Let’s be clear from the off, Craig Whyte is not your friend. He was not the man who “murdered” Rangers any more than Alasdair Johnston, his accuser, who was paid to ensure the club was run in an appropriate manner in the years prior to its crash into liquidation.
If Whyte has your job, your pension or your wellbeing in his hands, you would likely fair no better than those who have had the misfortune to be vulnerable to his exploitative nature before. He is the worst manifestation of our corporate system.
As yesterday’s verdict at Glasgow High Court established, he was merely a collaborative player in the drama which saw Murray Group shed its liabilities to Rangers fans into an all-too certain, and limited, future.
The SFA were right to quickly fine and sine die Whyte, despite the fact that he has no inclination to become involved in football again. What the Association must now do is examine the role of those who had explicit and executive oversight responsibility of managing Rangers through the process of its decline and sale to a character with a lengthy corporate irresponsibility charge sheet.
Whyte was not in any way a bad choice for the job required at Rangers. For those with most to gain, he was the perfect choice. He was, in fact, the only choice, if the desired result was to be delivered – and it was.
No one else would have had the stomach to pick up a corporate basket case, manoeuvring bank debt, securitising years of ticket sales, brazingly stiffing public service funding, and in doing so, freeing Murray Group from a disabling liability.
What do I care? I predicted, then watched, Rangers inevitable crash into administration and liquidation. Patience and thick skin was all that was required through the years of bravado from Ibrox. Those who shouted down the glaringly obvious in support of these charlatans have been shown up as malleable accomplices.
There is one outstanding matter I do care about. In my opinion, Sir David Murray did not discharge his duties as the ultimate controlling director of Rangers FC in a responsible manner. If there is one issue which every Scottish football fan can unite on, it is surely this.
The deplorable sequence of events at that club, from it’s exploitation of the Employee Benefit Trust scheme to pay millionaires tax free sums through a system which was designed to allow employers to aid staff through periods of hardship.
To its submissions to the SFA on taxable overdue. To the shredding of correspondence, and failure to disclose other correspondence.
Rangers were a huge influence on our game; on the SFA, the SPL, the media, and more. The executives concerned had placemen who protected them. The SFA must now charge those responsible for bringing the game into disrepute.
More sine die punishments would mean little to men who are already finished with the game, but it would be a hugely significant act of faith towards the paying public, of all colours. It is time for us all to unite against the men who really did sell the jerseys.
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Hail hail
Maybe
As I said on the previous page.
3
BRTH and Now Paul67
From previous but relevant to current blog.
Auldheid on 7th June 2017 12:17 pm
BRTH
I think you have just about covered everything but I’ve always wondered why in the The Judicial Panel Disciplinary Tribunal Hearing (that took place over six days: 29 March, 6 April (Procedural Hearings) and a Principal Hearing on 17, 18, 20 and 23 April 2012 at Hampden Park, Glasgow where the Tribunal heard the conjoined hearings of the complaints against The Rangers Football Club plc (“Rangers FC”) and Mr Craig Whyte) the wee tax case liability and CWS failure to pay it after he took over in May 2011 was never covered.
As will be seen from this extract the unpaid PAYE and VAT was but not the wee tax case liability. Could it be the SFA did not want went on in June and September 2011 to be investigated by their own panel?
Extract from JPR of charges againstCW.
” From 6th May 2011 to 6th March 2012 (1) Disciplinary Rule 66 (Bringing the game into disrepute: by failing to disclose to the Scottish FA the fact that you were disqualified as a director on 13th June 2000 for a period of seven years, pursuant to the Company Directors’ Disqualification Act 1986 (“the said disqualification”); by failing to comply with the rules of the PLUS Stock Exchange by failing to disclose to PLUS Stock Exchange the said disqualification; by failing to lodge Annual Accounts by 31st December 2011, pursuant to Section 447 of the Companies Act 2006; by failing to hold an Annual General Meeting by 1stJanuary 2012, pursuant to Section 336 of the Companies Act 2006;
==> by the non-payment to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs of Pay As You Earn tax payments and National Insurance Contributions for employees of Rangers FC and Value Added Tax; <===
and by failing to pay to Dunfermline AFC by 21stFebruary 2012, monies due to them for the Scottish Premier League match played on 11th February 2012, pursuant to RuleC14.5 of the Rules of the Scottish Premier League);"
The issue in terms of the current blog Paul is Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (“Who will guard the guards?” )
I fear this needs an independent Government led initiative and there are those in Government not at all happy with the SFA.
