After many years of speculation and debate, former Rangers owner, Craig Whyte, and founding father of newco Rangers, Charles Green, have been detained by police and are due to appear in court connected to the “alleged fraudulent acquisition” of Rangers assets, which were sold after the club failed to prevent a liquidator being appointed.
Joint administrators for Rangers, Paul Clark and David Whitehouse, then employed by Duff and Phelps, have also been detained in connection with the case.
Let’s get the rules clear from the off:
Anyone charged with a crime is entitled to a fair trial. They should not be subject to public comment which is likely to prejudice their ability to receive a fair trial. Don’t let anything of this nature appear on CQN.
You can discuss the issue, and you can discuss consequences of similar-sounding hypothetical cases, but unless you are cited to as a juror, don’t try to convict anyone.
The events surrounding Rangers liquidation and the subsequent asset purchase took place over three years ago. That this case has now found such momentum suggests the police are following a strong lien of enquiry, and have overcome whatever inertia which can sometimes affect white-collar crime.
We don’t know what is alleged fraudulently took place. The role of the administrators to carry out their duties on behalf of creditors is clearly established. That said, plenty of lateral is afforded to administrators (although increasing payroll by trying to sign Daniel Cousin raised eyebrows).
Exactly how Sevco Scotland Ltd (now The Rangers Football Club Ltd) were able to buy Rangers assets (for £5.5m) when the company who successfully bid for the assets was Sevco 5088 Ltd, has remained an open question since Craig Whyte claimed a controlling interest in Sevco 5088 Ltd.
Whatever the nature of the police charges, there is one overarching fact which Scottish football should be alert to.
Any company, football club or otherwise, which relies on assets that were criminally acquired to go about its business cannot continue to operate with those assets.
In this instance, the stadium, training ground, intellectual property, balls, nets and goalposts were all acquired by the company now known as The Rangers Football Club Ltd.
The consequences of this one are so massive several well-informed people suspected it would never get this far. But the day has come.
Even if all charges are dropped or allegations found to be false, there will still be immediate and real consequences. How would you, for example, go about raising money for a company with this hanging over it? Newco needs money, and they need to convince investors that the club did not start by criminally acquiring its football stadium.
Good luck with that.
I see in some places a fallacy persists that the SFA found Craig Whyte fit and proper to be a director of a football club. They did no such thing. The responsibility for ensuring Whyte’s fitness in 2011 lay with the Rangers board of directors, including Dave King and Paul Murray. The SFA have no powers to intercede or prevent a club from appointing any director it chooses.
Earlier this year Dave King took the unusual step of asking for prior-clearance that his appointment would not be found contrary to SFA rules (presumably due to his criminal convictions), before being appointed a director, but this was at King’s discretion. There is no SFA Fit and Proper test, the SFA do not clear or otherwise sanction any club director prior to appointment, this is the job of the club itself. Dave King, Paul Murray but most of all, Sir David Murray, take a bow.
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Red Hauns wae Ulcers?
JFH
The loyal Bears are never slow to pay up :-)
Tontine Tim – Great to hear your tale.
I went to bed last night having decided that I must be wrong in getting behind the team, the manager and the executives who I had previously thought were doing a sterling job. It was time to stop supporting Celtic and look to somewhere else for my sporting enjoyment. All those so called supporters posting their nonsense finally got to me. (aye right)
However, I woke this morning and spent my first hour devouring every bit of news I could find about my team. Can’t wait to see them again in the next match. Once it is in your blood it never leaves.
The problem is Charlie, Craigy et al will probably get a fairer hearing from a jury made up of Tims, Dons, Hibbees, etc then they will from ra Berrs.
HH
Gary67 on 2nd September 2015 7:28 pm
The return of the Celtic board’s favourite distraction!!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That Peter Lawwell is one devious bugger.
lennybhoy
Re the club allegiances of jurors
“Partick Thistle/St Mirren/Kilmarnock/Motherwell have always been ma furst team, m’Lud”
Good Evening.
That was a great read Paul. I really don’t think many Sevco fans have woken up to the potential dangers to their ‘club’ at the moment.
