Over the past couple of years, we have built a healthy, vibrant and influential community which recognises the need to counter the corporate propaganda spouted by the mainstream media on behalf of the football authorities.
The media have, not entirely but in the main, been hostage to the patronage of those in charge of the club/media links, and to the narrow demographic of their readership. Despite a continuing rejection of the media’s position by that readership (in terms of year on year slump in sales) there is an obstinate refusal to see what is by now inevitable – the death of the print media. The lamb metaphor in fact ironically moving to the slaughter.
The football authorities in Scotland, once the country that gave the world the beautiful game, are rigid with fear that their own world will fall apart – because they are wedded to the idea that only one football match actually matters. To that end they will do whatever it takes to ensure that it continues. They have long since dispensed with the notion that football is an interdependent industry, and incredibly, even those who are not participants in that match follow like sheep towards the abattoir.
The argument is no longer that one club cheated and got away with it. The debate that we need to have is one about what is paramount in the eyes of the clubs and the media . Is it the inegrity of sporting endeavour, or box-office?
For out part, independent sites like this have accelerated the print media’s demise, and there have been temporary successes in persuading the clubs to uphold the spirit of sport. However our role has up to now been to cast a spotlight on the inaccuracies, inconsistencies and downright lies that routinely pass for news. News that is imagined up by PR agencies and dutifully copied by the lazy pretend-journalists who betray no thought whatsoever during the process.
Despite our successes, it really is not enough. We have the means at our disposal to do more, but do more we need to change ourselves, because the authorities sure as hell aren’t gonna.
We need to provide meaningful insight into the game that removes the Old Firm prism from the light path. We need to provide news that has covered all of the angles. We need to entertain, inform and energise fans of sport and all clubs.
We need to do that from a wholly independent perspective. None of this refusing to tell the truth about club allegiances. There is no reason why intelligent men and women can’t be objective in spite of their own allegiances (although the corollary absolutely holds true). Our experience of the MSM in this country is that the lack of arms-length principles in the media has corrupted it to such an extent that they barely recognise truth and objectivity. We need to be firm on those arms-length principles.
In order to do that we have put together a plan (with enough room to manoeuvre if required) as follows;
We will rebrand and re-launch as the Independent Sports Monitor. We have acquired the domains isMonitor.co.uk and IndependentSportsMonitor.co.uk, and those will be the main urls after the re-launch, hopefully later in the summer.
The change in name reflects the reality of our current debate which is not always confined to Scotland or football. It will also give us the option in future of applying the success of our model to other sports and jurisdictions through partner sites and blogs. This should also help in our efforts to raise funds in the future. However any expansion outwith the domain of Scottish football is some time away, and will depend on the success we have with the core model.
Our mission statement will be;
- ISM will seek to build a community of sports fans whose overarching aim is the integrity of competition in the sport.
- ISM will, without favour, seek to find objective truths on the conduct and administration of sport. We will avoid building relationships with individuals or organisations which would bring us into conflict with that.
- ISM will provide a platform for the views of ALL fans, and guarantee that those views will be heard in a mutually respectful environment.
- ISM will also endeavour to inform and entertain members on a wide range of topics related to our shared love of sport.
- ISM will seek to represent the views of sports fans to sporting authorities and hold the authorities to account.
We have estimated our (modest) costs to expand our role as per recent discussions. The expanded role will take the form of a new Internet Radio Channel where we hope to provide 24/7 content by the end of the year. It will also see a greater news role where we will engage directly with clubs and authorities to seek answers to our questions directly. And we will seek to contact the best fan sites across Scotland with a view to showcasing their content.
We have identified individuals who we want to work (initially on a part time basis) towards our objectives, we have identified premises where we want to conduct our business, and we hope to move into those premises during this summer.
To finance these plans there are a couple of stages;
- Initially (as soon as possible) we need to pay accommodation and hosting costs for the first year. To do so, we hope to appeal to the community itself. Our aim is to raise around £5000 by the end of August.
- There are salary costs (around £15,000) attached to our first year plan, but these have been underwritten by Big Pink, and equipment costs (est. £3000). These will be reimbursed if the advertising campaign we recently started bears any fruit (we will not know about that for a few months).
- It will not be too discouraging if we make losses in the first couple of years, so if necessary we will seek crowd-funding to finance our plans if the resources of the community itself prove inadequate to smooth a path to break-even point.
Our first year may be a perilous hand-to-mouth existence, but I am certain the journey will be an exciting and enjoyable one. We will also need to search our community resources for contacts at clubs; players, officials, ex-players, local journalists etc. Please get in touch if you have any in at your club.
We also hope to tap into the expertise of our community for advice, comment and analysis of developments, and we will be looking for any aspiring presenters, journalists, sound and video editors, graphic designers (and lots of others) to help us find our feet. Any offers of assistance would be gratefully accepted.
We mustn’t lose sight of why we are doing this. It is because we love our sport, because we want to be able to continue to call it that, and because the disconnect we find in Scottish football, that of the conflicting interests of the fans and the money men, will never be addressed as long as the fans are hopelessly split.
The ultimate goal is to allow sport – not our individual clubs – to triumph over the greed and corporate troglodyte-ism of those people who run it. I am confident that we as a community desperately want to be able to make a difference. That is why I am confident we can achieve our aim of becoming a significant player in the game.
John Clark says:
Member: (932 comments)
July 2, 2015 at 6:07 pm
Unfortunately, its not as clear cut as that.
I have great admiration for the work that Mr Lawwell is doing at Celtic. Sadly, I cannot admire his work at the SPL or the SFA. It goes way beyond the ever present nonsense surrounding Rangers.
Mr Lawwell was a key player in the TV deal.
Mr Lawwell was also an architect of the SFA’s ongoing relationship with Qatar. A relationship which has already joined the ever growing legion of Scottish Football’s “Permanent embarrassments and occasional disgraces”
I am afraid, taken in the round, Mr Lawwell’s performance in the governance of Scottish Football, is no better, and no worse than any of the others. If the Regans and Doncasters have to go, as they surely do, then so must he.
