Campbell Ogilvie was an executive director of Rangers for the first five years of their Employee Benefit Trusts and during their earlier illegally-executed tax avoidance Discount Options Scheme. He received a ‘loan’ from a Rangers EBT, which he has not repaid and is not expected to repay, and recently described his company responsibilities during this period to a friendly journalist as being administrative, and then legislative.
He has been a director of the SFA for 22 years and is now president.
During the period when Ogilvie was director of both Rangers and the SFA the club illegally registered dozens of footballers with the SFA. All directors are responsible for actions of a company, executive directors especially so. Those who represent themselves as having administrative and legislative roles, absolutely so.
SFA chief executive, Stewart Regan, yesterday defended Ogilvie’s shameless refusal to resign by offering a defence which echoed Rangers ‘Craig Whyte acted alone’ defence, which was comprehensively dismissed by the SFA Judicial Tribunal.
Regan said, “We have had very clear feedback that the president was not involved in any letter or correspondence with regards to player EBTs.
“We are all aware of businesses being run where you have one owner and operator running the club and a number of directors sitting below. The way this process has been managed, a lot of this correspondence was done much higher up the chain than Campbell Ogilvie.”
This is cringe-worthy nonsense and gets to the heart of the lack of corporate governance at the SFA. Mr Regan is not qualified to assure us that Mr Ogilvie has no case to answer. That is not a judgement for him to make and is certainly not an inference that can be made on the basis of private comments from Mr Ogilvie or other former Rangers directors similarly contaminated by this issue.
Before the chief executive can state as fact how Rangers conducted their business, and the limited involvement of Mr Ogilvie, some form of inquiry must have taken place. No such inquiry happened.
“We have had very clear feedback”, said Mr Regan. Who is “we”, was it an independent panel that received this feedback, or did Mr Regan deal with this personally? Who gave the feedback? Was Mr Ogilvie subject to the same independent scrutiny as anyone else in the game, from Neil Lennon to Craig Whyte, or was this passed off with a handshake?
Mr Regan’s failure to recognise the serious corporate governance failures in his conduct is alarming. We don’t need this guy to know the offside rule but he has to understand good corporate governance requires questions against your president to be openly and independently investigated.
When these are our standards, what else is the executive turning a blind eye to?
Mr Regan was careful to limit his claim on what Mr Ogilvie was not party to. “We have had very clear feedback that the president was not involved in any letter or correspondence with regards to player EBTs” sounds like a substantial piece of information but it’s not.
This only claims that Mr Ogilvie did not author any side letter or contract relating to an EBT, which is not in doubt. The important issue is clearly Mr Ogilvie knew dozens of players had EBTs, he knew football players’ remuneration is subject to detailed written contracts and he knew all money paid to a player, from any source, in relation to football, must be detailed on his contract and registered with the SFA.
For Rangers players’ EBTs to be consistent with SFA and Fifa requirements they would need to be completely discretionary, an optional extra the players were unable to rely on. Mr Ogilvie, the Great Football Administrator, knew all of this.
Instead of good corporate governance we appear to have a self-certified president – we know Mr Ogilvie did nothing wrong because Mr Ogilvie said he did nothing wrong. He is at once, a Great Football Administrator and unaware of the football administration actions of the company he was legally responsible for.
Ogilvie was an executive director of Rangers. It was his responsibility as a director of Rangers to ensure that the club contracts and legislative responsibilities were conducted in a proper manner. He was simultaneously a director of the SFA. It was his responsibility as a director of the SFA to ensure the Association was run in an even-handed manner, that one club – his club or any other – could not load the dice.
Regan went on to say “Since February 14 he has had no involvement at all in any board meetings, any decisions or any meetings with the club.”
It is reassuring that he has withdrawn from an important part of the legislative process of the SFA but his prominent participation in yesterday’s AGM confirms that his influence in other areas remains.
Regan added “[EBTs] are illegal if they are used knowingly in an incorrect manner. That is something we are still waiting for facts on. But I am satisfied that Campbell has discharged his duty of care. He has done everything we could have asked of him and, so far as his integrity is concerned, he is a man with many years as a highly respected administrator across the game of football in Scotland.”
“So far as his integrity is concerned….many years …. respected administrator”. Those words may bring to mind all those years Ogilvie was at Ibrox while Rangers sectarian signing policy was in place.
Regan dismissed calls for his own resignation, no doubt confident he can self-certify his performance.
I am hugely reluctant to open a political debate, but does the painful lack of accountability and scrutiny in Scotland not alarm you? The actions (inactions) of Ogilvie and Regan would never be accepted in England, where structures exist to hold officials to account. As a relic from Rangers sectarian signing policy days, Ogilvie would be regarded as an embarrassing dinosaur, he would never be made president! The ability for officials to state facts without an inquiry would never be tolerated.
We look more like a rotten borough than a country with the mechanisms necessary to nurture a successful state. Where’s your voice now, Mr Salmond?
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When do we hear from the SPL investigation into duel contracts?
When do we hear about the SPL investigation into sectarian singing at the Bigotdome in February?!
tomcourtney @ 10:25,
Think you are right to be sceptical, lets face it every authority has bent over backwards to help them.
They have been given the space and time to sort this out this would not be afforded to any other Club.
But their Hubris and entitlement has ensured they have failed to take advantage.
No, they have nowhere left to go.
There only route to a NewClub is dumping RFC 1873 lock, stock & barrel and starting anew.
Now I’m not saying we won’t see some more jiggery pokery and an attempt to get the Brand New R@ngers into the SPL – at the moment this being Scotland I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen but my money would on a Season in the Doldrums.
Whatever this New Club will be a shadow of it’s former self and will take years to re-build.
