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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SFTB @ 11.23
Sorry not good enough.
Just more happy flappy tripe doffing a cap to our betters.
You seem to be saying what we have is what we need.
At what point will you be shouting for change?
Your point that we don’t need to woorry no matter the shambles PL inflicts upon us then everything will be OK because we can just sell our best players — what rubbish that is Maggie’nomics circa 84/85 and we all know how that turned out.
For the record what are your thoughts regarding the future of the club?
If we decline any further we will struggle to get an invite into the Conference North.
While I am at it it is incredible how many on here would willingly take RM’s shilling and hope for mid table mediocrity rather than build our own destiny using the CL as our stepping stone.
SFTB
And for the record. As soon as 11 ghuys run on the field wearing the Hoops they have my complete backing throughout.
Can’t wait till the next match. I hate international weekends!
Night Timland
HH jamesgang
JAMESGANG on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2015 11:28 PM
Private Eye actually,old boy.
Don`t mention Uganda.
Or relations.
test
Muscat Bhoy
Fantastic out the box thinking on the brand issue. You canny teach kids that. Reclaim the narrative from the norm.
crc@11.00
‘SFTB
“You showed that you lacked accounting knowledge the other night and how cash reserves can be manipulated at year end.
You have again tonight.
£21M Profit made on the last 2 years before accounting for frazer and vigil cash less the biggest spend in the last 14 years. How is this reinvested again?”
The day I try to claim accounting knowledge is the day you have permission to shoot me.
What I made clear in that post and again tonight was that I claim some expertise in reading and knowing what words mean. You claimed that you had disproved the re-investment myth because funds earned had not been re-invested. I clarified that they had not been re-invested YET but that does not disprove they would be because the original quote, when quoted accurately, did not have a time frame- it did not include the word immediately. If you are claiming that funds are being siphoned off and hidden from us, i join you on the barricades, once you provide me with proof. If all you have proven is that we have money yet to spend and have not spent it, then it is still with the club, is it not?
HAMILTONTIM on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2015 11:29 PM
Tontine T
Indeed they were refugees and the only reason they wouldn’t be classed as immigrants would be because of Britain’s colonial rule in Ireland since 1171.
==================================================
I don`t think Britain was Britain in 1171.
:-)
Anyway,the Irish Scottii invaded Dalriada long before that.
Repatriation maybe?
ANDYR53 on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2015 11:31 PM
Will they still be laughing when we win the SPFL again?
We have all long since stopped caring what the likes of Jackson. Traynor and their ilk say or write.
We know their perspective.
We know they write with royal blue tinted keyboards.
We know where their affiliations lie.
And we know they are hurting.
Badly.
And they all know we know.
Regardless of the outgoings and Incomings of the transfer window,I will continue with my season ticket
and support the team.
Coz that’s what real supporters do..
HH
Minceyheidman
Interesting one that. I’ve followed his career with interest. I think not personally, it seems like he has real issues and those need to be ironed out in a less stressful and more forgiving environment. Hope he does well for the Hibees though.
Giggsy, thanks for that. I’ve just finished a Masters at Strathclyde in marketing so some of it might have rubbed off. Just need a job now!
rule 1 someone else’s job is always easier looking from a distance
Rule 2 never buy a company with its own money
Minceyheidman on 2nd September 2015 11:26 pm –
Islam Feruz back at Celtic?? Not for me, NEVER!! Tommy Burns fought tooth and nail to keep Feruz and his Family in Scotland despite the serious threat of deportation, secured their right to stay in the UK, set them up in a house out of Castlemilk and was slapped in the face by this upstart who proceeded to insult Tommy and everyone else at Celtic Park from the safety of Stamford Bridge.. as I remember we got little or nothing for his development due to a loophole exploited by Chelsea.
Islam Feruz back at Celtic Park.. not for me.
EKBhoy
never buy a company for just £1. It won’t be worth that much.