Scottish Football needs & deserves much, much better. Your mileage may differ.
Disappointed St Johnstone lost tonight but surely they have it in their locker to turn it round. I think there is much to admire about the Perth Saints both at boardroom and pitch level. Here’s hoping.
May I also wish the best of luck to Aberdeen. I’d love to see them reach the Europa League groups. I think their fans would respond to that in big numbers.
Family holiday commitments have prevented access to the massive Famous Song archives, so apologies for this being a little late. I saved much of the Charlotte documentation (as, I’m sure, did others), and while I certainly wouldn’t want to compromise the blog legally by reproducing the document, I feel that discussion of the contents is merited. The one I’m talking about is the loan of players for Sevco’s first game, against Brechin.
The document may be fake: if so, it’s a remarkably good one. It’s on Duff and Phelps headed paper, and is addressed to Iain Blair of the SPL, from Paul Clark as joint administrator, and is dated July 27th 2012. He offers to loan 52 players, listed alphabetically from Fraser Aird to Jordan Wilson, for the game against Brechin. The loan is from The Rangers Football Club Plc (In Administration), and Sevco Scotland Ltd, trading as The Rangers Football Club.
Were it ever, heaven forfend, to find its way into mainstream media, would this not be incendiary? Rangers as was lending players to Sevco (as they then still were)? It strikes me that the MSM would have nowhere to hide. There again, it’s seemed that way to me for the last three years. And still they plod on.
i should add, that as a Celtic fan, I still find myself thinking of the club as a revolutionary insurgent, kicking at the shins of the Scottish Establishment. It’s a nice image, but, it is no longer true. Celtic is a fully fledged, fully functioning member of the Establishment. That’s not to say that everything is tickety boo, old attitudes still exist, and must be pulled out by the roots wherever they are found.
But, we need to stop kidding ourselves, Celtic is as much a part of the Scottish Football power structures, with all that entails, as Rangers or anyone else.
Famous song says:
Member: (48 comments)
July 2, 2015 at 7:58 pm
‘… It’s on Duff and Phelps headed paper, and is addressed to Iain Blair of the SPL, from Paul Clark as joint administrator, and is dated July 27th 2012.’
__________
That rings wee bells with me,Famous.
I haven’t got it-I was only beginning to build up my archive of CF material when the plug was pulled!Could you, would you PM me and I’ll give you my email address and ask you to scan it to me if you have the time and inclination, and unlike me, the technical ability?
Technical ability? I don’t even know how to PM. Let me in on the secret, and I’ll certainly do so, Mr Clark.
scapaflow says:
Member: (1265 comments)
July 2, 2015 at 7:32 pm
‘….. Sadly, I cannot admire his work at the SPL or the SFA. It goes way beyond the ever present nonsense surrounding Rangers.’
___________
I should have made it clear, scapa, that any and all of my observations about Lawwell are related only to the criticism that he should have acted as a lone ranger standing up ( as did Turnbull Hutton)to challenge and reject the SFA’s abandonment of sporting integrity.
Whether, in other respects, he has been, is, or might be a good SFA main Board member as far as benefiting the Scottish game goes, I’m not at all knowledgeable enough to say.
I think there is near universal belief, though, that in the round the SFA Board has not performed well as regards running the business. Lawwell, when on the professional game board, quite probably can carry some responsibility for the perceived deficiencies in that area.
John Clark says: July 2, 2015 at 8:13 pm
=================
Just click on the link and save it from there JC.
easyJambo says:
Member: (683 comments)
July 2, 2015 at 8:55 pm
‘Just click on the link and save it from there JC. ‘
__________
thanks, eJ.I shall try that.
Famous song says:
Member: (49 comments)
July 2, 2015 at 8:19 pm
_____
eJ has solved the immediate problem.
As for PMs, easy-peasy! Top of the SFM page, a wee box marked PM.
Click on that and you’ll be guided through.Believe me, if I could do it, anybody can! Try it and see.
easyJambo says:
Member: (683 comments)
Cheers EJ, I see the ubiquitous Mr Andrew Dickson was involved in the negotiations. It really is quite remarkable, the way the Mr Dickson has been so involved in all of this, and yet garnered so little notice. Quite the éminence grise!
A note to all players from ibrox who will do interviews and puff piece’s for the SMSM, Read Gary Ralston’s piece in today’s paper.
One day the SMSM are your best friends when you play at ibrox,the next they will do a piece on you like Gary Ralston’s piece in today’s paper.
Ps. you have been warned.
Cluster One. I have no doubt you are right. But I wish you would not encourage people to ‘click’ on journalists posts. They get kudos for that. Better to copy & paste?
With respect.
Auldheid says:
Blog Writer: (471 comments)
July 2, 2015 at 5:54 pm
“You describe the difference between debate and dialogue which is described in this extract from a Dialogue Decalogue I picked up and modified in my internet travels.”
——————–
Its reassuring to know that I’m not entirely out on a limb. I’ve been doing so much reading lately that my head is at bursting point but if I encounter said tome on my travels I’m sure your pointer will come into recollection.
I’ve seen a lot of preformed agenda setting in my working life and can’t for the life of me understand the attraction. Okay, when I was a kid I wanted the good guys to win and the white horse to win the race but any level of maturity reveals that we are not living in Disneyland and that things do not always end up happily ever after.
On most occasions it is best to follow the evidence and reach the conclusions it suggests rather than making the evidence suggest the desired outcome. To delve the subject a bit deeper, I think this perspective revolves around vested interest. Vested interest can be very corrosive in my experience. It abhors change and fights against the natural flow of events; until the pressure of that flow can no longer be impeded whereupon a deluge results. Sounds familiar?
It is better to make small changes as you go along rather than sticking religiously to an inherited mantra and then find that at some point you have to swallow your pride and dignity in order to fall into step with a new emerging reality.
However vested interest believes it has a long and glorious track record in holding back the tide. At least those that are fascinated by its thrall believe this to be the case.
