Sir David Murray, Campbell Ogilvie, Dave King, as directors of a football club, you presided over tax evasion. While ordinary men and women have no choice, or criminal urge, to avoid paying for public services, you directed a deception on an industrial scale.
Sir David Murray and Campbell Ogilvie have their influence and signatures all over this act. The SFA was quick to discipline and sine die Craig Whyte after he was out of the game, it must now charge Murray and Ogilvie with bringing the game into disrepute. The stale influence of cronyism at Hampden must be routed and seen to be so.
The SPFL instructed an inquiry three years ago but with this verdict in, the SFA must appoint their own inquiry.
Why did the processes at Hampden allow this to happen and continue without check?
Why did Rangers get their European licence in 2011 despite being in arrears to HMRC, in contravention of that licence? Who was responsible for this decision?
Why was a director and signatory of Rangers illegal tax schemes elected and reappointed president of the SFA?
How transparent were the SFA and the SPL in their handling of these tax evasion charges?
Was the SPL inquiry commissioned to uncover the facts, or to meet a desired objective? Who prepared the inquiry remit and who signed off on that remit?
Lord Nimmo Smith found that legally executed Employee Benefit Trusts did not confer a significant sporting advantage. In light of what I have already read of the verdict, we must now discover if such widespread illegal Employee Benefit Trusts conferred a sporting advantage. This question has not been asked yet.
It’s time for football to shake off the shackles of corruption in Scotland, as elsewhere.
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TBB
I thought your post was just one of your yarns
Disgusting that you had to endure this
I blame the schools obviously.
TBJ SAYS WEE OSCAR KNOX IS IN HEAVEN WITH THE ANGELS on 4TH NOVEMBER 2015 3:43 PM
Dena
I know its certainly one I wont forget in a hurry
HH
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 4th November 2015 3:45 pm –
:-)))))
Tell him to get his archie back
HH
LP
That clip is just perfect.
This guy has a right good look at thems ehhhh maths let’s call it.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 4TH NOVEMBER 2015 3:45 PM
Just had a text from ACGR,a comment in The Scotsman.
Knock,knock.
Who’s there?
It’s the polis. Get yer legs on,yer coming wi us!
——
Oooft
That one’s close to the bone…..
Maths.
One of the 21st century’s most influential financial thinkers is a man called Nassim Nicholas Taleb. One of the most powerful things I have learned from him is that the value of information is usually inversely proportional to the frequency of publication of the medium delivering it. TV news channels are completely worthless because their instant and continuous nature precludes analysis and reflection. Their thirst for ‘breaking news’ ticker-text leaves them begging for any garbage that a PR rep wants to send them. Daily newspapers are almost as bad. Weekly journals start to get better, but if you want to read anything of value, make sure that it is not published any more frequently than once per month. As a new blogger, I am already feeling a self-imposed pressure to publish often to ‘chase the dragon’ and recreate the feeling of surprise and, to be honest, a little conceit, that came with first realising that this blog had become quite popular very quickly.
And so Professor Taleb was once again proven correct as the Scottish media scrambled to announce Rangers’ Interim Results yesterday morning. STV had a pleasant looking lady in front of the famous wrought iron gates beside the Broomloan Road Stand at Ibrox committing crimes against financial humanity live on the air. Multiple neuveau-analysts rushed to their laptops to claim the great scoop of asking why Alistair Johnston was claiming that Rangers’ debt was only really about £21m when in fact “any fool” could see that it had leaped to £28.9m from a level of £25.5m this time last year. Even the most forthright of Chairmen would have looked at the calibre of this audience and despaired of giving them a serious answer.
The £28.9m number that seemed to gain great currency is actually just the current liabilities: money that has to be paid within 12 months.
The question: “How much does Rangers actually owe?” has been asked many times in recent years and the range of answers included the club’s own ‘economical with the truth’ (but nevertheless rational) statements to some kind of X-files accounting which could only have originated on another planet. So it seems a good time to try to provide a meaningful answer.
As always, there is a bit of an accounting lecture first to make sure we are all on the same page. However, you can skip the next few paragraphs and just jump to the Effective Net Debt number below.
Firstly, we need to rubbish the utility of one of the most commonly cited financial statistics in football: net debt. This is defined as Bank Debt – Cash. This is an O-Grade Accounting type of financial measure that is worse than no data when presented on its own. The problem with Net Debt Debt is that it is so easily manipulated. (And lest anyone should accuse me of bias, Celtic FC have played the same game with this measure in recent years). Net Debt only considers one type of debt; bank debt, and it only considers one type of asset; cash. It is also just a snapshot of these input values at the end of one day in time.
