I may have told you this before, apologies if I’m repeating myself. Around 20 years ago, in a TV studio minutes after a Rangers victory, a former captain, Terry Butcher (what ever happened to him?), told the audience, “David Murray will not stop until he’s won two European Cups and 10 in a row.”
Use of the personal term “he”, not the club name, struck me. Murray was personally invested in this matter. Such a burning desire did not make David Murray a bad person, he owned the dominant club in Glasgow, but the team he was dominating had all that glorious history. If the boot was on the other foot, you’d want the same. I would.
Perhaps if Jock Stein had stayed at Hibs, Celtic would have stayed in mediocrity, David Murray would have had a more affordable dream and the liquidation of his club would not have been necessary.
You know it’s true…….
On Tuesday’s STV report that Hearts manager, John McGlynn, said:
“How many fans would think they could win the league if Celtic weren’t in it at this stage? All [clubs’] fans would.
“That would cause great excitement and I think it would bring fans back to the game, at the lower clubs.
“If you look at the rest of us outside Rangers and Celtic, we’d all fill our stadiums if we thought we’d realistically have a chance of winning the league.”
There are screeds written and spoken about our game but the McGlynn Plan is the most productive comment I’ve read all year. Well done to STV for the report, hopefully they will put the same questions to others in the league. This is the most important question for Scottish football right now.
It’s time for these clubs to throw off their downtrodden ways and genuinely compete for the Scottish title.
Still looking for a ticket for Celtic v Barcelona? Equally keen to acquire a Wee Oscar wristband? A CQN’er has very generously offered his ticket for next week to raise funds for the Wee Oscar Campaign. You can bid for the ticket/wristband package on ebay.
Tell everyone who asks you for a ticket to bid on the auction.
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Happy birthday RRC….
If i was a fourth grade ranker fan, i would be afraid, very afraid for the club.
The amount of villains, dodgy business men and egomaniacs involved
with them is staggering. Due dilligence- sfa your`e having a laugh.
Surely, the decent rangers fan, there must be some, and some with money
have to start a new club. Not one founded on sectarianism or we are the
peepil mentality or a win at all costs ethos, but one founded on the love
of the game, sporting integrity and healthy competition. Even if they
have to start as a junior club. It would be a long way back but it is a
way back.
oblivioustorealitycsc
”Criminal investigations have been launched into tax schemes sold by a key shareholder in Rangers Football Club, The Times has learnt.
Richard Hughes, the co-founder of Zeus Capital, the finance company at the centre of the Rangers takeover, also set up Zeus Partners, which created and marketed a £134 million film investment scheme that HM Revenue & Customs suspects may be part of an illegal effort to generate millions of pounds in tax relief.
The Revenue is understood to be investigating 17 companies set up by Zeus Partners. Criminal investigations by HMRC are reserved for the most serious cases of suspected illegality including those where “only a criminal sanction is appropriate”.
Mr Hughes, who has more than two million shares in Rangers, a stake of 6.8 per cent, played a pivotal role in the purchase of the Glasgow club after it went into administration in February. The collapse came after Rangers’ previous owners became embroiled in disputes with the Revenue. The club has been beset by tax problems that led to the new Rangers, who play at Ibrox Stadium, being forced to start from the fourth tier of Scottish football this season.
The Revenue claims to be owed an estimated £73 million in tax and penalties after the club used a tax avoidance scheme to pay its players for nearly a decade. Rangers went into administration over a separate tax problem, when Craig Whyte, who bought it last year, failed to pay an £18 million PAYE bill.
When Zeus Capital and the businessman Charles Green bought the club for £5.5 million in June, they presented their consortium of investors as a “new beginning”. But a year before the acquisition, Revenue officials raided premises associated with Zeus Partners, two sources told The Times, as well as offices of Seven Arts Entertainment, the US film company that was counterparty to the deal. Neither Zeus Partners nor HMRC commented on the alleged raid.
“They showed up, knocked on the door, and said, ‘We want to come and look at the records’,” one person said of the Seven Arts raid. “They took everything under the sun.”
Mr Hughes, who has one of the biggest shareholdings in Rangers, founded Zeus Partners as an offshoot of Zeus Capital, in 2006. It was set up so wealthy investors could access “returns that Zeus Capital has been achieving for its corporate clients”. Two other partners run the day-to-day business, although one said that Mr Hughes retained an “active role”.