A poignant passage in your piece says
If the future is unpredictable then acting with integrity does not have to be problematic. For who can possibly know what the best outcome is. When you decide in advance that a particular outcome is desirable you make yourself a hostage to fortune. Why do that to yourself? Hopes and ambitions are one thing but ingraining an attitude of entitlement runs counter not only to the ethics of sport but neutralises the very essence of one’s being. We all want to feel safe but we equally need a bit of jeopardy and excitement in our lives. Unfortunately jeopardy doesn’t show up well on a balance sheet.
One of the recurring themes of this blog and of RTC before it and also of the late Paul McConville is the repudiation of what passes for mainstream journal in Scotland. I have reading the content of this blog for some time however something triggered a memory from my distant student days of a book entitled Bad News published by the Social Science faculty at Glasgow University. I can’t provide quotes but the book essentially pointed up the manipulation of the media by the establishment of the day (circa 1975)
I would imagine that at some point in the past a Town Cryer would be able to get free ale at the local inn courtesy of the aldermen. I checked on Wikipedia ( I know) but the faculty has continued with the good work but I wonder if this could be considered mainstream?
Anyway, first post and back to lurking.
Clumpany,
Everyday you are one of the posts I look forward to most.
But, I have a ‘thing’ about clicking on to SMSM articles. I think they get +/- £200 for every 25k clicks. So please stop providing links, I want to starve SMSM of all revenues. The future is SFM, The Clumpany et. al. Cheers.
John Clark says:
Member: (936 comments)
July 2, 2015 at 8:13 pm
———————————
Have tried to PM you but your message box is full.
I think that Mr Lawell is caught in a cleft stick wrt his positions at the head of CFC and also the Scottish football authorities . On one hand, I don’t think he wants to be the king (see what I did there ?)but leads CFC supporters in a valiant crusade against the massed forces of the Scottish Establishment and supporters(at all levels) of their favoured team .A champion of the underdog . On the other hand, he is an astute businessman who wishes to be in a position to influence and exert control on events to maximise rewards for the enterprise he currently leads . I reckon that he is conflicted, but that would surely apply to the rest of the administrators drawn from the professional game . Unfortunately I don’t see a way to independent (of the clubs) governance – nobody gives power away and the fans are not in a position to wrest it away. If someone was to suggest that he led the thinking that chased Barry Hearn , the I wouldn’t demur . Left a promotional gap for us though . In my head I can already hear the massed ranks of the Firhill faithful roaring “We’re not cuddly ,we’re not cuddly, we’re not cuddly anymore !” It’s got an edge to it, that has . Grungy .
found this little nugget.Administrators from Duff & Phelps negotiated a sale of the club’s assets to a consortium led by Sheffield United chairman Charles Green for £5.5m. Green has since formed the new club, which plays in the Scottish Championship.
http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/2359428/hmrc-to-appeal-rangers-tax-case-defeat.
motor red says:
Member: (16 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 2:55 am
Reading the comments on that link, who would the £47 million in loans be owed to ?
Any repayments of these loans would be back to the trust fund set up to make the loans in the first place. There is no direct route between the loans and RFC(IL), otherwise BDO would be required to call them in
scottc on July 3, 2015 at 5:36 am
paddy malarkey says:
Member: (40 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 3:10 am
motor red says:
Member: (16 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 2:55 am
Reading the comments on that link, who would the £47 million in loans be owed to ?
Any repayments of these loans would be back to the trust fund set up to make the loans in the first place. There is no direct route between the loans and RFC(IL), otherwise BDO would be required to call them in
———–
If the final HMRC appeal fails it will be fascinating to see if they (BDO) do call in the loans, since I take it an HMRC loss infers they (the EBTs) are, in fact, repayable.
Outcome should be of interest to the EBT holders. In reality, wouldn’t the ex-SFA president and multi others be hoping for an HMRC victory? Paying tax on ‘income’ would be better than paying an entire loan back. Of course, penalties and fines could make that outcome not worthwhile to the band of tax-dodging EBT’ers.
And if BDO failed to call in the loans would the creditors make a stink?
jimbo says:
Member: (24 comments)
July 2, 2015 at 11:05 pm
Cluster One. I have no doubt you are right. But I wish you would not encourage people to ‘click’ on journalists posts. They get kudos for that. Better to copy & paste?
With respect.
————————
No Problem
Jimbo/Cluster One
I tend to think of such articles as jobbies on a pavement.
To save you any unpleasantness, I would inform you that it was there.
I wouldn’t consider sending you a photo of it.
And I certainly wouldn’t invite you to go and inspect it more closely for yourself.
Danish Pastry says:
Blog Writer: (1272 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 6:51 am
If the final HMRC appeal fails it will be fascinating to see if they (BDO) do call in the loans, since I take it an HMRC loss infers they (the EBTs) are, in fact, repayable.
=====================
Here is a link which explains the scheme much more clearly than I ever could- from the late Paul McConville, sadly missed for his insight.
https://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/how-ebts-work-and-how-they-go-wrong-the-melchester-rovers-debacle/
I can safely say that BDO have no claim against the Trustees, and that the Trustees have no intention of ever reclaiming the “loans”. It is interesting to speculate on what the Trustees could do with the money if they ever recalled the loans. That would depend on the terms of the Trust Deed. What they wouldn’t do is send the money to BDO.
motor red says:
Member: (16 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 2:55 am
Whilst it is relatively rare, and therefore commendable, for anyone in the media to admit that Charles Green formed a new club, the author of the article lets himself down with his verbal gymnastics regarding “the corporate entity which formerly housed Rangers”.
I’m constantly bemused that nobody in the media has the gumption and/or desire to report that, (just like Rangers) the corporate entities which housed Dunfermline FC and Heart of Midlothian FC also suffered insolvency events, but that in neither case was there a need for anything remotely resembling the transfer or awarding of a temporary/conditional license to play football, despite both clubs being under new ownership (just like Rangers) post-administration. Nor indeed was there a requirement for a secretive clandestine 5 way agreement. which was an insult to the intelligence of the average Scottish football fan.
