I hear legendary Sevconian statement issuer, Jim “Rangers are dead” Traynor, is now firmly established in the Dave King camp. You may have found recent statements familiar, including last night’s, which focusses more on interrupting Celtic’s period of domination than building a well-run and sustainable football club.
Or it could be that Dave King is in Traynor’s camp, it’s hard to tell who is the monkey and who is the organ grinder when it comes to that lot and their long and dysfunctional relationships with PR masters.
My suspicions were raised when the Sunday Mail ran a complete non-story on their front page. Someone submitted a frivolous complaint to police – this is your news, Scotland. This was the kind of article which would be found in the same publication when Fergus McCann was in charge at Celtic; an unadulterated attack on the club. Now poor (not actually poor) Graham Wallace has to deal with them.
What price ‘loyalty’ after Traynor had his snout in the trough to a spectacular level too. We actually have a recipient of some of that enormous over-spend criticising the enormous over-spend. After his money was banked, of course. For the life of me I can never understand why the other lot put up with these types.
King’s eight point statement was an absolute hoot and completely inspired by Celtic’s position. There seems to be a pattern here: do wrong, then criticise others for doing as you did.
Point One:
King first addressed the liability for blame, and possible criminal investigations, which he believed should be heading towards the Rangers International board in the wake of comments made by chief executive, Graham Waddell, five months ago. He wrote:
….“It is beyond doubt that the CEO (and other board members) was aware last December that there was insufficient cash to last until the end of the season and the board failed to respond to my previous question in that regard. The CEO is now subject to a criminal complaint on this very issue but I believe that his comments were made with the full knowledge of the board. Certainly no one came out to contradict him. We should therefore expect any criminal investigation to extend to other board members.”
Dave King was a director of now-liquidated Rangers throughout the entire Craig Whyte era, when the club borrowed money from Ticketus to fund the payment of Lloyds debt, failed to pay social taxes and came crashing down. Whyte lied about the Ticketus deal but his non-execs kept their eyes, ears and mouths shut.
King was also a director of Rangers for over a decade, including the period of the David Murray-Campbell Ogilvie EBT shambles, which was proven to be illegal on five counts, the other counts are currently subject to an Upper Tier Tribunal.
Point 2:
“If cash was wasted as a result of mismanagement (presumably Charles Green etc.) then what steps are being taken to hold management accountable for this?”
As a non-executive director of failed Rangers FC PLC King was employed to ensure interests of stakeholders were being looked after. He failed singularly in this regard and has yet to be held to account.
Point Three:
“The board has conceded that it does not plan to effectively compete with Celtic in our first season back in the Premier League.”
This is sanity, not vanity. To suggest Newco throw so much money at the team that the instantly become competitive to Celtic is a sure-fire way of guaranteeing yet another insolvency event. These. People. Never. Learn.
Point Four:
“This is a great review for Celtic fans. It is stated that the board might only raise 20 million over the next 3 years. This paltry amount will guarantee that Celtic will be in a league of its own for the next few years- and possibly permanently thereafter. Celtic will continue to enjoy exclusive access to the Champions League windfalls and will go from financial strength to strength. The gap could become financially irreversible.”
Agree that Celtic will go from strength to strength and be remain a league of their own. Disagree that the review was great for Celtic fans. The review is little more than a laugh for Celtic fans, it changes nothing for us. I like the “permanently thereafter” line, though. It carries a bit more weight than “Generation of Domination”, which sounded ridiculous to some 9 years ago when it was first mooted but now sounds a tad understated.
Point Five:
“The board still does not have a clear plan for raising capital despite knowing for some months that a financial crisis was looming.”
Correct. On a related matter, Mr King has offered unspecified notions that he would encourage other people to buy tens of millions of pounds of shares, no clear plan has been identified, exactly what he accused Newco’s board of.
Point Six:
“It is interesting that the credit card companies agree with me that the season tickets should not be released to the club. However, it is genuinely shocking that this board has, for several months, withheld the knowledge that fans would not have access to credit card facilities when renewing season ticket purchases. The board preferred to blame “external parties” in an attempt to hide this serious non-disclosure. How can this board ask fans to ever trust them again?”
I think Mr King may have composed this comment ‘after a long lunch’. Credit card companies have not suggested season tickets should not be released to (sic.) the club, they simply don’t want anything to do with these transactions.
It is not shocking at all that the decision by credit card companies was not shared by fans for a number of months. Wallace would have spent much of this time looking for an alternative. It would have been inappropriate for a PLC to disclose sensitive financial negotiations to the general public months before that information becomes relevant.
Point Seven:
“The board continues the blame game and takes no responsibility for the current debacle. In truth, it is this board’s stubborn refusal to secure fresh equity that is the cause of the present fragile state of the club’s finances. The board clearly hoped to muddle along by using the season ticket advances from fans. This review should reinforce to fans that this board cannot serve as an appropriate custodian for their season ticket money.”
If fans want to know who to blame for the death of Rangers and the undignified mess Newco are in, they need look no further than the boards headed by Sir David Murray and Craig Whyte, both of which Dave King served on. Blaming Wallace instead is nonsense.
Point Eight:
“The board has admitted that Rangers is not presently a “going concern” and yet offers no plan on how this will be dealt with in the short term. Fans could once again lose their season ticket advances if given to the club at this time. It is unconscionable that this board has done nothing to bolster the finances since the last AGM.”
Fans of Oldco or Newco have never lost their season ticket advances. What is he thinking of? Does he know what club he’s talking about?
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Hullawrer…
In the name of my father – and yours too.
Lucky for us all this could never happen in real life could it; it’s just a movie after all. Nobody deceives the defence like this, it just isn’t cricket. People just don’t tell lies like that in real life.