Instead, they are getting their hopes up that some sort of vindication is coming and some sort of retribution for all the wrong done TO the ‘club’.
As I explain here, that’s a monsoon of pish.
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2015/09/02/an-apology-aboard-hms-sevco/
Cheers!
Think that’s the ISDX Application Form back in the drawer then
These trials can’t go ahead in Scotland because of the potential for jury bias. Instead I propose they move the trial to Bury St Edmunds.
But they need to wait a couple of weeks until I move there so that I can be called for jury duty.
And the trial can’t last any longer than a couple of days because I have things to do and I tend to get board easily…
Ah forget it, can’t be bothered now…
St stivs and Yorkbhoy – genuine lol at both yer posts…..
Here’s Merlins view of the rsb…
Here at the RSL we have obtained a reputation for being supporters of what could loosely be termed the “Green Regime” at Ibrox. In light of today’s news – that Charles Green is likely to face charges over his running of the club – this might appear to be a black mark against our name as a fan group.
People who think so should perhaps re-examine their viewpoint – for very good reasons.
Firstly, there was a time when Sir David Murray could do very little wrong in the eyes of the Ibrox support. To say during the SDM glory years that he would ruin the club was to invite derision and even the threat of violence from fellow fans.
Then he sold to Craig Whyte, claiming he was “duped” by the man with wealth off the radar. After involving the club in an EBT fiasco which is still rumbling on to this day.
Whyte was given unqualified support from the vast part of the Rangers fan base before he plunged the club into its darkest days.
Then there is Big Chuck himself. It is ironic that many of those who are crying out for his crucifixion were the same ones hailing him as the messiah when he lifted Rangers from the ashes of the SDM/Whyte aftermath. He was famously given life membership of the Rangers Supporters Trust and was so poular in the bluenose-supporting sector of the media (yes, there is one!) that one very prominent football journalist was so enthused he moonlighted as a cheerleader for the IPO. Another, of course, joined the Green Revolution as media czar at Ibrox.
My own reputation as a supporter of Charles Green is not one I will deny but I would like to point out that I came very late to the game. In fact. I was seen as a sourpuss because I didn’t buy in amidst all the euphoria. Truth is, I was sceptical of Green and his consortium for quite some time and was engaged in serious activity trying to find evidence to incriminate them. I found nothing and through time came to believe that it was time to get behind the regime.
Now I am a Rangers supporter which for me includes being loyal and committed. so when eventually I accepted that my own conspiratorial suspicions wrre just that, I resolved to plunge in and help support the Green regime.
Then the boardroom wars happened and the rest is history. I am on the record for saying that I opposed those who sought to oust the previous regime begun under Charles Green because I didn’t approve of the underhand way they went about things. For me – and many others – it wasn’t and isn’t the Rangers way. I stand by that.
Of course, myself and my colleagues here at the RSL have been abused, vilified and lied about in a carefully orchestrated PR campaign. This only proves the validity of what we have been saying. If people need to resort to such underhand and unpresbyterian methods, there is something far wrong. Nonetheless, we remain Rangers supporters – certainly of the team which right now is an absolute delight to behold – and even of the regime, albeit with the right to criticise what we see as its shortcomings.
Those shortcomings are many, even if picking Mark Warburton was a genius stroke. In fact, Warburton’s blazing success so far has only helped to put those shortcomings very much in the background.
The simple truth is that football is a murky business. I have first-hand experience and knowledge of this. It doesn’t attract a lot of choirboys in terms of the people who run clubs as a business. That is part of life and one I can live with. Nevertheless, it is important to have ideals, even if you are aware that they won’t materialise overnight. And also there is the realistic side of things to be dealt with. For example, fans say they want complete transparency but few could handle this. And some things that could be made public would only harm clubs, including share prices. Some things should be kept private and even secret so full transparency is a big red herring and not one you would want to eat.
