnes would take the financial and career risk of joining a club that has had six managers in five years. With Murty having two stints to really make it seven managerial appointments.

    If he had resigned and paid his own compo, in 12-18 months on there is a good chance he would have been on the ropes and could have been squabbling for his cash like Warburton and Caixinha.

    Michael Stewart is one of the few people who called it perefectly.

    The fact that so many involved around the game as pundits, reporters and journos got it so wrong just points to the poor standard of commentary on our game and the lack of understanding (or is it a fear of acknowledging) of how bad things are at Ibrox.


  33. Something we are all getting as we follow the ‘Rangers’ saga is a very good insight into how PR works. I’d have said ‘good’ PR but that’s maybe a non sequitur as, by it’s very nature, it could only be considered ‘good’ if it was 100% truthful, and the whole point of it is to get across the publicity a company, or person wants the truth to appear as. The truth doesn’t really need PR.

    But I digress somewhat, sorry19

    Anyway, and I know it’s Chris jack, but his ‘article’ today is clearly the next stage on from what was written in last night’s statement from Ibrox. I’ve not read the full article, as I’ve only seen the back page on twitter, but it was most likely written for the sake of the following headline:

    ‘RANGERS ARE A MASSIVE CLUB. IT’S BEST DEL STAYS PUT’ (Massive was in a larger font than the rest of the headline)

    Now anyone reading that who isn’t interested in the facts would read that as the reason given (by McInnes or Aberdeen) for McInnes refusing to join TRFC. No one, and certainly not Aberdeen or the man himself, has actually given his reason for not joining TRFC, and the only suggestion that the job might have been too big for him has come from a representative of TRFC, a source that clearly didn’t think it was too big for him until he turned it down.

    Now it might be clever PR to put a usable link into a statement, in this case ‘Massive club like Rangers’, and, ‘best for him to remain at his current club’, to create the above misleading headline, or similar, but when you have to use muppets like Chris Jack it does become a bit obvious.

    What Stewart Milne actually said was that he gave McInnes 48 hours to think about the move, so a proper headline, and the basis for the article, would have read, something like, ‘Del spent time thinking about coming to ‘Rangers’ before saying no’. But that would have broken the PR thread, and probably have cost Jack his succulent KFC for this weekend21


  34. HelpumootDecember 8, 2017 at 03:02

    All I’ve read on a number of blogs tonight is people blaming James Traynor or Chris Graham for that appalling statement from Sevco. I don’t believe it was either of them. The statement has a number of petty digs at McInnes very similar to the petty digs in previous statements aimed at Celtic, Dundee Utd and others. And we know who the author of those statements was. David Cunningham King.

    AllyjamboDecember 8, 2017 at 11:27

    Now anyone reading that who isn’t interested in the facts would read that as the reason given (by McInnes or Aberdeen) for McInnes refusing to join TRFC. No one, and certainly not Aberdeen or the man himself, has actually given his reason for not joining TRFC, and the only suggestion that the job might have been too big for him has come from a representative of TRFC, a source that clearly didn’t think it was too big for him until he turned it down.

    Shame the compliance officer is clearly so busy eh!


  35. So the Derek McInnes “Tapping by Media” project failed well after the 11th hour when the media had told us he was already choosing curtains in Glasgow.
    The Ibrox club and their fans were convinced by their chairman’s statement last week at the AGM and the media barrage too and last night were in shock and caught napping – hence the stupid press statement and attempt to make it known to us all that they didn’t really want him anyway and were just having a concomitant kick at the McInnes/Docherty tyres.

    However that isn’t all that happened yesterday.

    There was a wee meeting at Hampden called “The SFA Congress and Convention”.