Talking of Football Fan, for his benefit, and for the benefit of Neil Doncaster and Stewart Regan, here’s a little clue to help you answer that puzzle………
Neither club was LIQUIDATED, unlike Rangers!
neepheid on July 3, 2015 at 7:50 am
———-
Thanks neep. What a brilliant piece. Lengthy, yet still easy to read.
So you’re saying that if HMRC lose the final appeal then the Great Ibrox Tax Swindle will have succeeded? Seems unthinkable, but perhaps national politics has overtaken HMRC’s willingness to chase the big fish? The current regime in WM is made up of those who are supported by the tax-dodging class, among others.
Mind you, didn’t RTC always say that the actual sporting issue was dual contracts? And since the handy Bryson doctrine was accepted by the Scottish branch of the Flat Earth Society it’s pretty academic — in sporting terms — if HMRC win or lose. That said, there was something about HMRC going after individuals. But by the time the legal cogs within the cogs turn we may see the formation of Sevco Rangers 4! 😆
motor red says:
Member: (16 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 2:55 am
found this little nugget.Administrators from Duff & Phelps negotiated a sale of the club’s assets to a consortium led by Sheffield United chairman Charles Green for £5.5m. Green has since formed the new club, which plays in the Scottish Championship.
http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/2359428/hmrc-to-appeal-rangers-tax-case-defeat.
———–
Accountancy Age – a publication well known as ‘Rangers haters’, or, at least, now known as ‘Rangers haters’! 😉
I wonder if Mr Patey subscribes to this publication?
ISTR that (some of/all of) the EBTs were administered by a subsidiary of Murray Group Holdings, which is now in liquidation, overseen by Deloittes.
I questioned at the time (Jan 2015) if some/all recipients may be required to pony up to the liquidators.
My impression on the EBTs is that HMRC went about things in a very strange way when looking at the loans, attempting to argue that those payments were taxable. I can only imagine they went about it that way because it suited a wider purpose. Personally in the case of Rangers I have always felt they should have attacked them at the point when the payment was made into the sub-trust rather than when it was paid out.
The reason I say this is because they were supposed to be discretionary, i.e. the club at it’s discretion decided to make a payments and the trustee made the decision on whether or not a beneficiary was granted a loan they had applied for. It would seem there is a lot of evidence to suggest that no such discretion existed, in fact there may even have been documentary evidence to that effect.
That being the case then the whole EBT failed and what you had was not as it should have been discretionary payments into the sub trusts from the club and discretionary loans out to the beneficiary. It was in fact contractual payments (albeit possibly bonus related) to football players on which tax should have been paid. There was also a relationship between the club and the trustee which should not have been allowed.
As I stated I have always felt it was the point at which Rangers paid the money out that should have been treated as the point that tax was due. The trust element was a sham, set up to avoid rich football players paying tax they should have done. Enabling the club to attract a better quality of player by paying them more, by helping them to avoid paying tax.
Off the top of my head that also means that there would appear to be little BDO could do about the situation from the point of view of liquidating the business. If it was a genuine payment for work done, and I believe it was, then neither the trust nor the player is a creditor. They are simply someone the club paid for doing a job.
That is not to say that BDO’s independent investigation is not providing both HMRC and Police Scotland with valuable information / evidence with regard their ongoing cases.
Homunculus
Shirley the fact that there were side letters stating that “you will get X amount” from the trust proves that these payments were not discretionary but contractual.
Actually, does the side letter not prove that they were not loans at all??
😯
JLeeHooker says:
Member: (4 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 1:42 pm
That actually works in three ways.
First it was not discretionary from the club to the trust it was contractual.
Second it was not discretionary from the trust (trustees) to the beneficiary.
Third, the settlor should not have been instructing the trustees (which they must have been if they could promise the player they would get the “loan”).
motor red says:
Member: (16 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 2:55 am
found this little nugget.Administrators from Duff & Phelps negotiated a sale of the club’s assets to a consortium led by Sheffield United chairman Charles Green for £5.5m. Green has since formed the new club, which plays in the Scottish Championship.
http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/2359428/hmrc-to-appeal-rangers-tax-case-defeat.
———–
Allyjambo says:
Member: (1044 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 10:56 am
Accountancy Age – a publication well known as ‘Rangers haters’, or, at least, now known as ‘Rangers haters’! ?
I wonder if Mr Patey subscribes to this publication?
____________________
Particularly ironic the author, Mr Calum Fuller, being mistaken with regards a football club being “new” following a business/asset sale to a newco, given he is himself an Otium Entertainment Group Ltd supporter.
Sorry, i meant Coventry City FC. 🙂
Homunculus says:
Member: (61 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 1:20 pm
————
Fascinating post. Excuse me while I show my ignorance yet again: Isn’t the point of putting money/making payments into trusts a recognised means of avoiding tax? Do people usually pay tax on money plan to put into, say, a family trust?
Playing for time in the office,just had a look on the RIFC web site,Mr King is gushing at an incredible 21,500 season tickets sold by close of sale yesterday,also had a look at the fixture list to prepare for their opening cup game against Hibs,so far there is one game arranged four days before against Burnley,maybe not taking this tournament seriously,Hibs have three games arranged,interesting times ahead,another interesting piece on the site was about the fans buying into a 143 year story, yes that is what it says, a 143 year STORY, something’s up.
@yourhavingalaugh
Perhaps someone in Swindon is agitating the natives? Also having a wee go at CFC. Colourful exchange on the thread (@Clumps had retweeted).
Danish Pastry says:
Blog Writer: (1274 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 2:27 pm
The point with the rangers EBT’s is that as far as I am concerned they moved away from prudent tax management to failed tax avoidance.
It is perfectly legitimate to used legal means to minimise your tax, in fact it is encouraged. The Government does not charge tax on ISAs (up to their limit) because it encourages savings. People comparing that to avoidance are missing the point.
However what Rangers did was try to use a discretionary trust in order to make contractual payments. They saw a system which did not fit what they wanted to do and did it anyway, hiding things like the side letters which proved what they were doing was wrong.
I have always thought that was why they hid those same side letters from the football authorities, but that’s another story.