Boardroom shenanigans have always gone on at football clubs, Rangers being no exception. The plight of Rangers in recent years has helped to develop an obsession in some fans who feel it is their duty to scrutinise and micro-manage the minutiae of all the club’s business dealings. This desire to forensically pore over every aspect of the fiscals has also been cynically inculcated in supporters by those seeking power. Funnily enough, the amateur accountancy craze is now discouraged, having been replaced with a “Trust us, we’re Rangers men” mantra.
As I write, it is unknown what Charles Green will actually be charged with. The actual charges may be a matter of not following legal protocols in relation to corporate law or something far more serious. It may even imperil the corporate status of the newco Green set up, which would have very obvious and extremely serious repercussions for the present board. We can only speculate at this point and that holds its own dangers.
The situation with Charles Green at present actually vindicates us here in the RSL because our desire at all times was to have a club where the highest possible standards of integrity were maintained. Our dislike of and opposition to what could now broadly be called the Kingco coalition was because we did not think these people were acting in a way that befitted the club and fell far short of the required standards. The conduct of some associated with the Kingco cause was frankly disgraceful and brought shame upon the club, including their treatment of fans who disagreed with them.
This is not to say that the Green Regime which could then be called the Easdale Regime in the chronology of events was without fault. Far from it. But our thinking in the RSL was very simple – we support the club as it is. Honest readers of our blogs will see that there was no small amount of criticism directed at the board at this time on these pages, especially from Ninjaman. Our opinion is still that Sandy Easdale made some mistakes while at the club but in general did a great job under very trying circumstances. His treatment by some is disgraceful. But to say that the RSL blindly supported the previous board is to take giant steps away from reality.
There is no point going over old ground. We are where we are. That is our outlook here at the RSL. Our thinking has not changed in that we reserve the right to be committed supporters but to be able to voice concerns and criticise. An honest regime will not be fazed by this. Only people with something to hide would wage smear campaigns and engage in dirty PR to safeguard their interests.
If today’s events teach us anything, it is the need for vigilance AND the ability to question. Taking Rangers’ directors word for things is no longer acceptable. For this reason we at the RSL strongly believe in a fully independent fan board which can question and probe the board – with real teeth. This should not be a fan group but an independent body – something akin to the ill-fated RFB but with more firepower at its disposal and not susceptible to fan group control.
The bottom line is that this latest twist to the Rangers saga highlights more than ever the need for transparency and accountability in the running of our football club. Blind faith and trust in those who steward Rangers is crazy, given what is transpiring before our eyes.
As for Charles Green, I count him as a friend. I hope he proves himself innocent of all and any charges. Should he be found guilty, he will have to pay the piper. But the lesson is clear: if you are not squeaky clean running Rangers, then you should have a squeaky bum. If, of course, the authorities are doing their job.
One other thing. Unlike others who will be reading this most avidly, I have never been employed by Charles Green or received shares to write for the club or propagate its views.
You can buy my opinion but you cannot pay me to write yours and pretend it’s mine. Charles Green knew this as did everybody else in the previous regime. And that is why everyone who knows me – including my own father contrary to some deliberately misleading reports – finds the notion of me being paid to prostitute my pen for any Rangers board laughable.
If you read my blogs here on RSL you will get the views of a Rangers supporter. You might not like or agree with them but they are honestly held. That is what the RSL is all about.
So – if you want reasonable transparency from any Rangers board…
The Prisoner (known only as Number Six) is a former government agent who abruptly resigns from his job and has been imprisoned in a beautiful and charming-yet-bizarre and enigmatic community — a mysterious seaside “village” that is isolated from the mainland by mountains and the sea. Presumably wanted for the top-secret information he knows, Number Six is hunted, yet thwarts his captors at every turn. However, he’s still trapped in the village by floating, glowing “rovers,” mysterious, balloonlike devices that capture those who try to escape.
Paddy Gallagher on 2nd September 2015 7:10 pm
“Are Jury members allowed to post updates on CQN? ”
Genuinely laughed out loud at that.
Someone mentioned moles.