    Its a kind of series of regular very important meetings where everyone who is valued in football gets invited to see what a great job Stewart Regan and the SFA are undertaking on our behalf. 
    And let me say that there is no doubt that some of what The Congress seeks to do and does will indeed be for the good but we the fans wouldn’t know it because we were not invited.
    This is a paragraph from this weeks SFSA (Scottish Football Supporters Association) newsletter that I received having filled in their recent survey on Scottish Football.
    …………………

    The SFA Convention this ThursdayOn Thursday, member clubs will gather at Hampden for the 2017 Scottish FA convention to share best practice, discuss current trends and participate in workshops geared towards improving the game: scotfa.co/convention17  according to their publicity on social media. Sadly the SFA has failed to invite any representative from Scotland’s only national fans organisation, the SFSA. We had anticipated that given the huge amount of unpaid work that we do for fans and clubs and being Scotland’s representatives at the Football Supporters Europe network our presence might have been merited. Despite claiming it has invited the “football family” the SFA have missed yet another opportunity to engage properly with ordinary football supporters. Could it possibly be related to the independent academic research that we organised last month that dared to criticise the governance of the game or maybe the invite was just lost in the post?
    ………………………….
    The failure to engage with fans is nonsense.

    SFSA’s recent research asked some real questions from over 16000 bona fide Scottish fans. This was an incredible response that provided an incredible insight into what we the fans really think.
    I know that Supporters Direct Scotland who are funded by the SFA were there as valued guests but SFSA who have people like Henry McLeish (of the report) and Cathy Jamieson (of Bernard son) on their board were not even invited.

    Given that economic analysis of revenue generation confirms that in Scotland the real stakeholders and economic generators are us the fans
    We are the people (Sic) who pay for season books and buy merchandise and pies and fund the clubs and their wages.
    The people who get to see English Internationals on council telly but not our own country’s.
    The people whose game seems to only have Betting Company Sponsors.
    The people whose administrators cannot organise things like properly numbered balls in their top cup competitions so that there are two Brora Rangers in some draws!

    Why were the SFSA not invited as valued members and contributors to your Congress Stewart?

    Are the real fans and their views such a threat to your Congress and Convention?

    Is there a danger they might ask questions that don’t fit with your pre determined script?

    And a wee hint to the SMSM
    Isn’t there a story in this?


  36. wottpiDecember 8, 2017 at 11:02
    ‘…..Michael Stewart is one of the few people who called it perefectly………………..the fact that so many involved around the game as pundits, reporters and journos got it so wrong just points to the poor standard of commentary on our game and the lack of understanding (or is it a fear of acknowledging) of how bad things are at Ibrox.’
    _____________
    Concomitant with being absolutely scrupulously fair in one’s criticism of  pundits and journos is the requirement that one should be ready to give credit where credit is due.
    I therefore have to say that Michael Stewart was not a lone voice: Chick Young had for long aired his views that McInnes would not be going to TRFC Ltd, even to the point of calling up his successful record over many years as a tapper-in to ‘sources’.
    He was shaken a little bit the other night when the news of TRFC’s approach broke,but nevertheless, he deserves a bit of credit for not following the party propaganda line.
    (Oh, that was sore, having to say that!)19


  37. JOHN CLARKDECEMBER 8, 2017 at 11:50

    I did say Stewart was ‘one of the few’ and I can’t say that I heard the bold Chic’s take on things but glad to hear what you say in that regard, despite your obvious pain. 10

    The fact remains that far too many in the media and within the game were willing to accept what they saw as the inevitable (based of course on the Big Lie that its the same club), even when people like Michael Stewart, Ian McCall and perhaps Chic were all pointing put McInnes is no-one’s mug and would be leaving no stone unturned in making his decision if he was going to be offered the T’Rangers job.

    Having had his fingers burned at Bristol and clearly not being happy about what was on offer at Sunderland, despite what I assume would have been really good money, he was obviously someone who wasn’t going to jump to anyone else’s tune. Let alone a club reliant on loans from a convicted tax dodger. 

    A total lack of balance and no grasp of reality with regard to the situation Scottish Football finds itself in these days. 