Hamiltontim on 2nd September 2015 11:29 pm
Tontine T
Indeed they were refugees and the only reason they wouldn’t be classed as immigrants would be because of Britain’s colonial rule in Ireland since 1171.
*my grandparents were born in 1881 so not refugees, mibbees the children of the famine.
EKBhoy on 2nd September 2015 11:47 pm –
Just wondering how it would have panned out , the whole purchase of sevco.. had it been presented on Dragons Den??
Would any of the Dragons invested????
Hail Hail.. COYBIG !!
GG
Rule 2 amended NEVER buy a company for £1 and pay off its bank loans with its own future revenue streams
HH
Fair comments on Feruz and justified.
How much of what happened pre and post Chelsea signing was his doing I am not sure.
I look forward to seeing how he does at Hibs.
Macjay
I’m sorry but that posts disgusts me.
Night all.
“Good Evening, My name is Charles Whyte, and Im looking for 33p investment in exchange for 33% of my business…..”
HA HA HA…. ROFL…..
jamesgang – if i see 11 hoops run on the park I would be screaming”Where’s the keeper?”
Some of these bloody debates are like Courts of Law, who bloody cares whether he said we would, we would try or we aspire. Also when bean counters talk about spending money they factor the wages into their calculations. If you sign a contract with a player for 5 years at 10k per wee, that could be construed as a contingent liability of two and a half million. Also none of us really know what we get or what we pay, whether there are add ons or whether others are due a cut. All this debate seems pointless to me. The bottom line is most Supporters want the Club to be in a healthy Financial state but have the best possible team on the field playing attractive football & winning trophies.
I am satisfied that the Club is in a good Financial position, my only concern is how good a team we have. Was feeling good about that till Malmo happened but that shook my confidence. Since then we lost Virgil and gained Blackett & Jozo, are we stronger or weaker,? I don’t know, we will have to wait & see. There were other changes in and out as well but I don’t think any of them made a fundamental change to our strength or otherwise. After that sole contribution of the night, I’m off to bed. God Bless All.
Maradominic
I’ve never claimed to be the brightest!
Gordon’s playing up front. In case we get a last minute corner.
Night!!!!
HH jamesgang
HAMILTONTIM on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2015 11:54 PM
Macjay
Mate.
Just trying to have a laugh with you.
That was all.
Over a week since the Malmo disaster, over a day since the window shut, incredible amount of pish ranted on here derisory of Celtic, Pl, etc.
Yet not one negative post offers a solution with the moans.
Pages of grown men greetin’ over keyboards like spoiled weans. ‘We Deserve Better’ banners being fed through the sewing machines as I write.
But I’m lost. Maybe too thick to engage your vast intellects. Humour me:
Who were we meant to buy? How many goals would we have beated Malmo by if we had got them? How scared would Real Madrid be of us now? How much were we meant to spend? Who should be CEO instead of PL? Who should make up the board instead of the current incumbents? Why did you know exactly where Celtic were going wrong but chose not to share it with them?
Tell us the recipe for success. Share your wisdom. Tell me why the world’s so black and white and clear to you while the rest of us struggle with the grey areas and the awkward choices our reality brings…
Enlighten us poor cattle who lap up events as factual, who try to get an angle on the state of affairs and the possibilities and variables while you shake your head at us with wry pity from your tower of ineffable knowledge.
I ask you this as a humble knave, not worthy of your scorn or benevolence but willing to cast myself at your feet in servitude if you would only release us all from our prisons of ignorance…
Just thinking, anybody remember being at Tynecastle late 80s, olc Celtic end.. Saturday, pishing o rain, and singing American Pie, getting old now, don’t know if iam confabulating due to the Eldorado !!!!, or my memories fecked.!!!
Sandman time after time I have answered this question. It’s so boring and not difficult.
It just takes ambition and the drive to improve.
Np but all just want MONEY?..