The SFA can rot in hell,Paul.
They aren’t even disfunctional,they function perfectly well as a self-preservation society with a particular interest in one particular team.
Or two,as it has turned out.
Never mind-What would Jesus do?
Their datum line is-how do we get the best deal for our Rangers.
This actually needs a Public Inquiry, at least a judicial review. The brilliant work carried out by the RES 12 guys provides, on a plate, all the evidence required to hold the WHOLE shooting match to book. Murray, Ogilvie, Bryson, Regan, Doncaster, Kink, Johnston, Broadfoot, Longmuir, jeez the list is extensive.
The SFA should NOT be allowed to whitewash this.
C’mon Celtic, the trial is over, lets be hearing you!!!!
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON on 7TH JUNE 2017 12:18 PM
Yes the last thing this country needs is more Romanian chefs, Polish builders or Filipino nurses.
On the matter of Alistair Johnson’s fit and properness to be involved in our game E Tims have rather put the SFA on the spot.
http://etims.net/?p=11546
The SFA (Regan) brought the game into disrepute themselves. Gut Hampden and take it from there. Regan cannot seriously be trusted to clean up the mess he helped create. It would be Campbell Ogilvie all over again. Rangers took advantage of a complicit SFA. The SFA themselves are a huge part of the problem.
They simply cannot blame Murray.
To do so would completely invalidate the whole nine in a row glory years and accept that it was all down to the overspending and unsustainable debt. Without that we would be sitting on 20+ in a row.
Not only that, but if you accept that the old club couldn’t compete with Celtic without bogus money then you also have to accept that the new club can’t either. That just can’t be allowed to happen.
The narrative has to be that Celtic and “Rangers” are natural rivals. And that’s just as important to the authorities as it is to the MSM and “Rangers” fans.
Corruption is of necessity -bipartisan .One of those it takes two to tango things,.
Those who brought the game into disrepute should, and indeed must, suffer the consequences.
That must include those highly paid officials whose job and duty it is to protect the game from disrepute.
Auldheid is absolutely correct, but I fear it will not happen without a concerted campaign which goes far beyond the Celtic boardroom.
Auldheid, how can you trust the SNP Government re Rangers? Salmond wanted to treat them as a special case when the tax was overdue, McKaskill and his ‘party atmosphere’ Chrisine Grahamme and ‘evening up the arrests’?
We need Heidi Poon and her ilk to do an independent skewering of the games governing bodies and bring the guilty to the judges and NOT Scottish ones.
AULDHEID on 7TH JUNE 2017 12:28 PM
From that article;
‘When are Celtic and other Scottish clubs going to say to the SFA “enough”? ‘
That’s what I was wondering.
Celtic quizzie!!!!!
I hold the honour of being the only player ever that Jock Stein signed twice.
Who am I?
—- —— ——— —— ——-
The SFA must charge those responsible! Do they have the stomach I dont think so.
Skeletonscupboards CSC.
The SFA are corrupt, as are Sevco, as are the MSM. The other Scottish Clubs are spineless. We shall see what Celtic do? I’m guessing sweet FA.
Chancers the lot of them. It will probably be left to the supporters to crowdfund further action. Absolutely disgraceful.
TOMMY CALLAGHAN
http://celticbynumberscom.ipage.com/the-12th-man/
Rodgers performance scorecard for the season. HH
ERNIE LYNCH on 7TH JUNE 2017 12:28 PM
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON on 7TH JUNE 2017 12:18 PM
Yes the last thing this country needs is more Romanian chefs, Polish builders or Filipino nurses
.you leave the Filipino nurses alone.