Speaking of which any reports from FF or the Hundead media
Should be fun
Tontine Tim:5:19 PM,
Great post,
reminded me to keep the Celtic fire lit,as its been hard on here the last week or so,
like you i queued with like minded supporters to buy shares in Celtic,which still take pride of place displayed on my wall,not a capitalist in any sense,but it brought a wry smile to my face when my preference shares jumped up by over 20% today and i can`t figure out if PL is responsible or the shennanagins(sic) taking place elsewhere in Glasgow.
Charlie Tully remains my ideal as a footballer,and many have worn the Hoops since his time,some great (Lisbon Lions),Paul McStay,Tommy Burns,Henke etc.etc.some not so,but all deserving of support because they wore the Hoops,that,is the only requirement when I take my seat in Celtic`s Park,
Parkheed then,Parkheed now,Parkheed the morra.
Hail! Hail!
sipsini
Meant to say – think it was you who had a work colleague come up today and ask you for an apology cos it wasn’t ra Gers fault it was two chancers who were to blame.
SDM is obviously pre-history for these guys.
On that logic, SDM sold a perfectly solid well performing company with substantial assets worth millions, great annual results and with the prospect of expansion, growth and consolidation in a captive and gullible market with no real regulatory interference…
for a pound…
to a barra boy…
who specialized in asset stripping..
who was a bankrupt ..
and barred from any managing or directorship..
but who was a billionaire with off the radar wealth.
The “off the radar wealth” comment was actually quite accurate.
Sadly though, it really meant that the wealth was too little to register on the radar at all.
Er, we have just been handed our latest Euro doing. How can we laugh at others?
Rangers are irrelevant. Our own board should face more scrutiny.
can’t wait for the next game – in my mind it’s rd’s first game in charge proper. somebody made a great point earlier that lennie’s departure was unexpected and we’ve been reeling a bit since – Ronnie get yourself a settled first 11 – decide how to bring on the noobs. I don’t feel good about sj at the moment – can’t figure him out , think Ronnie’s gotta do what lennie did to sammi – get the rest of the team to understand him and play to him. It’s all your ronnie – you’ve got 11 months to the next CL qualifiers (if we win).
RWE
and barred from any managing or directorship..
Was that not after poundland purchase ?
May be wrong !
Captain Beefheart
Quite easily…
The quest for an investigation into the biggest ever British sporting fraud continues even if it doesn’t have the Beefy seal of approval..
Either you’re being obtuse or well something else:))
Hopefully Ronny will play Stokesy upfront. The Elvis man should be nowhere near the wing.
Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on. This scarecrow of a suit has, in course of time, become so complicated that no man alive knows what it means. The parties to it understand it least, but it has been observed that no two Chancery lawyers can talk about it for five minutes without coming to a total disagreement as to all the premises. Innumerable children have been born into the cause; innumerable young people have married into it; innumerable old people have died out of it. Scores of persons have deliriously found themselves made parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce without knowing how or why; whole families have inherited legendary hatreds with the suit. The little plaintiff or defendant who was promised a new rocking-horse when Jarndyce and Jarndyce should be settled has grown up, possessed himself of a real horse, and trotted away into the other world. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out; the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere bills of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces left upon the earth perhaps since old Tom Jarndyce in despair blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane; but Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the court, perennially hopeless.”
― Charles Dickens
Jeez – I thought Ranjurs and Elvis were deid!
TheClumpany on 2nd September 2015 8:00 pm
Good summary of the sorry events. Well done.
Peepil should read this and weep.
WellyouneverknowCSC ;))
The Clumpany
Brilliant!
Merlin of the brains trust
A monsoon of pish!
.
What’s a phalanx..?
Summa
The Clumpany
Another cracking read, should be mailed out to every follow follower of the Zombie Incarnation..
RWE..
Had another one shouting that their due compensation, millions from the sfa due to their lack of due diligence, as Paul pointed out earlier, there is no such procedure.
My retort was…have you paid the fine that LNS deemed fit to give you for your cheating ways yet?
Believe me, that is the way the typical hun feels…very hard done to.
