The Scottish Premier League has acted with clarity, issuing a statement today that they have instructed an inquiry into the alleged non-disclosure of payments to the league by Rangers since the inception of the SPL on 1 July 1998.
The SPL statement refers to rules to “impose a prohibition on players receiving payments for playing football or participating in an activity connected with football except where such payments are made in accordance with a form of contract approved by the SPL and require that all such contracts are submitted to the SPL within 14 days of being entered into.”
They helpfully link to The Rules of the SPL, which is sure to be one of the most read regulation documents in the world this week.
Compare and contrast this action with the goings-on at the Scottish Football Association.
SFA chief executive, Stewart Regan, told Scotland on Sunday the association president, Campbell Ogilvie, is “heavily conflicted” on the subject of the investigation into Rangers and as such would not be a party to conclusions, saying, “Campbell won’t play any part in any meeting, discussion or conclusion on any activities surrounding Rangers”.
It would, of course, be helpful for Mr Ogilvie to tell his SFA colleges exactly what went on when he was general secretary and director of Rangers. His evidence should be an integral part of the investigation, unless his memory is less effective than fellow ex-Rangers director, Hugh Adam.
Regan spent some of last week dismissing demands for a comment on allegations that Rangers have improperly registered football players for over a decade by suggesting matters concerning the club were under investigation, headed by Lord Nimmo Smith, which is due to report this week. However, it appears that Nimmo Smith’s secret terms of reference do not include the most important question surrounding the club. On the subject of improper registration, Regan said, “The board will meet to discuss it within a week or maybe slightly longer. Very, very quickly the board will get together to consider the facts.”
Scotland on Sunday’s Tom English induced a variety of reactive quotes from Regan. Asked if the SFA would hold an inquiry into Rangers contracts, he said, “That will depend on the board’s view of the facts and what information is there. The situation is changing daily and new information is emerging all the time. We’ve got our hands on certain pieces of information and we’re exploring it and we’re asking for further information. By the time the board meets we will have a fuller picture and if it’s the board’s opinion that they want a fuller investigation then that will be an option. If they feel they have enough facts to draw some conclusions then that will be their decision.”
So now we know that Lord Nimmo Smith’s report is likely to ignore the main issue surrounding Rangers. Without SFA clarification, we can only guess it will address the Fit and Proper suitability of Craig Whyte to own a football club, surely a complete waste of resources.
We also know that the association might still decide against investigating the evidence of Hugh Adam, The Sun newspaper, and various other journalists, that second contracts exist.
The SFA cannot be dragged along behind the story like this. Like the SPL, it should issue an early statement of intent to investigate the serious allegations made about Rangers during their president’s time on the club’s board.
Step up, Mr Regan.
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Craig Whyte has rejected any notion of an SPL investigation and has insisted that an investigation be opened up into the number of investigations that are currently going on at Ibrox.
In an open letter Mr Whyte said “I have instructed my legal adviser to seek a firm of solicitors with whom we are not blacklisted to instigate proceedings immediately against anyone who purports to be investigating Rangers and we will continue to investigate proceedings”
podia
If the outcome of the SPL investigation proves Rangers registered players incorrectly then I assume the correct punishment to be 0-3 loss for every game the players were fielded.
If this is not the case, I suggest somone informs the FC Sion president Christian Constantin, that they have been treated unfairly.
bang
It just keeps on getting better…..
pigalle
TOP TEN,THEN BED.
First top Ten!
Been away from the computer most of the day. Take it I haven’t missed the big announcement? Are they leaving it for Raman to “exclusively reveal” on STV tonight?
Sssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……. Paul67
what about the never interrupt your enemy while they are making a mistake mantra ? ;-)
Hail Hail
CCTV footage of Ally negotiating with the Administrators
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8x_59EjZOs
Paul67 – Never thought I would ever say the following sentence….
their Liquidation is now a sideshow.
ASked this on the last blog:
Can the Administration process be investigated and if so by who?
Is it likely that HMRC would return to the Court of Sessions to seek to appoint their own administrators?
Significant reforms to the Scottish Premier League’s rules on teams suffering an “insolvency event” have been discussed by member clubs.
A meeting of all 12 teams at Hampden on Monday saw a number of proposals for amending current regulations, which currently see ten points docked from a team which goes into administration.
One idea mooted would see a club in administration’s points from the previous three seasons averaged, then divided by three to determine how severe a penalty should be imposed.
Team A, for example, which finished high up the SPL table for three seasons and averaged 60 points each year would lose 20 points from their tally.
Team B, who have been a bottom six club for the previous three seasons, which averaged 30 points, would be deducted ten.
A further option raised would see the current penalty of a ten point deduction applied over the course of more than one season.
Also suggested was the possibility of imposing more severe punishments on clubs in the bottom half of the SPL table who are not in contention for a place in Europe.
It was argued clubs challenging for a spot in the Champions League or Europa League would suffer greater if they went into administration, as they would find it near-impossible to be granted a UEFA club licence to participate.
As clubs not competing for a place in Europe wouldn’t suffer that handicap, it was suggested they should suffer a greater points deduction.
The SPL board will draw up proposals for the next meeting of clubs in April but the plans will not be put to a vote.
Every member club of the SPL had representation at the meeting, with Rangers’ co-administrator Paul Clark also in attendance who did not find the paper hats amusing.
They are up to there neck in a sea of debt and going down for the third time and they are desperate for somebody anybody to throw them a life jacket.However,so many people are investigating the peepil under a spotlight that its only a matter of time until they drown.H.H.
From @TomEnglishSport on twitter.
Given that Neil Doncaster would rather set fire to his own trousers than get involved in something controversial, his statement today is big
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo 16.20
Did you make that up?