  38. JOHN CLARKDECEMBER 8, 2017 at 11:50
    Aye a fair quantum of concomitance with that quintessential SFMship is required to give the Saintees biggest fan anything else rather than the cold shoulder on a decent night out.  The misguided view that TRFC have an elevated status is founded on a sense of entitlement so the sucking up to L5 feeds and speculation is not unexpected amongst fans with laptops and EBT’ers such as Boyd, Rae, Ferguson et al.  The illuminating thing here is just how far the supposed journos have gone down the same road, with the notable exception of Chick in this case.  I suspect he may well have had an inside track which is more than we can say about any of the others.  Who knows, maybe he asked TRFC, an off the wall idea for the SMSM there?


  39. FinlochDecember 8, 2017 at 11:40
    ‘….Why were the SFSA not invited as valued members and contributors to your Congress Stewart?’
    _________________
    Because,Finloch, the SFA leadership can be characterised as being  one or more of the following:inward-looking, incestuously up its own fundament, secretive, self-protective, duplicitous, seriously self-harmed by its readiness to corrupt the Sport of which it is at present the Governance body.
    It cannot run any risk of recognising an organised body of supporters [which it does not control] for fear of being seriously called to account  for its manifold failure in so many respects, not least its failure to grasp that 16 000 plus fans cannot all be wrong, and that what they say is overwhelmingly condemnatory and that in closing its eyes to its customer base it is  behaving like the head-in-the-sand ostrich.


  40. Ex LudoDecember 8, 2017 at 12:29

    Didn’t get the connection to the statement, but no matter, thanks a million for that link, EL. Gerry Rafferty certainly was a great talent. A really good (tuneful) song, too, and first time I’ve heard it.


  41. AJ, I think the song is about blaming someone else on your own shortcomings. I was prompted to look for the song after reading a tweet which compared the McInness debacle to a guy getting a knock back at the Palais de Dance and blaming the girl. There’s not many non classical songs which feature a French horn in the arrangement though. I would also recommend Mary Skeffington which Gerry Rafferty wrote as a tribute to his mother.


  42. ALLYJAMBODECEMBER 8, 2017 at 11:27
    and the only suggestion that the job might have been too big for him has come from a representative of TRFC, a source that clearly didn’t think it was too big for him until he turned it down.
    ————–
    So true.


  43. https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017/1208/925988-gordon-smith-slams-astonishing-rangers-statement/

    Former Rangers favourite Gordon Smith has hit out at the Ibrox board for their bitter response to Derek McInnes’ snub.
    Gers released a statement on Thursday night after learning the Aberdeen boss had turned down the chance to return to his old club as manager.
    It said they had “endorsed” the 46-year-old’s decision to stay put as they hinted he was not up to managing “a massive club like Rangers”.
    The statement added: “We continue to consider candidates but will only appoint someone in whom we have full confidence and who feels he is ready for the job.”
    But those words have perplexed former striker Smith – who also previously served at Ibrox as director of football.
    He told Sky Sports News: “I find the whole thing astonishing.
    “It seems strange that it takes so long to make the appointment, then when Derek turns it down they come out with this statement saying it was probably the right thing that he stays at Pittodrie because really they were trying to assess whether he was the right person for the job and the fact he is staying at Pittodrie proves he isn’t the right person.
    “It’s almost like they are saying he didn’t have the bottle for such a big role.
    “It absolutely is an embarrassment for the Rangers board. They are trying to say now that he wasn’t the number one candidate.
    “I just don’t understand how they can say that.”


  44. Ex Ludo, it was great to hear that bit of Gerry Rafferty – a great talent that I used to see play with his first band in the Highlands in 1966!  And I have a 45 of Mary Skeffington.
    To get back to McInnes, surely the certainty of him moving to Glasgow came down to either Sevco entitlement or they tapped him up; it has to one or the other?  When I read their statement last night, I thought it was a spoof.  They would have been as well saying that they only approached Aberdeen because they’d read it in the daily rags!