The island it is silent now
But the ghosts still haunt the waves
And the torch lights up a famished man
Who fortune could not save
Did you work upon the railroad
Did you rid the streets of crime
Were your dollars from the white house
Were they from the five and dime
Did the old songs taunt or cheer you
And did they still make you cry
Did you count the months and years
Or did your teardrops quickly dry
Ah, no, says he, ’twas not to be
On a coffin ship I came here
And I never even got so far
That they could change my name
Thousands are sailing
Across the western ocean
To a land of opportunity
That some of them will never see
Fortune prevailing
Across the western ocean
Their bellies full
Their spirits free
They’ll break the chains of poverty
And they’ll dance
In Manhattan’s desert twilight
In the death of afternoon
We stepped hand in hand on broadway
Like the first man on the moon
And “the blackbird” broke the silence
As you whistled it so sweet
And in Brendan Behan’s footsteps
I danced up and down the street
Then we said goodnight to broadway
Giving it our best regards
Tipped our hats to mister Cohen
Dear old times square’s favorite bard
Then we raised a glass to JFK
And a dozen more besides
When I got back to my empty room
I suppose I must have cried
Thousands are sailing
Again across the ocean
Where the hand of opportunity
Draws tickets in a lottery
Postcards we’re mailing
Of sky-blue skies and oceans
From rooms the daylight never sees
Where lights don’t glow on Christmas trees
But we dance to the music
And we dance
Thousands are sailing
Across the western ocean
Where the hand of opportunity
Draws tickets in a lottery
Where e’er we go, we celebrate
The land that makes us refugees
From fear of priests with empty plates
From guilt and weeping effigies
And we dance
~
Terrible pictures across twitter tonight.
Irish people faced the same plight 170 years ago, over 1 million perished in the coffin ships in the Atlantic Ocean, while more than 1 million died to to starvation and related diseases at home. Today the coffin ships operate in the Mediterranean Sea.
I saw a chart on twitter earlier showing the number of refugees each EU country has accepted in per capita, and also the percentage of applications that were accepted. Unfortunately Ireland showed up pretty poorly on both counts.
Utterly shameful, for a country with our history. We should be showing the way, it would be the greatest tribute our nation could pay to the horrors our ancestors endured.
And Ireland did lead by example on this issue we would have a unique moral authority to demand that the world do more to end this crisis, due to our nations experience of coffin ships.
May that poor young boy and his family RIP.
SANDMAN on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2015 12:06 AM
By far the most significant problem`s in the dugout.
I.M.H.O.
Duped and tuped!
Good slogan for a t-shirt methinks.
Good Evening Bhoys
Sevco smokescreen has done the trick eh.
Nice bodyswerve.
Everything is rosy in the garden again.
But don’t talk about the vast amounts squandered by big Pedro.
Shhhhh
HH
Anyway…have big chals and wee craigy got whats coming to them….nah.
They will handshake their way out of court…..probably get a not guilty.
They will then sue everybody and anybody…..quids in.
Too many secrets.
They keep quiet…they walk.
After all….it is Scoddland
HH
What ails ye Green Man?
If you’ d been reading back…
‘the ghosts still haunt the waves’ – written with regard to the poor unfortunates fleeing poverty and war…and still dying…in their thousands.
Count yer feckin blessings and lighten up. There’s things to get angry about…and things to get mildly irked about.
ART of War
Never read back…just on.
HH
SFTB
I am not one to bash PL as in general I feel he is doing a good job.
However there is no getting away from the fact he is responsible for making the deals & bringing players to the club.
On this he has failed miserably during the last window & he’s had a whole year to plan things better. Fans are confused & dismayed at the lack of ambition, plus the mixed messages that have been emanating from the club.
By example – Not too long ago it was intimated by PL, we could spend £6 million on a single player, as we had the money to do so. Of course this was partly lies as there was no way we would pay the wages required for such an expensive player. We all understood this but to make statements such as this is misleading & only serves to confuse the support.