This might help clear up some of the confusion people seem to have had for quite some time in relation to the difference between legitimate tax management and tax avoidance.
http://globalindirecttaxmanagement.com/table-of-content/chapter-7-fraud/what-is-tax-avoidance.html
“Tax avoidance is an attempt to exploit legislation to gain a tax advantage that was never intended. This often involves artificial transactions that serve little or no purpose other than to produce a tax advantage. But tax avoidance is not the same as tax planning, which involves applying tax legislation in the way it was intended – for example saving in an ISA (Individual Savings Account) where you don’t pay tax on the interest. You can find out the sorts of activity that HMRC may consider as avoidance from the leaflet ‘Tempted by tax avoidance’.”
Tax Evasion on the other hand is described as
http://www.claritaxbooks.com/2013/10/the-tax-gap/
Tax evasion is illegal activity, where registered individuals or businesses deliberately omit, conceal or misrepresent information in order to reduce their tax liabilities.
Just reading that the new goalkeeper Rangers have signed joined because Warburton has a plan to be playing in the Champions League in three years. How does that tie in with the same plan the last regime had…oh wait, it IS the same plan!
So first he needs to get promotion. Then he needs to win the league. Then he needs to get through three qualifiers from what will be an unseeded position. Being unseeded in the play off round means a real chance of being drawn against a third place team from a top nation. Yet if you’re Rangers you just have to say you’re planning for it and it gets excitedly repeated without question.
Are the people who write this stuff actually serious?
Homunculus says:
Member: (63 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 4:34 pm
So would that make the RFC EBTs tax evasion ?
paddy malarkey says:
Member: (41 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 5:37 pm
Homunculus says:
Member: (63 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 4:34 pm
So would that make the RFC EBTs tax evasion ?
==============================================
No, if had been considered to have been evasion criminal charges would have been brought.
upthehoops says:
July 3, 2015 at 5:23 pm
…
Being unseeded in the play off round means a real chance of being drawn against a third place team from a top nation.
…
========
Agree with your views on the SMSM reaction.
However, while being unseeded would clearly be a disadvantage for TRFC, they could not meet a third-placed side from a ‘top’ nation. Scotland’s sole CL representative is entered on the ‘Champions Route’ through the qualifiers, so their strongest opponent would ‘merely’ be a champion side from a middling nation.
upthehoops says:
Member: (764 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 5:23 pm
Just reading that the new goalkeeper Rangers have signed joined because Warburton has a plan to be playing in the Champions League in three years. How does that tie in with the same plan the last regime had…oh wait, it IS the same plan!
So first he needs to get promotion. Then he needs to win the league. Then he needs to get through three qualifiers from what will be an unseeded position. Being unseeded in the play off round means a real chance of being drawn against a third place team from a top nation. Yet if you’re Rangers you just have to say you’re planning for it and it gets excitedly repeated without question.
Are the people who write this stuff actually serious?
———————
Great plan.Why did no one else think of it 😥
The former Swindon player did not laugh when narrating the 3 years to the CL tale, he appears to have been severely duped.
woodstein says:
Member: (118 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 12:39 am
‘..Have tried to PM you but your message box is full.’
_______
Sorry about that, woodstein.
I never remember to charge up my phone,have zillions of uncleared junk emails, and very rarely look in the PM folder on the blog unless someone has already put a post on saying that he/she has PMd.
I’ve deleted a number now ( is the process as cumbersome as I think it is, just one at a time and having to go back to message box after each deletion? Might just be me, of course)
Please fire away and I’ll look out for your message.
I’ve just this minute looked in the Rolls of Court for the Court of Session.
Is this what I was looking for?
“INNER HOUSE ROLLS
SECOND DIVISION
Tuesday 7th July
Summar Roll (4 days)
1
XA128/14 Appeal by the Advocate General for Scotland as representing the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs against a decision of the Upper Tribunal.
Does this refer to the HMRC appeal against Lord Doherty’s in the ‘Murray Group and others’ appeal against the First Tier Tax Tribunal?
Will I be in Court on Tuesday?
upthehoops says:
July 3, 2015 at 5:23 pm
…
Being unseeded in the play off round means a real chance of being drawn against a third place team from a top nation.
…
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Agree with your views on the SMSM reaction.
However, while being unseeded would clearly be a disadvantage for TRFC, they could not meet a third-placed side from a ‘top’ nation. Scotland’s sole CL representative is entered on the ‘Champions Route’ through the qualifiers, so their strongest opponent would ‘merely’ be a champion side from a middling nation.
////////////////////////////////////////
Now there could be a major problem with the so called middling Nation
Russia
Ukrain
Poland
Portugal
Austria
And many more have fantastic teams with real history and regularly play in the CL
Qualifying for the Champions’ League is not a plan, it is a target. I’ll leave it to others to decide how realistic that target is.
John Clark says: July 3, 2015 at 7:02 pm
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I hope you will be there to do your duty as a fine upstanding citizen (or bampot) and report the bits that the SMSM won’t. 😆
bfbpuzzled says:
Member: (206 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 6:27 pm
The former Swindon player did not laugh when narrating the 3 years to the CL tale, he appears to have been severely duped.
12 0 Rate This
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they obviously think its the same as england 4 CL places 😀
4 CL places-may be a continuing arithmetic issue
Since it’s a quiet evening on here . . .
I see our friend the ‘Rhat’ Exposer is in print once more. In this his second blog he tells us that:
“Keith Bishops Associates believe he (King) will be able to invest significant sums but not until mid-October.”
This must be very re-assuring for the 21,000+ bears who have already committed their savings to a reserved seat for next season. There is no evidence or explanation in his claim other than he was telt.
Our blogger made a similar statement in his previous epistle regarding the Ashley/King meeting, namely that he had been telt:
”There was indeed a meeting but unfortunately no tape recording was present.”
He provided no evidence whatsoever that this was the case. It would be a very brave King who asked for the discussions not to be recorded. That would be like saying to the Ashley camp, “I am going to make certain proposals to you, but if they do not turn out to my liking then I’ll deny I ever made them”. Big Mike isn’t the type of guy who would allow King to pee on his parade. After all, a recording protects both parties, so it is in everyone’s interest that this facility exists and is known to exist.