  45. Yes, on every Level, it looks like TRFC has got its tactics massively wrong wrt to appointing their new manager.

    Even if they were sure they would get McInnes, they could at least have instructed the SMSM to copy/paste ‘rumours’ that a high Level, alternative manager(s) was also being considered ?

    Just to hedge TRFC’s bets, so that if for any reason McInnes said “Naw”, then TRFC could then spin that McInnes was not in fact their first choice – or some such BS.

    [It seems like the standard MO when a club is linked with a player: they communicate that they have other players to consider for the same position, so its not a negative PR story if the player doesn’t arrive at the club after all.]

    And…TRFC / Level42 have had several weeks to plan for all possible outcomes.

    Mibbees they just aren’t sharp enough to plan any better ?  22


  46. A *Rangers man.

    We have heard a lot of talk over the past 6 weeks about the significance of Derek McInnes being a Rangers man.  Both on social media and the mainstream media.  I’m never quite sure just how important that is.  Likewise for my own team’s manager to be a ‘Celtic’ man.

    There are too many examples where this has proven to be worthless.  Two good ex players – Tony Mowbray and Lou Macari – did not hack it as managers.  Whereas Gordon Strachan was successful with no Celtic connection.  Even Martin O’Neil & Brendan Rodgers had little other than they might have been ‘Celtic Minded’.

    I don’t know what it brings to the job on a daily basis.  Sure they probably get a buzz every morning walking through the door or coming out the tunnel on match days.  But other than that it’s all down to football.  The history and culture is probably something to mull over in quiet moments at home.

    I think Derek McInnes has proven that.  There is more to the job than just being a ‘Rangers Man’.  It’s not enough by a long shot.


  47. Just to be clear, in case my last paragraph is taken the wrong way, I am pretty sure DM was more than capable of managing at Ibrox.  But I think he looked ‘under the bunnet’ and did not  like what he saw there.  He has a history of it – Sunderland – clever man.  Avoid poison chalices at all costs.


  48. Ex LudoDecember 8, 2017 at 13:12 
    AJ, I think the song is about blaming someone else on your own shortcomings. I was prompted to look for the song after reading a tweet which compared the McInness debacle to a guy getting a knock back at the Palais de Dance and blaming the girl. There’s not many non classical songs which feature a French horn in the arrangement though. I would also recommend Mary Skeffington which Gerry Rafferty wrote as a tribute to his mother.
    ____________________

    Thanks for the info EL, and I’ve just listened to Mary Skeffington, beautiful song and very much not rock and roll. I get the connection to ‘Her father didn’t Like Me Anyway’ now04


  49. I know I shouldn’t…
    Extracted from Derek Johnstone’s p!sh today, with my highlighting;

    “…It is a huge call for Derek to make and it is a slap in the face to the Rangers board after they took six weeks going through the process and then made a move for him on Tuesday…”
    ===============================

    And just what was that ‘process’ Derek ?

    Shirley, the recruitment process would only really have started when TRFC had handed over the contractually stipulated GBP1M: to open talks with McInnnes ?

    Or, it took six weeks of relentless PR pressure – via the compliant SMSM including Derek himself – to unsettle and intimidate Aberdeen Football Club ?


  50. StevieBCDecember 8, 2017 at 16:49

    Just as with Chris Jack, having a PR ‘strategy’ is one thing, having the right people to carry it out is something else entirely.

    As you so correctly point out, the only open ‘process’ that was being carried out was via the media, unless, of course, he knows/thinks he knows that illegal (in a football sense) approaches were made directly, or via DM’s agent. Even if such approaches/tapping up, were just a figment of his fevered imagination, I’m not so sure that he is wrong when he talks of a process, for as sure as King dodges the truth for a living, he also delivers instructions to the media via Level5/Traynor.

    I’m sure that in his desperation to earn his weekend’s share of the succulent KFC, Mr Rather Large Derek Johnston has inadvertently let the cat out of the bag. It’s fortunate for TRFC and Traynor that nobody pays much attention to that buffoon amongst buffoons!