RobertTressell @ 16:20,
:
“…………………At what point do HMRC look at what is going on and apply for some kind of control of the process at the Court of Sessions?”
The thing is that HMRC want the administration to continue until the BTC is decided.
It is normal for the HMRC to go straight for a winding up order (i.e. Hearts)
However the EBT test case decision can have huge repercussions (2 Billion +), so they need to keep RFC on life support til then – efter that their goners
if the investigation includes interviewing actual players from that period to present then surely there goose is cooked – they cant possible ALL lie there way out of it can they?
tic tock on 5 March, 2012 at 15:19 said:
Celtfish…
Oxon Shamrock CSC, The Six Bells, Bicester
Not sure about 2001-02 as I didn’t live down here then…
http://thesixbellsbicester.com/celtic.php
Scroll down for a look at ‘Miss Celtic’
Tic Tock
great website and worth the scroll down. Much appreciated. I used to have a scarf like that !!
“Let’s be clear here of definitions of liquidation,” he said. “If your view of liquidation is a process of cessation of the football club we are very hopeful and confident that will not happen. In terms of the way forward, we have never discounted the possibility [of a so-called ‘new-co’ Rangers replacing the current club].
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo on 5 March, 2012 at 16:20 said:
Every member club of the SPL had representation at the meeting, with Rangers’ co-administrator Paul Clark also in attendance who did not find the paper hats amusing.
——–
Very very funny
cavansam \o/ on 5 March, 2012 at 16:23 said
no
http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-premier/rangers/299801-spl-clubs-discuss-radical-reform-to-administration-sanctions/?
The longer the mess goes on the better.. It indicates chaos, confusion,and a depth of poverty that there is no return from.. Incisive decisions would be more worrying ie getting the act together..
No -this chaos is good..
Will miss Paul Mc Brides incisive legal intellect at such times..
HH
The more I hear about Regan the more I realise he is out of his depth.
The more i hear about Jabba, the more I realise he is the Jeremy Clarkson of the rag trade.
(Except I quite like Jeremy Clarkson)
Awe_Naw….”paper hats”….LOL
Keep up the good work
pigalle
Quote of the day
“Its possible that very soon there will be more people working on investigating Rangers than people actually working at Rangers.”
Paul67
I wonder who brought up the subject of rangers and two contracts at the SPL board meeting and what the rangers secretary who was in attendance had to say?
Or did he just sit there staring at the floor…
Paul67
So, basically, Neil Doncaster is investigating whether the SPL has been rigged since its formation, yeah? Prior to that, the SFA would need to look back until the start of Murray’s tenure.
What would be an appropriate punishment for a club that has cheated every other member club for over 20 years?
Sky have just shown a very ‘selective’ representation of SPL chairmen etc, telling us how important a strong Rangers (and Celtic – good to see we’re being ignored alphabetically again) are ‘commercially’ and from a football perspective.
The St Mirren chappie stated this first then added the coda that this was ‘his personal opinion’
Liquidation was mentioned early on but I missed that bit.
The strategies are apparent – ridiculously so on SKY’s part.
Watch out for Spiers (For he too is pro them), Traynor etc positing the notion that liquidation might be the only way to rid this sleighted, wrongly maligned club of the millstone round its neck that is Craig Whyte.
The villain has been cast. The victims are rehearsing their lines. Ally McCoist is trying an Indy Fedora…
Look out Ally he’s behind you…
I think there will be a closed doors ‘Whatever it takes’ concordance.
Will the SFA and the SPL investigate a dead club? And would HMRC be happy with a corpse??
U
Would the SPL start this investigation just on rumours, with a not guilty verdict likely.
Or would it take the SPL to have some concrete evidence that der hun is guilty, so that the SPL dont end up like kirkie broadface ( egg on their face ).
Im hoping the latter but i always expect der hun to slip out of it unharmed as usual.
Any Rangers player who appeared in court and deliberately misrepresented their income by quoting only what was contained in their “official” contract would be guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Worth checking which players/staff appeared and what information they gave.
celtfish
I met Miss Celtic at a bus stop in the Trongate after the League Cup Final last season. She was a bit worst for wear in more ways than one.
Lets just say she does not look like that anymore… ;)
Chairbhoy
That is a very valid point, after the amount of time effort and expense that has gone into the big case by the HMRC, if Ratners were to go bust before the verdict, would that then render the verdict pointless, ie no precedent set, no rules with which to apply to future tax cheats, this might explain the inaction at poundland at the moment.
Well done Paul.
You led with this angle months ago, and only now are the Press following you.
While the World looks on aghast at what is developing into the Greatest Swindle in the History of Sport, James Traynor opts to consider irrelevant minutiae.
Here’s the narrative:
Hundreds of invalidly registered players fielded in a thousand games over 20 years in order to support an illegal tax scam implemented to win games of football, with the full knowledge and particpation of Directors and Office Bearers at the SFA and the SPL.
It’s quite a story isn’t it!
Keep telling it.
So if they have been paying players with two contracts since Gorams days (lets say 95) then we are currently going for 17 in a row possibly a wee bit less, but Motherwell could be due a title as well if they where doing it in 94 for example
Former board members at Rangers could be questioned as part of the Scottish Premier League’s investigation into the “alleged non-disclosure of payments to players”.
SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster has told STV those who previously held office at the club, including former owner Sir David Murray, could be asked to give evidence.
More to follow…
IMO the lack of ex Rangers directors coming out to refute Adam claim about EBT contracts tells us that, that was the case.
i wonder how many contractsSir walter of smith and sir ally of pith had each season.
sounds like the boooglie eyed man wasnt the only one not paying PAYE
Ach well as long as they dont sell the Arsenal shares eh….