We are now in the era where most business transactions are recorded as a matter of course, be it a call to your bank or dinner with Craig Whyte. In this modern day, it would be remiss of Sports Direct not to record such commercial activities. I wonder what the blogger’s motive is for drawing our attention to this aspect of the meeting? I’m sure King didn’t turn up there with a suitcase of de-bugging equipment, so how can he be so sure? Perhaps the blogger has been informed by Level 5 that Big Mike was not sporting a carnation, hence their confidence in making such a claim.
Regardless, the key point is that there is no denial from the King camp to Phil’s assertion that he offered his shares to Ashley at their meeting. Ashley would merely have to produce or leak the conversation to totally discredit King – and the Jo’burg Joker knows it.
Ex Ludo says:
Member: (1 comments)
July 2, 2015 at 11:27 pm
One of the recurring themes of this blog and of RTC before it and also of the late Paul McConville is the repudiation of what passes for mainstream journal in Scotland. I have reading the content of this blog for some time however something triggered a memory from my distant student days of a book entitled Bad News published by the Social Science faculty at Glasgow University. I can’t provide quotes but the book essentially pointed up the manipulation of the media by the establishment of the day (circa 1975)
I would imagine that at some point in the past a Town Cryer would be able to get free ale at the local inn courtesy of the aldermen. I checked on Wikipedia ( I know) but the faculty has continued with the good work but I wonder if this could be considered mainstream?
Anyway, first post and back to lurking.
=========================================================
Bad News and (possibly) More Bad News were part of my university reading list back in the day as a young economics student. I consider myself lucky to have read them at a relatively early age, and it certainly confirmed my scepticism (or paranoia as it was known in those days) of what I was reading in the press about certain issues. We were looking at things from the industrial relations and labour market perspective, but it did create an attitude of not taking at face value anything that was reported in the press, including the BBC.
John Clark says:
Member: (938 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 6:30 pm
PM available.
I see our friend Bill McMurdo is in the firing line, he seems to be the patsy for the SOS. He has hard rumours, facts that discredit Dave King!! I couldn’t believe it myself. Anyway, some guy Crighton was involved, sounds all MI5
https://www.facebook.com/SonsOfStruth/posts/1659037280994060
woodstein says:
Member: (119 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 10:55 pm
‘..PM available.’
______
Thanks, woodstein. Got it.
MercDoc says:
July 3, 2015 at 11:36 pm
The “issue” seems to be that Mr McMurdo is quoting from a document that apparently originates from Mr Crighton, who was the Laxey representative until he resigned. I assume Mr Crichton is classed as a “Rangers hater”.
The document is the official court report from South Africa which doesn’t exactly show Mr King in a good light.
I say “apparently originates” as anyone with the correct software and skills could make it appear to originate from anyone she/he desires. Thereafter send it, I assume anonymously, to Mr McMurdo and the time bomb awaits discovery. I’m fairly confident there are several “actors” in this farce capable of such creativity.
So would you prefer say Mr Whyte instead of Mr Crighton.
The interesting slant in the SoS account is the obvious hint that the report itself is fake since it originated from a “Rangers hater”.
MercDoc says:
Member: (64 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 11:36 pm
‘… Anyway, some guy Crighton was involved, sounds all MI5.’
________
Hah! The ‘Admirable Crighton’, as a poster on this blog referred to him on news of his appointment as a non-ex director.
Seems aeons ago, and yet he exited as recently as late 2014!
Leaving aside any partisan football context, just what would any management consultant from, say, Japan or India or , especially these days, China, make of the absolute hames that successive boards of a newish football club have made of their business?
Internecine strife, black propaganda, back-stabbing of directors by fellow directors,the protagonists uniting only in their demands that the milk cow of ‘loyal support’ should pony up, buy their season tickets to let them enjoy the kind of personal financial profit that CG made ( and may continue to be making!).
There is a PhD thesis in there somewhere for a graduate student in business studies, or psychology, or conmanship.
I speak light-heartedly, and without benefit of even a Portobello Fat Yak.
Nevertheless, I wonder that an association of businesses, such as is the SFA, can be happy that one of their newer members can be in such disarray.
Perhaps they should offer some helpful counselling or some other kind of help?
Or perhaps they should rather repent of their folly in accommodating the wide boys by cobbling up the 5-Way agreement and allowing a wholly new club to pretend to be the once honourable Rangers Football club.( Aye, right up to SDM’s day, the now dead RFC could fairly be described as subscribing to sporting principles, leave aside questions of employment discrimination)
And, repenting, take steps to restore some honesty and integrity to football records of achievement by removing any claim that TRFC are entitled to be regarded as the Rangers of old.
If the successive boards of TRFC have made a hames of their business, the SFA have been the Lance Armstong of Scottish Football.
The doping by the Executive is infinitely worse than the doping by an individual participant club in any sporting organisation.
And this is what the SMSM ignored, and continue to ignore.
IMO
We are approaching a point where a sufficient contingent of TRFC fan /denialists have reached a point where an olive branch could be more constructive than a dagger aimed at excising wrongdoing.
Not unqualified. But RSL are looking increasingly aligned with SFM in terms of matters TRFC these days. (They would have been better off had they got there earlier).
Make no mistake – I am neither a supporter of nor an apologist for what the ‘chosen few’ represent. But constructive engagement is possible with agreement to disagree. Its hard to sustain bigotry in the face of forgiveness and the only way to avoid becoming contaminated by the cycle of bigotry is a willingness to engage with those who renounce it after the event, irrespective of the harm caused a priori.
Maybe if the RSL can be persuaded to change their mind on matters of Football finance they might similarly be persuaded on matters of social policy, equality and egalitarianism?
We’re commentators not haters, after all.
I think a big push against sectarian singing and intimidation led by a prominent Rangers fans group like the RSL would win the overwhelming support of the rest of scottish football and provide a nucleus around which the Ibrox brand could regroup with the blessing and support of scottish football as a whole.