P67: ‘Let’s be clear from the off, Craig Whyte is not your friend.’
No, he’s Our Hero.
A perfect patsy – as we told them from the off. Well rewarded for taking the heat of the demented, balls/fruitcake enough to see it all the way; knowing there would be some sort of show-trial at the end of it, brought by the foolish Scottish establishment, blinded from bare fact by their ‘loyalty’.
The SFA state they will pursue Whyte for the unpaid £200,000 fine levied against ‘Rangers’ for bringing the game into disrepute.
Levied against the old club was it not? Why pursue Whyte? Are they admitting that club is dead and gone?
BAWSMAN on 7TH JUNE 2017 12:34 PM
Auldheid, how can you trust the SNP Government re Rangers? Salmond wanted to treat them as a special case when the tax was overdue,
If I recall correctly, Gordon Matheson, Labour Leader of Glasgow Council, also wanted THEM to be treated as a special case. So much so, that he was prepared to overturn MSM’s old standby, that when anything distasteful occurred in relation to one , say Rangers, the other. say Celtic were just as bad. In pleading THEIR case, Labour’s Matheson stated that like Cel;tic, They had enhanced Glasgow’s reputation throughout t the world.
You know, in places like Manchester, Birmingham, Barcelona etc.
SoT
Are you still Puffin away? If so, drop me a line.
TBB
BHOYJOEBELFAST
Faither?
I really fail to see why this is only Celtics problem.As in the Uefa licence,the clubs diddled for a place,have said nothing.Aberdeen are sitting watching their stars go,while a club trample over every financial rule to overtake them.Hearts fall into this bracket as well.Nothing coming out of Easter Rd either.Not for a moment am I condoning Celtics silence on this,but it should not be down to one team.A united front from these teams would sweep the corrupt chancers out of Hampden.We have seen little evidence of this so far,from any club.
Auldheid,
You, more than anyone, know my modus operandi and views on this by now.
My early morning post flew out amidst my getting the tea and toast together before heading out for the day and is written on the basis of my knowledge and analysis of what has happened and the correspondence and documents I have seen and thought about – and which I can actually mention on here.
And out comes a post on a blog.
Were I to actually sit down and write all this up professionally I would take a very different approach and be far more meticulous in preparing a far more detailed argument which would look at and through all the relevant factors.
Writing on a blog does not allow for that.
However, it is against that background that I answer your point made above with the observation that for reasons which no one has ever explained to me, the SPFL and the SFA have consistently and deliberately omitted the wee tax case, its history, its consequences, its administration, its effect on football and football administration, and the failure to meet the liability and interest at any time since 2000/2001from every single enquiry and commission either of those bodies have ever held,
It is as if the tax bill and the reason for the liability, whether overdue in 2011 or not, never happened and should be ignored completely.
There were no illegal payments. There were no sham trusts. There were no side letters. There was no avoidance of tax. There was no overdue payable nor penalty interest. There were no written letters from HMRC accusing Rangers of blatantly fraudulent procedures. There was none of that.
You and I both know all of the above did happen. We also know that the SFA have confirmed, in writing, that when we pointed out that all of the above did actually take place, we were not telling the SFA anything that they did not know or anything that was new to them.
Yet despite all of this, the events and the administration surrounding the wee tax case must never be mentioned let alone investigated.
There is even an internal e-mail from the SFA to Rangers (which we are not allowed to mention) which actually states that hopefully, UEFA will be too busy to look into any of this or what it means or how it came about.
Scottish Football wants to protect the confidentiality of the submissions made by clubs, and I get that and understand it.
However, yesterday Regan came out and more or less stated that Whyte in his eyes was still guilty of Fraud.
Well, which fraud was he referring to? He should be asked.
Was it the fraud they discussed over dinner on 7th December 2011 in the Hotel du Vin when Regan and Campbell Ogilvie had a private dinner with Whyte about ……….. well who knows what it was about.
Strangely, that meeting was kinda contemporaneous with Peter Lawwell asking some poignant questions — was that what the meeting was about?