To make Net Debt equal to any value you want it to be, all you have to do is stop paying your bills as you approach the end of the financial period. Your Net Debt will miraculously reduce! Your trade debtors will increase when you stop paying bills, but this is just another type of debt. However, it is not included in the Net Debt formula. Similarly, when you stop paying your bills, but you still have cash coming in, your cash balance will rise. Hey presto! With the cash balance increasing and the corresponding increase in debt not being included in the Net Debt calculation, you get to call yourself a business doctor and can claim a bonus if your shareholders were stupid enough to reward you for reducing Net Debt.
However, in the context of Rangers FC yesterday, Alistair Johnston could not even get into Net Debt comparisons as the data released did not break-out bank debt from the other types of debt Rangers have. And so the media just started picking numbers off their hand-outs seemingly at random.
How should the debt of a football club be measured? Well, few textbook measures would give you a meaningful KPI for a football club. So I have developed one. This damned desire for anonymity will get in the way of me being able to get chiseled into football history by having this measure named for myself!
Football clubs are a little bit unusual as businesses in that they usually operate with negative working capital. This means that their customers pay them in lump sums in advance while they pay their expenses after they have been incurred. Until games are actually paid, clubs actually
http://www.thefootballlife.co.uk/post/132536613251/obfuscation-superstation-rangers-make-a-loss
On their accounts and the tax case
To be fair, there is sod all else to write about today ;)
Dont worry the SFA will do whats right,fair and just :))))))))
Jackanory
jail them
LP
Indeed so
From Twitter:
@Oldfirmfacts1 Celtic fans are rushing home to teach their weans to rhyme ‘remember, remember the fourth of November’.
Darren O’Dea
✔
@odea_darren
Haven’t even kicked a ball and I think I might have doubled my SPL football winners medals to 4 today.
Watched Big Billy lift Big Ears
Was at Hampden to see us beat invincible Leeds Utd.
Was in Seville (getting there against Boavista was the high).
Todays judgement is UP there as vindication that we were in an unfair fight for near a generation
My Damascan moment….. when I saw it was a whole crock of lies built on sand…. was when Minty’s Huns were about £80 Million in debt and he put £50 Million in shares out for the Orcs to buy, they bought £1 Million. It cost him money. He did a switcheroony and stiffed MIH with that £50 Million ball and chain.
From that moment I knew they would die, I never for a minute thought they would die twice though…….Happy Days.
A day of overlapping posts means that belatedly..
BT
Thanks for your sentiments and ongoing support. :o)
Dena29
Thanks too, and just cos it’s you and I want to avoid getting yellow carded
Happy Birthday
Phil’s up again – chapeau my mhan for your perseverance and deserved vindication
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/lets-all-dance-on-rangers/
Oh aye, Phils in a good mood, lol.
Today Hector had the last laugh.
Like Mr Chips in South Africa ordinary decent civil servants finally triumphed over those who think that taxes are for little people.
My Twitter Timeline was full of ad hominems from The People, but not a single apology.
I was in at the start of this story five years ago when I took the scoop to the Scottish edition of the News of the World.
As part of that story I interviewed Martin Bain by telephone.
During that interview I asked him about his own Employee Benefit Trust (EBT), but he declined to comment.
The splash in the NOTW flipped the script on Rangers.
It made them publicly unsellable to anyone other than an insolvency shark.
Moreover, I was delighted to get it into that big selling paper.
That was in May 2010 and I then published my own feature length piece here two weeks later.
The search function on this site will allow you to go back to June 2010 and start on the journey.
The basic reality is that the tax evasion strategy at Rangers (1872-2012) was started in 1999 and Campbell Ogilvie was in the room when the decision was taken.
Both the Discounted Options Scheme and the EBTs allowed Rangers football club to higher calibre of player that they otherwise would not have been able to afford.
It was Football Manager with the cheat codes on.
The judgement today leaves no wriggle room for The People.
Their deceased club cheated before it died owing tens and tens of millions of pounds in taxes to their Majesty.
The man who wrote the foreword of ‘Downfall’ did not miss today.