  51. Derek McInnes: Rangers fans turn on board over Aberdeen boss’s rejection

    By Tom English BBC Scotland 2 hours ago

    Derek McInnes decided to remain with Aberdeen despite Rangers’ approach

    At 272 words, the Rangers statement of Thursday night was brief compared to some of their bloated efforts of the past, but it will still go down as an extraordinary thing that somehow managed to make an already bad situation even worse.

    In explaining why they failed to secure Derek McInnes as their new manager – part of the statement was a thinly-veiled attempt to portray him as being too weak to take on the job – the Ibrox board resorted to “patronising”, “spiteful” and “undignified” language that was “unbecoming of Rangers”.

    Those are not the remarks of a pundit, or a journalist, or a fan from another club, they are plucked from a Rangers heartland, from the Bearpit, the comments section of the most thunderous of all Rangers supporters’ forums, Follow Follow.

    The statement was described as “a shambles”, “disrespectful”, “awful”, “unnecessary”, “condescending drivel”, “embarrassing and childish” and “absolute garbage.”

    The board, by turns, were depicted as “not fit for purpose”, “lacking in class”, “farcical” and “massively failing the support”. One contributor said: “Amazingly, there seems to be no end to our uselessness.” Others called for the board to be sacked.

    In among the outrage, there was, of course, a championing of those in power at Ibrox and backing for every word contained in their statement, but the majority appeared mortified by it. Time and again, the same sentiment arose: ‘This kind of stuff should be beneath us’.

    Some Rangers fans would appear to be arriving – if they have not already arrived – at the point where the goodwill is going, or has gone, where the gratitude of a section of the fans towards chairman Dave King and his team for ousting the old guard has become exhausted.

    Graeme Murty will remain Rangers caretaker after the failed approach for McInnesThere comes a time when being better than the Easdale brothers is not enough anymore. The tortured Mark Warburton saga, followed by the expensive catastrophe of Pedro Caixinha, followed by the protracted and failed pursuit of McInnes, has caused significant reputational damage to this Rangers board. This is not outsiders talking. It’s their own people.

    There was no need for such a soap opera. When Caixinha was sacked, McInnes was immediately identified by Rangers as their number one target.
    They looked around to see who else was there, as they’re obliged to do in the interests of the club. They returned to McInnes. Thought about it again. And thought about it some more.

    All of that soul-searching, in the wake of their blunder with Caixinha, was understandable, but it should have been over weeks ago. Rangers’ loss to Hamilton at Ibrox on 18 November really ought to have been the trigger for action. They’d had more than enough time to get their ducks in a row by then.

    From Caixinha’s sacking, Rangers took 40 days to make official contact with Aberdeen – and then got knocked back. What does that say about the effectiveness of this board? And what does the rejection from McInnes do to their prospects of landing a manager of substance? Surely the first questions their next target will ask are, ‘Why did McInnes turn it down? What is it about the club that he didn’t like the look of?’

    In turning down Rangers’ approach, he has also made it harder for them to secure a manager with the kind of track record they require.

    McInnes had become fed-up with the disruption the episode was causing in his professional life. Through their prevarication, Rangers planted seeds of doubts in his mind.

    How much did Rangers really want him? Were they as one in their support of him?

    He always had issues with the Rangers job, although most people thought he’d overcome them. Even from a distance, he could see things that troubled him, not just questions about budgets, but issues with certain people of influence at the club.

    McInnes has a huge amount of control at Pittodrie. He has people all moving in the same direction, all with the same goal of bettering Aberdeen as much as they possibly can. He has unity and stability. Would he have the same at Ibrox?

    In the end, it came down to this: the only way he was leaving Aberdeen to join Rangers was by resigning and thereby torching every relationship he’d created at Pittodrie over the years.

    He decided that the Rangers he would be joining just weren’t worth it. He appreciated what he had at Aberdeen too much to leave rancour and bitterness in his wake.