So RSL: Why not put your house in order?
And join the club fellas.
There’s none of us would want to go through what you did. But you brought it on yourselves.
You dived into the shit filled toilet unprompted, chasing the needle of spending your way to success and unearned elation, which you could neither afford or sustain.
Look backwards and you WILL repeat.
Look forwards, and you have the capability and support – not to recapture old tained glories – but to set a new bar. Higher and better.
Anywhere else is better than where you are now.
So what is there to lose?
Or you can go back to demanding it on a plate at everyone else’s expense, kicking off when you don’t get it, and shrugging that ‘everyone hates us we don’t care!’ because ‘WATP!’
And we will look on as you (again) die slowly and denounce you as the scum you have associated with thus far.
Its up to you.
Choose Life.
Set the bar higher, why not?
Blamelessness on the sectarian front is a way out of the mess you are in!
The SMSM is basically based and services Glasgow, firstly, and Edinburgh – CFC and TRFC and, to a lesser extent, Hearts and Hibs . The rest is grudgingly reported, unless a wee team happens to be successful, in which case they become flavour of the month for a week or so before the sniping begins to help restore the world to the perceived “rightful order” .(ICT shouldnae really be in Europe, by the way, ‘cos all they’ll do is lower our co-efficient. Same applies to the rest of the “diddy” teams. ).Wasn’t that long ago that CFC and RFC(IL) were hankering to leave all this glory behind and seek riches elsewhere . I for one would have been happy if that had come to pass ,for it would have given us a more balanced and honest competition (and possibly a better tv deal – well it couldn’t have been any worse .)
paddy malarkey says:
Member: (42 comments)
July 4, 2015 at 2:40 am
___________________________________________________
My close up experience of ICT?
The West of Scotland is a long way away. We look on with bemusement.
The SMSM are an irrelevence. A sad soap opera that mostly ignores us but sometimes patronises us.
Fortunately, we can ignore them. They are not important.
Unlike them, we know what we are doing. And unlike them, we lack complacency.
They do not scare us. TRFC do not scare us. Celtic do not scare us.
Falkirk scare us.
St Johnstone scare us.
Because people tend to underestimate Falkirk.
And People tend to underestimate St Johnstone.
And people underestimate Caley. (… they used to anyway!)
Caley are people too.
We understimate.
We are never ever guilty of underestimating the last one… ourselves!
But we could easily fall into the trap of underestimating the other two, for example… if we don’t watch our steps. So they scare us. Rightly.
There are many that have underestimated us.
This is not to our disadvantage.
SMSM are complicit in people underestimating us.
This is not to our disadvantage.
So we are tacet on how we are reported in the SMSM.
Tactics, I believe its called.
Scotland needs ICT , St Johnstone and Aberdeen to qualify for the group stages of the Europa League to raise our coefficient which will be divided by 4, I reckon if all 4 Scottish teams can reach the group stages for the next three years then we could have 2 teams in the Champions League.
Fisiani
And therein lies the problem,how can you have a tournament named “Champions League” when you have teams qualifying when some of them have never even won their respective countries league,may have came close but never actually won one
Pretty good piece by Scott Mullen on ‘summer fitba’. Not entirely original, but a sensible suggestion worth repeating.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/13370833.Summer_of_discontent_points_to_change/
Fisiani says:
Member: (39 comments)
July 4, 2015 at 6:54 am
Scotland needs ICT , St Johnstone and Aberdeen to qualify for the group stages of the Europa League to raise our coefficient which will be divided by 4, I reckon if all 4 Scottish teams can reach the group stages for the next three years then we could have 2 teams in the Champions League.
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There is little likelyhood of 4 teams reaching the group stages of Euro competition.
Europa league qualifying is greatly underestimated in this country I think, its not easy with teams from scotland playing typically 3 qualifying rounds, or 2 rounds for 1 team.
The clubs face unknown but very determined sides from all over europe in the first round or two then start to meet seeded teams that are often well funded and likely more than a match for our teams.
And to make it harder we play these qualifying games before our season even starts. Not a week before but weeks before.
Over a 3 year period I’m not even convinced Celtic would qualify for Europa league stage 3 times out of 3 (if they were required to play the same qualifiers as St J, Afc and ICT will be).
Just thinking through Rhats machinations. Let’s say King borrows 5m from Ashley. He adds this to his £1.3m BDO payout. He soft loans this to huge fanfare and uses it to put that nasty Ashley back in his box. Poor mike is so impressed by this show of blue rangersness he feels obliged to allow the 2nd tranche to be drawn down and presumably allow some reduction in the retail take.
Result. Well for starters I could pretty much write level5s copy for the MSM now. Secondly King is the hero ergo more bums on seats. Crucially he hasn’t put in any money. Thirdly MA has put in his £10 m giving him ultimate power, will still hold the securities and will still take the lions share of the retail.
It works! Just as long as the damn thing breaks even!
Smugas says:
Member: (861 comments)
July 4, 2015 at 9:15 am
Why is King getting a “£1.3m BDO payout” is he, or one of his businesses a creditor of the club being liquidated. I don’t remember seeing him on the list of creditors, perhaps it was listed as something I wouldn’t recognise, however if so it would have to be a fairly significant creditor to get that sort of payout.
yourhavingalaugh so what, the rules are the rules. No use moaning. Deal with the reality that it will not significantly change due to financial factors. Football is big business and we either whinge or get on and win.
The higher the team coefficients the less qualifying rounds they would have.
People keep expressing disappointment with Peter Lawwell’s performance at SFA level. I keep pointing out the composition of the main SFA board, which is where the top decisions are made. I keep getting ignored.
I don’t know PL at all, but his public persona seems very affable, witty even, vide his Rory Bremner remark appropos newclub.
Any evidence that he’s lacking in ability or effectiveness at SFA level is sketchy to say the least. Nobody offers suggestions as to what proposals he should bring forward to the boards, and how he is supposed to get these through the permanent SFA loaded membership.
What could he do to improve SFA performance and Scottish football? How could he get it through the boards?