Moreover, in this statement supplied to me by HMRC, the Queen’s tax collectors do not miss either:
“HMRC has a responsibility to make sure people pay what they owe and will always challenge tax arrangements where we do not think they work. As supported by the decision in this case, HMRC’s view is that Employment Benefit Trust avoidance schemes do not work. HMRC has collected over £1.3bn in tax through 1,500 users of similar schemes. HMRC will continue to settle appeals by agreement where appropriate but will if necessary continue to litigate cases where settlements cannot be agreed.”
Today Hector is due a chuckle every bit as much as he is owed millions in unpaid taxes.
Planet Fitba might occasionally disagree on the appropriateness of some songs, but we can all join in and dance on the grave of dead Rangers.
They died because they were cheats.
Til later bhoys
HH
Oops, sorry for the repost.
Today I think this is worth a re run.
WARNING! VERY STRONG LANGUAGE.
http://youtu.be/H8x_59EjZOs
Deniabhoy….. always liked Darren … and like him even more now! Great post from him! Thanks for sharing that.
Hamilton tim …. haven’t seen that in a while …. still one of the funniest things on the ‘net! Thanks for posting that!
BT
That was the way it was 3 years ago. I was just one of a number of folk, a few of which are/were CQNers, who were used to spin a yarn around the Big Tax Case and the Continuity Myth. The primary objective was to close down the message, and it nearly worked.
David got time to fill his pockets and get out of Dodge.
Jack got paid. Jack always gets paid. The Krugmeister of spin.
MiT
A CQN yellow card would be worth it :-)
Not enough tinfoil for his noggin. Has the Great Cartoonist ever been right about anything?
Chris Graham @ChrisGraham76 Oct 27
This is shaping up to be a very satisfying week.
Chris Graham @ChrisGraham76 Oct 30
More good news. Club comfortably funded moving forward and £ available to strengthen the squad. Onwards and upwards. #RFC
Not a cheap on SS1 ??
Harry Brady on CU ‘Nails it’ !!!
The verdict is in. Rangers cheated.
We knew this of course. They had previously been found guilty of misapplying the rules on 5 EBT’s and had lost the wee tax case. They also organized payment of the EBT’s via side letters to contracts which were deliberately withheld from the football authorities, however we have lacked the killer blow which prevented the creation of excuses, myths and smoke screens until today.
Today there was legal confirmation that Rangers cheated and that this cheating DID give them a competitive advantage. To quote the ruling “If bonuses had not been paid they might well have taken their services elsewhere”. This then leads to the very obvious question – what happens to their tainted titles?
Despite what media lap-dogs may say, keeping them attributed to Rangers on the record books is not an option. Record books are there to illustrate sporting excellence. Failure to strip would mean condoning corporate theft and one of the biggest football corruption stories the European game has every know, but is there any precedent? Let’s look at 4 high-profile corruptions scandals around major trophy winners in sport and football.
Cycling and Lance Armstrong
Armstrong won the Tour De France in each of 1999 – 2005. The allegations at the time were dismissed but of course cheating never pays and eventually he was found out. Rather than re-award, cycling stripped.
Athletics and Ben Johnson
On September 24, 1988, Carl Johnson became the first sprinter from Canada to win the 100m final at the Summer Olympics in Seoul, lowering his own world record to 9.79 seconds. However the Olympic Doping Control Center found that Johnson’s blood and urine samples contained stanozolol, and he was disqualified three days later. He later admitted having used steroids when he ran his 1987 world record, which caused the IAAF to rescind that record as well. Silver medalist Carl Lewis was subsequently awarded the gold medal.
French Football and Marseille
In 1993 It was found that Bernard Tapie bribed Valenciennes to lose so that Marseille would win the French League earlier, giving them more time to prepare for the Champions League Final. Valenciennes players Christophe Robert, Jorge Burruchaga and Jacques Glassmann claimed that the Marseille midfielder Jean-Jacques Eydelie offered them ₣250,000 to “take the foot off of the gas” in a May 20 match. Marseille were stripped of their league title and relegated to Division 2 by the French Football Federation, whilst Tapie was forced to step down as its President. No winner was declared for the 1992–1993 season. The LFP allotted the title to Paris Saint-Germain but owners Canal + refused it. The TV chain feared the reactions of their subscribers in Provence and threatened to withdraw football completely if the title was allotted to PSG. Ultimately the LFP decided that the 1993 title would have no winners.