    When that statement was issued on Thursday evening, it begged questions about how it was allowed to be released.

    Managing director Stewart Robertson and chairman Dave King are left seeking a new managerIf the Rangers board don’t concern themselves with how it was perceived by those outside of Ibrox then they might have cause for thought about how it has gone down among elements of their own support.

    There were few comforting words in that statement for Rangers fans. Very little for them to rally around.

    Had there been an acceptance that this process had been a mess and that serious lessons would be learned then that would have been something. Had there been an element of contrition and a reassurance that Plan B was about to be acted upon then there might been damage limitation.
    Instead, the tactic was to point the finger at McInnes, seemingly in the hope of changing the narrative away from an examination of their own failings and on to the Aberdeen manager’s supposed reasons for turning them down.

    If playing to the gallery was their intention then it would appear it has failed. All they have done is shine even more light on the fiasco.

    Rangers are still looking for a manager. Forty-three days and counting.


  52. ALLYJAMBODECEMBER 8, 2017 at 17:08 

    I’m sure that in his desperation to earn his weekend’s share of the succulent KFC, Mr Rather Large Derek Johnston has inadvertently let the cat out of the bag. It’s fortunate for TRFC and Traynor that nobody pays much attention to that buffoon amongst buffoons!

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

    Big DJ is a pundit on Radio Clyde’s Superscoreboard tonight. The first caller was an impassioned Rangers fan, pointing out that Rangers have no money to go after a Manager of any stature. ‘How do you know that?’, DJ asked, to which the caller replied ‘the accounts, the AGM, they have soft loans all over the place’. DJ then said ‘well let me tell you something. I spoke today to someone who knows, and the money is there for a manager, and the money is there for a manager to buy new players’. Neither the host, or the other pundit (Hugh Keevins), challenged him on this utter tripe. It would have been like shooting fish in a barrel taking him to task on that statement, but still they said nothing. 


  53. Derek McInnes: Aberdeen fans ‘must forgive and forget’ and ‘get behind’ boss

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42275328

    Derek McInnes has guided Aberdeen to three cup finals, winning one, and three second-place league finishes

    Aberdeen supporters should “forgive and forget” after the saga linking their manager Derek McInnes to Rangers, says a fans’ group leader.
    Scott Barclay, chairman of Dons’ Supporters Together, was “absolutely shocked and stunned” when Aberdeen announced McInnes would remain as boss.

    Earlier on Thursday he said McInnes’ position was “untenable” ahead of Friday’s Premiership game at Dundee.

    “When I got the news I laughed, I couldn’t believe it,” Barclay said.

    “But now we must get behind him. He is our guy, he has laid his marker down and we have to recover from what has been a rough last five games for us, starting on Friday.

    “Aberdeen away fans are a raucous bunch and I think they will be 100% behind the team, no question. I think Derek will get a great reception.

    “A lot of fans will think ‘we have stuck it in the eye to Rangers’ and that is a huge win for us. Some of us might stand back and think ‘what is the back story here?’

    “I want to accept the club statement, I am delighted to read it, it makes sense. Maybe to Derek, this was the biggest decision of his life that will impact his family forever.

    “But I do think there is a bit more to it. That is the question that will linger in Aberdeen fans’ minds.”

    Aberdeen have lost three of their last five Premiership games, with Rangers replacing them in second place on goal difference following back-to-back wins over the Pittodrie side.

    But Barclay believes that, with McInnes’ immediate future resolved, Dons fans need to remember what he has brought to the club since his arrival in March 2013.

    He has led them to three successive Premiership runners-up finishes, as well as the 2014 Scottish League Cup.

    “We want to get back to remembering what Derek has done and built up for us,” Barclay added.

    “We don’t take any win for granted, and we have tailed off dramatically in the last five games – the Kilmarnock game [a 3-1 win] was a blip. We haven’t really started to play this year. We have got a long way to go.