In the case of Her Majesty v Gerard Patrick Conlon – The case is dismissed
If they can stitch up innocents for murder and wish on them the death penalty, and they were innocent, then where, at what point, do the police stop lying to get a conviction, any conviction.
And the innocent’s life has washed away with the stigma and the cop picks up his pension.
3rd?
Wooft
just missed
God Bless Wee Oscar
So awe cops are bad?
Morning all.
HH
First ever top 10?
New Sevco season ticket renewal advert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrD9SP3n33E
WARNING: Do not play in work or in front of the wife and kids
A team in Administration CANNOT be promoted, that is just so wrong, even by Scotland’s corrupt standards.
Banana Republics are embarrassed at what’s goin on in Scottish football/judiciary/police. Independenc….hahaha.
Top 20 and just on H H
Meanwhile the Celtic-relevant football news is that Man City and Paris St Germain have breached UEFA’s financial fair play rules, but will not be barred from European competition.
Platini would be perfect for an SFA job.
Paul67….truculent lambs
Booooooooom! Can a zombie die twice??
Scotland is a banana republic.
Not posted on here for a while but I hear some fans of Scotland’s newest club left our stadium in a bit of a mess last night,if that’s the way that these peepul are gonna behave maybe this new club should be disbanded
TONYDONNELLY
Good man. No matter what,yer Mum is the most important. If you need to push her wi yer hip,you would.
Superb post again, Paul67. This fine blog deserves a much higher standard of debate of all things Celtic and football-related than we have seen lately.
tonydonnelly67 12:40 on 29 April, 2014
“And?”
Just because you don’t understand something it doesn’t make it “PC”.
Did the needle stick in this p67 article?
BMCW
As my auld da used ti say, yer ma’s the best girlfriend you’ll ever HIV, an don’t forget it.
So I had better get cracked on here, have a great day all, hail hail.
Paul is there a mistake in the article where the first 2 paragraphs from point one are copied again near the end
iPaddy McCourt Supports Wee Oscar :
If the authorities had acted appropriately two years ago, Paul67 would never have been writing that post today. The problem is the authorities, not the The Rangers, they are insignificant and they now know it.
Interesting point just made on twitter
If The Rangers International Deid Replica Huns were given a 25pt deduction for a second administration and successfully appealed it saying it was their first (I know but twisted it wil be club/copmany tralalala) would the SPFL then be within their rights to deduct them 15 pts for a first admin or will the huns of replica lookalikeness get off Scot free?
Interesting point.
MWD says oh AYE you NO fools.
Did emdae hear the hurting hun on ssb last night with an “exclusive” He started with he had good info abt King coming with a deal that wd bring an end to all the troubles at doom dome later on that night.
After being quizzed by Gerry, Mark and Macca he stuck to his guns and said it wd be out later on that night by King. Then he finishes off with. “If it doesnt happen tonite it will be at the weekend”
Oh ma sides!!!!
Steinreingedsupreme
Oh I under stand what it means but.
Most of the time… when you’re crying, nobody notices your tears. Most of the time… when you’re worried, nobody feels your pain. Most of the time… when you’re happy, nobody sees your smile. But when you fart just one time…
Can anyone confirm the date after which Sevco would be deducted points from next season’s relegation battle?
Could it be:
3 May, the last League 1 game of this season
17 May, Scottish Cup final day
26 July: First Round of the Scottish ‘Ramsdens’ Challenge Cup [Holders: Raith Rovers]
9/10 August: SPFL League season starts across all four divisions
or other?
jude2005 is Neil Lennon \o/
13:02 on 29 April, 2014
I didn’t hear that.
I did though hear the bear who had taken to buying additional euromillion tickets in order to save the club.
On reflection his plan is probably the more realistic.
You just cant keep a good Jabba down
Every day’s an endless stream
Of e-lites and CQN magazines.
tonydonnelly67 13:02 on 29 April, 2014
“Oh I under stand what it means but.”
So what did you think was “PC” about it?
Kit
It has always been about the SFA.
Like a drowning man The Rangers would grab on to even a tiny twig if they thought it might save them.
When the custodians of a sport willingly bend and twist their own rules and throw sporting integrity to the wind then the rest of us have no chance.
Unfortunately Scottish football is corrupt and it has been that way for many many years when you pay your money and go to a match you expect a level playing field.Now Rangers cheated for many years by funding transfers and wages by not paying tax this put them above other teams signing and playing players no other teams could afford.Now of course a learned judge said it did not give them any advantage ( what nonsense ).The cheating is still going on mainly unchallenged supporters throughout the Country are paying money to watch a rigged game very sad. H.H.
Paul 67 –
If Jabba is on board that means it actually takes two of them to come up with these statements because I’ve been told the Legless Loon is definitely involved in King’s PR as well.
IGC
think I heard Neil Doncaster say it would the 432nd of julember 14011
MWD says Yes and is happy yo be of assistance.
wonder what Ronnie Hawthorne’s take is, on his ex-colleague’s pathetic attempts to police a small number of people within an enclosed space last night?
If you can’t take plastic then it’s cheque or cash. Lots of people no longer have a cheque book. The price of a ticket is £250 I understand. Handily that’s how much you can take out a cash machine. Fans are split and 20,000 renew. Cashflow projections show the club cannot fulfill it’s fixtures at that level. It ceases to trade late May. There’s 2.5M cash in the account from season ticket sales, plus the £3m that was there when Wallace last spoke. The emergency secured loan is repaid in full, the secured creditor (RIFC) reclaim the assets, the insolvency team is paid in full with the cash and the unsecured ST holders are left to divide up maybe 2m, £100 back each?
All logical, including the deliberate arithmetic anomaly to build in some cash fraud as that seems in keeping with the theme.