Italian Football and Juventus
The 2006 Italian football scandal (Called in Italian Calciopoli) was uncovered in May 2006 by Italian police, implicating league champions Juventus, and other major teams including AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, and Reggina when a number of telephone interceptions showed a thick network of relations between team managers and referee organizations. Juventus were the champions of Serie A at the time. The teams have been accused of rigging games by selecting favourable referees. Many clubs were implicated but it was Juve who had the most damning punishment, being stripped of the 2005 & 2006 titles. No side was awarded the 2005 championship but Inter made champions of the 2005/06 season.
As we can see from above, different sports take different actions but in these 4 high-profile examples the uniform outcome was that the cheat’s titles did not stand.
In football both the French and the Italians wanted to award titles to second place. The French tried but PSG refused for commercial reasons and Italians did redistribute in the second of the 2 cheating seasons. The Rangers cheating was grander and more bare-faced than any of these as it spanned such a period. It is essential however that generations to come are shown just how severe the Rangers cheating was and the consequences.
The financial ruin that David Murray wrought on our game will have a legacy for many years to come. The possible administration of the New Rangers may be an important time for Scottish Football to decided if they want any further connection with that rancid and toxic brand, but I doubt anyone would have the balls to banish it from our game. Whilst we deserve these titles, I am not fussed about being awarded but adamant that they must be removed.
Rangers died, the new one is on its last legs and titles and now the cheated trophies must be excluded from the records to restore some sporting integrity and a moral compass to our game.
Hamilton …. If you get one, and wish to appeal, let me know… that is the sort of case I would be happy to take on pro bono …… do you happen to know Mrs. P67 ? just in case we have to appeal to a higher court? ..
Ok, HMRC won the tax case, when will there be an in depth inquiry into the ‘fraudulent throw in’at the 1989 Cup Final?
The best laid plans eh?
Bury the bad news that is the accounts on the day they are finally vindicated on the EBTs. Oh dear!
Interesting that the BBC are calling it “tax avoidance”. Honest mistake I’m sure.
Been watching SSN since 4pm. No mention whatsoever.
There must be plenty of players,who had contracts with bonuses for winning trophies,i’m sure Fraser Wishart will take up their fight…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-34723209
MiT
Only met her a couple of times. Paul’s punchin’ :-)
wilmacufree
I was a tad flippant in that earlier response. I’m in a good mood and I can’t figure out why. I’ve had a lie down now :o)
LNS he lives near SDMs gaff or office and knew SDM for yonks and thus the whole of that circle of the powerful.
I don’t believe that LNS was selected randomly and he would have been briefed in the same way a judge appointed to a Government Enquiry is briefed. It was all staged to give the appearance of legalistic probity when it was in fact another and pretty logical step in the corruption and cover up.
The SFA will hang their hat on LNS because their past behaviour suggests that this is what they’ll do.
Do nothing, stay silent and wait for the storm to blow over.
I agree with your circumstantial speculation about SDM.
He operated a corrupt dictatorship, cheated on taxes, manipulated the media and amassed debts that destroyed Oldco because of personal hubris and an obsession for any sporting advantage that he could give his chaps on the field.
Ipso Facto CSC
“Was the SPL inquiry commissioned to uncover the facts, or to meet a desired objective?”
———–
Interesting point, Paul. I would certainly have my suspicions.
Not getting into Division 1 was a game-changer. Division 3 was seen as being “punishment” for them. Wrongly of course.
Parkheadcumsalford
Yeah, strange that, as it was top headline when HMRC “lost” their case in the first hearing, as I recall.
Here’s Thommo on the cheatin’ bastards.
http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/rangers-winning-titles-cheating-taxman/10032
“Here we go, 16 in a row. . . ”
Not triumphalism, just fact.
Black -> light-grey-> White Sunday.
Fortunately, Sir David’s business Empire continues to thrive.
What’s that you say…………………..?
Bawsman @04.22 hrs,
“Today’s decision may be appealed against by the liquidators, and the saga could continue”
Now I am baffled. Why would the liquidators appeal, and who would pay for this appeal if it were to happen?
HH.
Yet another day when the unrivalled exemplars of Dignity and Honour are exposed in all THEIR tawdriness .
Come on PL and DD, let’s have a bit of undignified and dishonourable boot in.
Captain Beefheart
Thanks as always.
BMCUWP
He got that chuckle gene from his Mammy – allegedly :o)
HamiltonTim
Thanks. Lovely comment.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes CSC