Mr Hughes stands to make millions of pounds when Rangers floats on the stock market before Christmas. Three other Zeus Capital executives, who do not work at Zeus Partners, own stakes in the club, making the finance house collectively its largest owner. There is no evidence that Zeus Capital marketed schemes similar to those offered by Zeus Partners. The Revenue is not investigating Zeus Capital, the company involved in the Rangers takeover.
Zeus Partners’ controversial film deal attracted about 165 high-net worth individuals including Hugh Sloane, the hedge-fund mogul and Tory donor, and Laurie McIlwee, chief finance officer of Tesco. Individual investors are not being investigated by HMRC, however.
Each investor was offered a “high-risk film production” deal to buy a total of eight new films and some library content from Seven Arts.
The deal was structured so that in the event that the films were “blockbusters”, the investors would double their money. If they did badly, the investment would be largely wiped out and the cost could be written off against the investors’ other incomes.
Films purchased from Seven Arts included Knife Edge, a 2009 British thriller starring Hugh Bonneville and Tamsin Egerton, The Winter Quuen, starring Milla Jovovich and Autopsy, a horror film directed by Adam Gierasch.
None appears to have achieved anywhere close to the “blockbuster” level that would have generated profit. American Summer made only $2,269, according to Box Office Mojo. Deal, a 2008 film starring Burt Reynolds, is said to have made $61,625.
A year after signing the deal in May 2008, Zeus Partners declared that each of the 17 companies was worthless their accounts show, enabling investors to claim tax relief.
At the time, however, a number of the films had yet to be released. One, The Winter Queen, had not been made. “One of the key questions is how would the investors have known the stock was worthless as early as 2009, when some of the titles had yet to be released,” a person close to Seven Arts said.
Up to 84 per cent of an investor’s contribution was financed by a loan from Seven Arts. The loan was secured against the companies, so investors were not liable if films failed.
An investor who put in £160,000 could borrow about £840,000 and claim tax relief on the full £1 million without being liable to pay back the loan. For a high-net-worth investor the tax relief would be between £400,000 and £500,000.
Rebus Investment Solutions, a company representing several disgruntled Zeus Investors, said their clients had been advised that the film deal was a “win-win scenario”. “The deal was based on the notion that, if the films were successful, investors would see huge returns and, if they were unsuccessful, they would be able to claim tax relief on the losses,” a spokesman said. “Such a bullish view failed to take into account the significant risks, including potential challenges by HMRC.”
A Rangers spokesman said yesterday that Mr Hughes was “one of a number of minority investors” and had “no involvement in the management of the club”, and that Rangers had “no business relationships with Zeus Capital”.
However in June, Zeus Capital said that “it worked in conjunction with Charles Green to complete the £5.5 million acquisition of Rangers”. In the same month, Zeus Capital was described by Malcolm Murray, the new chairman, as “the primary advisers” on the Rangers deal.
Mr Hughes is understood to believe that the focus of the criminal investigation is on Seven Arts, not Zeus Partners. He denied that the film investments could be illegal or amounted to tax avoidance. The investments had been approved by qualified accountants before being marketed. He also said that he had not been contacted by HMRC in relation to the film investigation since it began about 18 months ago.
A spokesman for Zeus Partners said: “Zeus Partners provided a number of high-risk investment opportunities, backing highly successful entrepreneurs with a proven track record across a number of sectors. Individual investors had the option of claiming HMRC statutory relief in the event that the investments were unsuccessful. We are aware that there is an HMRC investigation into these and other investments under way at this time and Zeus Partners is providing its full co-operations to HMRC.”
Seven Arts strongly denied claims that it, rather than Zeus, was the focus of the Revenue investigation. Peter Hoffman, chief executive of Seven Arts, said: “There was nothing fraudulent about the transaction, it was perfectly valid. These were real movies we were intending to make money on.”
Mr Sloane said he had not claimed for tax relief on the Seven Arts investment. Mr McIlwee and the Revenue both declined to comment.”
goldstar10 10:34 on 2 November, 2012
I think Legless is a figure of fun among the hack pack. Certainly McNally will be taking an interest in what he is publishing – and what he hopes to achieve by doing so.
But when all is said and done, Legless is just an embittered unemployment statistic.
new article posted.
Boots and Spurs 2.30 Newmarket
HH
Classic Colori 230 Newc
Off to Ayr with the blonde
happy punting lhads
Raya Star 2.35 Ascot for me today …
Good luck everyone.