Celtic are very good at giving out mixed messages but the one thing that can not be in doubt are the actions we take.
A simple question for you…
At what point during the last window would it have been acceptable for you to have spent the majority of our transfer budget?
Keep in mind we had a whole year to plan for the champions league qualifiers?
We only brought 3 of our 8 summer acquisitions at the beginning of the window, one of them was suspended for six games, one was third choice RB & only one went straight into the team as first choice. This is not good planning in anyone’s book & neither is our failure to strengthen between qualifiers or after being dumped by Malmo.
james gang@ 11.23
“a) despite being a pretty pragmatic and happy-ish happy clapper I think I’m correct to give it ‘j’accuse’ in terms of our recruitment of forwards. Our success rate contrasts poorly with our recruitment of midfielders, defenders and keepers.
b) you cite how Balde is now doing well at Metz as evidence that he’s a good(ish) player. I think the same could be said of scepovic, Rasmussen, the fridge laddie and perhaps pukki too. Yet none were successfully integrated into our team. Ergo a failure to match requirements with attributes? Therefore a failure in recruitment surely?
c) as for demanding specific KPIs from me and others who ask for better Return on Investmention on our investment in forwards. I’ll confess that I spend too much of my day working then being a daddy taxi and maker of packed lunches to provide huge detail. (And I’d rather hoped someone at CP would have done that already). But here’s a couple to start with – someone who’ll come in and rummel (sp) up opposing defenders and keepers and put (or closely assist) the emplacement of the ball in the onion bag on a regular basis.
d) people who tend to score more than twice a season at their current clubs and aren’t welded to the Physio couch are also moreiky to be more useful!
Might ya auld bassa!;-)”
I took a break from the firefighting on here. My belated response is :-
a) You can accuse and get backing about poor forward recruitment. the debate was about how you spend better not about whether that was a good idea in itself.
b) I most certainly did not cite Bale “doing well” at Metz, I just stated he was at Metz just as he was at Sporting Lisbon and at Guimares/Beveren and Hapoel. He gets employed by professionals no matter how much he is dismissed by amateurs on here as a no hoper. Some players do well at certain clubs and cannot transfer it. The failure might be in the recruitment or it might be in the player or it might be inexplicable. Unless you know how to fix that mismatch or even reduce its incidence, then you only have a desire to do better not a means to do anything about your desire.
c) Nice try. But slagging our scouts and recruiters is just venting unless you know what they are doing wrong and can change it. Your KPIs are ones they already use. Unless, like Neg Anon, you believe our recruiters wanted to sign forwards who DO NOT Score. I think it is far more rational to believe that they bought them in the hope that they would score and play well, that they thought these players met the KPIs you identified and that they were just wrong in that regard. I am also sure that, when they recruited Commons, they did not expect or specify that he be a 30 goal plus striker, but he was.
d) The physio couch jibe is a telling one but it does not apply to any of our forward buys. Even Derk had managed to play 30 games in the season we bought him from Ajax and had been a 30 plus games a season man in 4 of the 5seasons before that. Bangura and Balde and Pukki and Murphy (lest we forget) were physically fit enough. Their mismatch problems lay elsewhere.
I am afraid that you have not shown, any more than I can, how to do this scouting lark better. I suspect we are both better at analysisng and critiquing the problem than in being able to rectify it.
How would we both feel if someone like us turned up at our work and said “You are doing a pretty shit job there mate!” and you ask him “What am I doing wrong and what should I be doing” only to get the reply “Don’t know, mate, you’re the expert! Just do your job better!”
Hamilton Tim
1171?
Are you Archbishop Ussher?
To end that thought STFB & the evening – You can try to spin if you wish but there is no getting away from it. The summer window was a failure, we failed markedly to strengthen at key moments & we failed in our ultimate objective which was champions league qualification.
Islam Feruz
A complete loser advised by complete losers. A wee boy who was taken down the wrong road.
Celtic set him and his family up and where are they now?