Scapa, have you been watching the stuff handed down by various SFA committees to various CFC players, managers, etc. over recent years alone? Is this how the SFA would treat an (the) establishment club? I wonder.
As JC says, PL can not act in isolation. I thought we had had enough of the Ibrox/Hampden/Ibrox cabal. We surely do not want to replace one hegemony with another, and I’m sure Peter Lawwell wants no part of that, like all the CFC fans I know.
MercDoc says:
Member: (64 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 11:36 pm
I’ve been pondering these more realistic writings on RSL and am still undecided as to whether they are by genuine supporters or agents, directly or indirectly, of the Ashley camp. There is such a gap between them and all the other TRFC supporters blogs etc that it is hard to believe that this sea change has suddenly come to what appears to be a very small, but intelligent, minority. But who knows?
Regardless, they are no rabble rousers and, while tearing King apart, only seem to be suggesting that supporters think before buying STs and start to ask questions of the board. Whether agents of Ashley or Irvine, or genuine supporters who’ve seen the light, surely sensible people would take their advice and put pressure on the board to come clean.
I am reminded of the time, some 6 months before Hearts entered administration, when the board ‘came clean’ (possibly the first, and last, such act of integrity) and appealed to the supporters for £1m to see the club through to the close season. They basically held up their hands and admitted they were a busted flush and that the club would go down with them. They made no secret that it was a ‘donation’ with worthless share certificates the only ‘return’ for the investment. There was no promise of a rosy, or even an ongoing, future, just the certainty that without the £1m there would be no Hearts.
The important thing was, the supporters now knew the truth.
I think it’s time the TRFC supporters looked for a similar honest approach by demanding that the board provide the cash needed, now – or do one of the following, after making the true position abundantly clear:
a) Instantly start to initiate austerity, cease signing new players and accept that there is a likelihood of no promotion for possibly two or more seasons. Then, approach Mike Ashley to invite him back into the fold, with any board departures he requires, with a determination to follow his plans to the letter. This while making it clear to the support that it is the only/best option and that Kingco were wrong/misguided all along. SFA problems exist, but only if it wasn’t ‘Rangers’!
b) Clean the club out as above in preparation for someone, or a consortium, prepared to put up the minimum amount for survival.
c) Same trip to austerity as before with genuine, workable proposals for a fan ownership scheme.
All done with no promises for a bright new dawn. Of course, in each case, the austerity should start right away leaving room for each option. The important thing is to spell out the true state of the club and to get the supporters, or as many as possible, on board.
But:-
a) MA might well tell them to get to…
b) There is probably no one out there with the money AND the desire to step in.
c) Possibly the only way forward but with no guarantee of success. It would also require some goodwill from MA, which might actually come if he sees some future benefit.
The above three suggestions are, of course, made with the assumption that King and co are a busted flush! It should also be borne in mind that the ‘honesty’ arrived at Hearts in time to stave off imminent administration and probable Liquidation. It may well be too late at TRFC as the Hearts’ illusion disappeared in the nick of time, while the ‘Rangers’ illusion has gone on for, at least, 3 years too long!
As far as I can see, the longer King lingers without providing millions, any recovery will become more and more less likely!
castaway says:
Member: (75 comments)
It really comes down to whether, the boards have been united in their actions with respect to Rangers. I rather think that the only people who expressed dissent, were the two who resigned at the start. They along with Turnbull, are the only people who have acted with any integrity over the last few years.
I stand by my criticism of Pl’s record, on matters out with the Ranger’s bubble.
Is trimming sometimes necessary to achieve a larger goal? Yes, but
a) this is not trimming over one or even two bad decisions, there have been a lot of decision points points over a long period of time.
b) With genuine regret, I have to say , I see not one single indicator, that points to any positive effect his presence on any of these boards has had.
Unless anyone can provide evidence, other than carefully road tested “jokes” at AGMs, that PL has been any less of a friend to the various Ranger’s regimes, than any of the rest of the Footballing Authorities, I will continue to expect the worst to be revealed, when the truth eventually leaks out.
I repeat, that for all my disappointment, PL is actually no worse or better than any of the others. Hence my consistency in calling for every single member of the SFA/SPL/SPFL boards, since 2012 to be banned, sine die, from any further involvement in the governance of Scottish Football. Your mileage may differ.
BigGav says:
Member: (20 comments)
July 3, 2015 at 6:02 pm
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You are absolutely correct. What skewed my thinking was Celtic being drawn against Arsenal in the CL play off’s in 2009, but Celtic were in as runners up. Had they been champions they could not have got Arsenal.
I do however maintain that for the media to report on Rangers planning to be in the CL in three years without robustly challenging that view is pathetic. This is the same media who constantly point out the banana skins awaiting Celtic in the qualifiers this year. I think Celtic should just issue a statement to say they are planning to get into the CL then the media will start giving them sugar coated coverage and everyone will live happily ever after!
Homunculus,
Either he or one of his vehicles is listed in the liquidation report.
As yet it is not confirmed he will receive anything and fwiw I hope he doesn’t in so far as I don’t see how his claim stands scrutiny.
What gives with these Level5 tweets thanking ‘journalists’, Gary Ralston and Robert Grieve, for coverage of TRFC? At first I thought it was a cheeky spoof by some Clumpanesque bampot, but they appear to be genuine. It’s like shopping a workmate who’s just done you a favour by pulling the wool over your bosses eyes to get you out of a sticky situation! Traynor has confirmed, very publicly, that these two ‘journalists’ are his, and by association, TRFC’s, poodles. He has vindicated (wasn’t necessary, but thanks) every claim that this, and other, blogs have made about the part played by the media in covering every misdeed committed by an Ibrox club, and their compliance with every spiv to darken the Ibrox staircase and fool the bears. Sadly, these ‘journalists’ seem too thick to realise the damage that has been done to their ‘reputation’! Or do they not care, because it was done for the benefit of ‘Rangers’ – and they already know they ain’t got no reputation worth bothering about anyway?
NB Clumpanesque = very cheeky, witty and to the point 😀