RED JAZZ 3;40 Newmarket
SIMILU 1:55 Newmarket……….
Regards & Hail Hail
TBM
Smad Place 2:50 Wetherby.
Good luck
Paintball in the Ascot 2.35 please today. Good luck to all.
Lads,
naps here today… please…
Cheers, fleagle1888
CQN Saturday Naps Competition – Week 13 Results & Standings
Well done to Rockon Neil Lennon who napped his 5th winner of the season – outstanding form – (Kingsbarns @15/8).
Two other winners this week – Bull67 (For Non Stop @4/1) and Bada Bing (Whimsical @11/2)
+£14.25 green T (5)
+£10.00 Rockon Neil Lennon (5)
+£ 9.50 Sixteen roads to Golgotha (3)
+£ 8.00 Valentine’s Day (3)
+£ 6.50 BULL67 (3)
+£ 4.50 Che (2)
+£ 3.00 fleagle1888 (2)
-£ 2.00 Magnificentseven (1)
-£ 3.80 TheBarcaMole (2)
-£ 4.97 hunza rugli (2)
-£ 5.00 voguepunter (1)
-£ 6.50 Bada Bing (1)
-£ 7.00 What is the Stars (1)
-£ 8.00 gerry_bhoy (1)
-£ 8.50 tommytwisttommyturns (1)
-£ 9.00 leftclicktic (1)
-£ 9.25 MHARK67 (1)
-£10.00 Glen (1)
-£13.00 bobbymurdoch’s winklepickers
-£13.00 Cathal
-£13.00 gourockbhoy
-£13.00 Raymac
-£13.00 Som mes que un club
*No selections from : gerry_bhoy, Sixteen roads to Golgotha
*Non-runner : gourockbhoy
Cheers, fleagle1888
Jake’s Destiny 2.30 Newmarket.HH
Dear Lord, still winless this season.
Tidal Bay 1450 Wetherby.
Good luck all.
Lads, my nap for today is :
Primevere (Newmarket 3.05)
Happy punting… fleagle1888
TODAY’S DUNKEY
Newmarket 2:30 JAKES DESTINY
HAIL HAIL AND GOOD LUCK
SON MES QUE UN CLUB 1111
Moi aussi!
Mind you,my run of hard-luck stories ended last week-my horse was blinkin’ tenth…….
Off to the pub to pick the next one.
Time For Rupert 3.25 wetherby
best of luck everyone (paul hartley included!!)
Cape Express, 2.35 Ascot–that’ll stop it winning 5 in a row.
Frisco Depot in the 3:10 at Ascot.
T4
Afternoon all, going for Bada Bings playpiece ,a big ootsider.
Salbatore 4.15 Ascot,good luck.
Going for 3 in a row with Time For Rupert in the 3.25 at wetherby! Be lucky bhoys!
Ayr 350 Tapnight
Good luck everyone
Doctor David – 3.45 ascot please
Good luck!
CQN Saturday Naps Competition – Week 14 Results & Standings
Well done AGAIN to Rockon Neil Lennon who napped his 6th winner of the season – (Tapnight @6/4).
Other winners this week – Cathal (Raya Star @8/1) and Som mes que un club (Tidal Bay @9/2)
+£13.25 green T (5)
+£11.50 Rockon Neil Lennon (6)
+£ 8.50 Sixteen roads to Golgotha (3)
+£ 7.00 Valentine’s Day (3)
+£ 5.50 BULL67 (3)
+£ 3.50 Che (2)
+£ 2.00 fleagle1888 (2)
-£ 3.00 Magnificentseven (1)
-£ 4.80 TheBarcaMole (2)
-£ 5.00 Cathal (1)
-£ 5.97 hunza rugli (2)
-£ 6.00 voguepunter (1)
-£ 7.50 Bada Bing (1)
-£ 8.00 What is the Stars (1)
-£ 8.50 Som mes que un club (1)
-£ 9.00 gerry_bhoy (1)
-£ 9.50 tommytwisttommyturns (1)
-£10.00 leftclicktic (1)
-£10.25 MHARK67 (1)
-£11.00 Glen (1)
-£14.00 bobbymurdoch’s winklepickers
-£14.00 gourockbhoy
-£14.00 Raymac
*No selections from : bobbymurdoch’s winklepickers, gerry_bhoy, Magnificentseven, Sixteen roads to Golgotha, What is the Stars
*Non-runner :
Cheers, fleagle1888
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