Got to read this blog posting guys, It’s comedy gold;
https://rangerssupportersloyal.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/merlins-thoughts-on-charles-green-situation/
Personally speaking, I hope Newco stick around a bit longer because it has not stopped me laughing out loud for so many years. Anyone noticed that Green and Whyte are the two guys beign charged? I mean the whole thing literally is like a wonderful dream that we haven’t woken up from yet!
I love this, lets hope the club keep puffing and panting and all those ‘Rangers men’ suffer a bit more. If you’re a Tim like me, you’ll know where that sentiment comes from. Plus, if we stuff them this season after all the guff they’ve talked about Warburton, that would be pure class!
The close of the window and the last few things have fired things into clearer perspective for a few.
We the fans are the main source of income that the club have. A source that is variable and flighty. Celtic need that matchday income to increase as TV and sponsorship is at it maximum. If that matchday income increases to a level where you get another 10/12 thousand at each home game then you have a better chance of getting a team that qualifies for the CL more than 40% of the time.
We made an over £7m profit on sales this summer (£35.5m since 2010). We never lost £21m this season or last season as we didnae budget for it. We will actually earn £13m in those two seasons more than we budgeted for. That £7m see’s us just stand still to downsize further. Player sales and qualifying prize money mask the fact that the main source of income has been dropping like a stone and I think the club are maybe not truthful about the number of SB’s they have sold.
This comes back to big club syndrome. We sell ourselves as the biggest and the best and anything else would be seen as an admittance of failure. I understand this but to move forward we need to be honest about where we are.
We need to be honest to the support and say this downsizing – while needed as our wage figures show we waste millions and have been wasting millions for years – is not only because of defeats on the park and the changing face of football but because no one is turning up. Our main income stream is now no longer a flood but a trickle.
We laughed at Charlie Green’s and Dave King’s war cry but they responded in numbers. They bought into it. Us? we are eating ourselves while blaming others and circumstances and making excuses.
The club are between a rock and a hard place. They won’t gamble on potentially getting 10 thousand more season book holders, they can’t. It’s not in their fiscal nature. The only way to get the club we want is if we pay for it and pay for it in advance.
In 2012 our CEO basically said when they died we would foot the bill. Yes, we have made massive mistakes and wasted a golden opportunity but have we really stepped up to the plate and footed the bill? The green plastic and an empty top tier at one end says it all.
To move forward we need honesty, better engagement and a narrative of positivity to get those who have been lost to comeback. Here we go to ten in a row? Only if we pay for it. Lets start with that at this crossroads all of our own making and bring change. Starting at the very top.
Unpresbyterians?!
Not ANOTHER split! How many of these franchises before they realise 1517 was a mistake?!
:-)
Sipsini
Their brains are brand new,nae wonder they keep gettin’ ta’en tae the cleaners.
Paul67
Two good articles in one day, don’t let the negativists pull Celtic down.
Leigh Griffiths and Nadir Ciftci ole GLIB’s looking helluva shifty.
Natknow
Quite,how very unpresbyterian to pay players extra money on undeclared contracts,rip off the taxman,creditors and the public purse before going bust and blaming it on everybody bar their own.
Natknow, I know. Cognitive dissonance in abundance! Kevin Bridges is a great comedian, but that blogger could give him a run for his money at the Celtic player of the year awards. His argument is basically, yeah Charles Green was bad, but so is everyone who runs a football club, but we shouldn’t be bad, we should just accept that bad people run football clubs but try not to be bad ourselves!
Just watched the Charles Green at Court video
He still seems to be suffering from that affliction he claimed was “Rangersh*tiest*”
Looking at hun mediaI and it’s amazing some of the reaction, they think this is good news for them.
Expose the criminal fraud perpetrated against rangers, compensation awaits, after green and white the sfa and probably hmrc should be charged with corruption and of course the brains behind the whole shebang our very own peter lawwell will end up in court.
Amazing alternative universe
LENNON N MC….MJALLBY on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2015 9:04 PM
Natknow
Quite,how very unpresbyterian to pay players extra money on undeclared contracts,rip off the taxman,creditors and the public purse before going bust and blaming it on everybody bar their own.
———————————-
Haha! Totally, dude! As they say… ye couldnae make it up! :-)