    “But forgive and forget. This is football, so results mean everything. If we go on a massive winning run, a lot of things will be forgotten, because Derek has lifted us up so much.

    “He has given us success, credibility and belief. He was, and still is, the figurehead for the Kingsford campaign for the new stadium.

    “There is so much that people have bought into, and that was probably hurting a bit too much at the thought that Derek was going to walk away.

    “I would put on a lot of money on Aberdeen’s away fans (at Dundee) being 100% behind the team. We need to rip up what has gone before and tear into the songs and chants, and really get behind the team and give something back.

    “The team has been unsettled, there is no doubt we have had a rough ride of it over the last six weeks.”


  54. upthehoops December 8, 2017 at 18:46

    I can only listen to that show on catch up as I can’t be doing with all their adverts…. and it allows me to rewind to confirm the stupidity of the comments I just laughed out loud over!

    No doubt their producer told Keevins and BFDJ to “MOVE ON”. Disgraceful though that is.


  55. Rangers: Derek McInnes staying with Aberdeen is ’embarrassment’ to Ibrox

    7 December 2017 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42274847

    Many observers assumed McInnes would be keen to take over at a club he played forRangers’ failed pursuit of Derek McInnes has left the club “embarrassed” and the Ibrox board looking “clueless”, says former midfielder Derek Ferguson.

    The Aberdeen manager opted to stay at Pittodrie on Thursday after “weighing up” an approach from Rangers.

    “I’m absolutely stunned. I thought it was a gimme once Rangers were pursuing him,” Ferguson told BBC Sportsound.

    “It’s a bit embarrassing. For a club of Rangers’ stature to be six weeks without a manager is not good enough.”

    Rangers sacked former manager Pedro Caixinha six weeks ago on 26 October, with caretaker boss Graeme Murty leading them to four wins and two defeats in the interim.

    He is likely to remain in charge for Saturday’s home Premiership game against Ross County.

    “Rangers have put their eggs in one basket,” Ferguson noted. “The directors don’t seem to have a Plan B. They just look clueless at the moment.

    “Embarrassing? To me, and all those Rangers supporters. There has been no clarity.

    “At the AGM the chairman Dave King said they were looking at certain people in employment. Well it has not worked out and it is not good enough. Is it going to take another six weeks?”

    Ferguson, who played more than 100 games for Rangers, believes their failure to appoint a permanent successor has cost them further ground on Glasgow rivals Celtic. They are seven points behind in the Premiership, having played a game more.

    “At times players look for excuses and they have got the biggest excuse of all, that they have not got a manager there to answer to,” he added.

    “Graeme Murty has come in and done fantastically well, but I look at the other side of it. The two games Rangers lost, to Hamilton and Dundee – if a Derek McInnes was in as manager, I don’t think they would have lost those games.

    “If they had won those games, they would be a bit closer to Celtic.”

    Ferguson believes that McInnes, who spent five years at Ibrox as a player, was not convinced Rangers would give him the level of input into all aspects of the club he has at Aberdeen.

    “I thought emotion would have played a huge part in it, looking at Derek being a Rangers supporter and having played for the club as well,” he added.

    “There are some things that he has had a look at. The couple of days people are saying that he has spent time with his family, I think he has looked at all aspects.

    “Would he have control of just the first team? Mark Allen, the director of football – would that relationship work?

    “In my opinion Derek would have liked to have had a bit of input, certainly in the academy side.

    “Looking at it from the outside, I think he has not got those assurances, and that is why there are huge question marks.”


  56.     Would it have been less embarrassing for the Sevco statement to merely have iterated. “Sorry, but we’re skint!”


  57.  ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see’.   Schadenfreude is a dish best served cold ….. and slowly.  


  58. You have to laugh 
    Now it;s DM didn’t fancy working with a DOF ,really did he not know sevco 2012 had a DOF 
    For me sevco 2102 did not have the money to speak to DM and he was unwilling to quit 
    Pure and simple 

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