Maybe the innocent one has a taped recording of the meeting?
Maybe BDO as liquidators have access to all the e-mails and internal communications from Rangers PLC at the time?
Maybe it will all feature in the compulsory report that BDO will eventually have to prepare for the DTI re the collapse of Rangers PLC?
Maybe all the football clubs in Scotland know something about the wee tax case that none of the rest of us don’t?
Whatever happened, you have not to mention it, don’t discuss it, don’t ask anyone to look into it and “hopefully UEFA will be too busy” to ever think it should be the subject of any questions or type of enquiry.
On this debate,I would think it would be a good idea to leave politics out of it.All politicians need votes.How they get them has never been snow white.Labour,Tory,SNP,have nothing to do with whats going on at Hampden.As I said,there is no outcry from clubs,certainly not the SMSM.With an election coming up,no politician will go near this.
THE BATTERED BUNNET .
Puffin long gone .
Ask Paul 67 to provide me with an email address and I’ll send you an address .
Turkeybhoy,
Agreed on both posts.
HH
Celtic will do nothing. They don’t care
Bawsman on 7th June 2017 12:34 pm
Auldheid, how can you trust the SNP Government re Rangers? Salmond wanted to treat them as a special case when the tax was overdue, McKaskill and his ‘party atmosphere’ Chrisine Grahamme and ‘evening up the arrests’?
We need Heidi Poon and her ilk to do an independent skewering of the games governing bodies and bring the guilty to the judges and NOT Scottish ones.
====================
Please. Don’t turn this into an SNP argument. The Scottish Parliament has more than SNP MSPs in it and in any case where else can authorative external pressure come from?
We don’t live in a world where all the ducks always march in a perfect row. So we march as we are or not at all.
I’m reminded of a story of a statue of Christ in a bombed out church in Germany after the war. Christ’s arms are outstretched but the hands have been blown off but someone has hung a placard from the arms. It says:
“He has no hands but yours”
Watch SFM for a blog for news of an initiative that that will offer a way forward that might address your concerns.
It may not be perfect but its that or stand still.
Following on from the excellent posts by BRTH and Auldheid earlier today, just checked in to see whether any suggestions were being made for the propagation of truths. Educate, agitate!! Or is it to be : it’s someone (anyone) else’s responsibility??
Disillusioned. HH
Maradominic on 7th June 2017 1:22 pm
Celtic will do nothing. They don’t care
==============
They might not want to do anything but is it really in their interests not to?
Paul67 et al
As of last month Lloyds Bank is 100% in the private sector. It’s profits for the first quarter of 2017 were £1.3bn. Profits for 2016 were £4.2bn. This is the same bank who wrote off hundreds upon hundreds of £millions of MIH debt to the Bank Of Scotland. The Bank who turned MIH debt into equity despite MIH being all but bankrupt. (The same MIH who wrote off £109 million, in two tranches, against RFC.) The Bank who in response to an unsolicited request from the Murray “family” sold property assets under their control for a knockdown price. A Bank, who if we believe what we heard at the High Court Glasgow, returned the Metals division to David Murray for £1. Tell me what is more important, a bank who is now back in the hands of friends of George Osborne in the City of London and making billions, or a former football club, Rangers FC, now in liquidation with liabilities, last time I looked, of £170 million? More champagne? Don’t mind if I do!
AULDHEAD
Thanks for that. You must have been posting as I pressed the “send” button.
Your unstinting efforts deserve our heartfelt thanks. HH
They have done nothing for 5 years . They should have tried to block a non-existent team getting admitted, could have tried to get Regan out, Could try to break-up referees lodge. They do nothing. strung along res 12 guys. Let LMS decision stand. PL cracked one joke about them being a new club..That’s it!
We should at least have spoken out.
“Calls by bloggers for the SFA to act and protect the integrity of the game now, at this late stage, are laudable but toothless.”
https://thecelticblog.com/2017/06/blogs/stewart-regan-knows-resolution-12-threatens-him-he-also-knows-hes-safe-its-over/