Hail! Hail!
Alot of people on here have gave Hector pelters for weeks for not taking any action and now it has transpired that at the first creditors meeting the wee bold Hector laughed at Duff&Duffer and said “I don’t think so, this is what will be happening.”
I wonder what Green is thinking today knowing that if the CVA fails then he wont be getting his hands on the family silver for £5.5 Million.
The huns are dead, but like a headless chicken they just don’t know it yet…
theweegreenman
Given the cowboys that inhabit the bigot dome I’m sure a lot of duels were done.
Highnooncsc
!!Bada Bing!! on 8 June, 2012 at 10:45 said: ….
That would have been understanding , but I have not seen any reporting of what actually happened.
Thanks.
The prize money has first to go to SDM to be laundered to remove all traces of ‘taint’.
Kilbowie Kelt
I am sure it was in the CVA proposal that any monies received from SFA/SPL had been ring fenced and was not available to creditors.
Sounds like it has not been paid yet.
tomcourtney
BTW My Bro-in-law sells boats:-)
Good luck with it…
* MY understanding…
Does the SFA Appeal tribunal meet today again?
Morning CQNers.
If the orcs are liquidated
do we get, 125 years worth
of stripped trophie’s or, is it
just the Murray-era silverware ?
Hail Hail
Kilbowie Kelt on 8 June, 2012 at 10:54 said:
kk,We are still waiting to hear if ragers paid compensation to sfa for
tapping up sir wattie,don’t believe anything happening this season will be revealed
till 2035.
dontbratt –
re McGrory’s glut, info to hand –
14/01/1928 SFL Celtic 9 (McGrory 8, Thomson) Dunfermline Athletic 0 Att – 4,000
McGrory’s record goalscoring performance comprised of four goals in each half and three in the first ten minutes
WizardGoalgetter,ML2
ASonOfDan on 8 June, 2012 at 10:53 said: …
Thanks.
Hunfight at the OrK corrall.
Starring Mad Craigy Whyte, Dave Sundance King, Charlie the kid Green,
HH
SIALF
voguepunter on 8 June, 2012 at 10:56 said: …
Very close to the truth.
:¬)))
79caps on 8 June, 2012 at 10:50 said:
When do we hear about the SPL investigation into sectarian singing at the Bigotdome in February?!
________________
I think you might find that it will be swept under the same carpet as the, Manchester riots. imo.
Hail Hail
greenjedi on 8 June, 2012 at 10:41 said:
BTW
If Duff n Duffer did try and gerrymander the vote to have hector with less than 25% so they could push through the cva, when the BTC verdict is announced they ‘d be back to square one with hector have 100% of the debt due and he’d kill them in seconds.
—————–
Paul67 and/or RTC assurance required still….
I remember reading that the CVA could be accepted before the BTC verdict is announced and Hector would have to accept the previously accepted CVA level applying to the BTC judgement…
I appreciate greenjedi and Chairbhoy’s (Chairbhoy on 8 June, 2012 at 10:07 & 10:50 said:) efforts to placate my fears of a ‘Leeds Utd stacking the creditor list against Hector’ scenario but the old sphincter’s still twitching.
Sorry if that’s put a picture in your mind you’d rather not be there :)
Tryingtobuyaboattosailoffintothesunrise(goingsoutheast).csc
dontbratt –
I’ve been in a crowd in excess of 4,000 in ye olde S_RI_GFIELD VAULTS lounge
A wee poem for the scrofulous :
Scorflufus had struck at orc, beast and duck
and the knees of the orcs went BONG!
some knees went PING!
other knees turned to string
from Govan to old Hong Kong.
With apologies to Spike Milligan.
philvisreturns on 8 June, 2012 at 09:33:
“The most scrofulous wee settlements in Scotland must surely be in Lanarkshire:
Glenboig
Gartcosh
Wishaw
Airdrie”
I’m surprised you overlooked Greenend, Gartsherrie or Kirkshaws on that list.
ASonOfDan,
No date has yet been set for the Appeal Tribunal meeting. Reports were that it is likely to be the week after next. They have to wait as an appeal could still be made against Lord Glennie’s ruling.
Mr Green thinks he has an agreement with D&P to buy the assets for 5.5M when the CVA fails.
I’m sure this was a dodgy deal to begin with, but BDO won’t be bound by it will they? If they think they can get more than 5.5M, they will sell to someone else?
Is Harthill not in Lanarkshire.
I’ve asked this question before, without any feedback. In BTM’s season, when NL took over Celtic were well behind the Orcs. The team then went on a run. However, the derby match at Celtic Park, where Kenny Millar gave his celebrated impression og Gollum after scoring the first goal, was extremely important. If Rangers had won, they would have been more than 10 points ahead of Celtic. As it happened, they won the league by 6 points. Now, saying they had won and achieved that, does anyone think they may have applied for Administration then? However, results since then——
Dougie Dougie—win
Dallas Dulse—win
Peat—win, because he would have been removed after Paul McBride eviscerated the SFA and he tried to sit in on NL’s case.
Independant panel—win
Alex Thomson—win
Mark Daly—win
Rangers Tax Case, Orwell Prize—win
Hector—beginning to look like a win with big boots on.
Meanwhile Rangers are doing their impression of Jack Elam in Support Your Local Sheriff.
Name members of Independant Panel—lose
Protest panel findings—lose
Take case to Scottish court. Absolutely brilliant–win and lose, with the win being their biggest mistaka to maka.
Anybody see a pattern here?
fanadpatriot on 8 June, 2012 at 11:05 said:
Is Harthill not in Lanarkshire.
Harthill in own timezone, 1690
WikiGemmell -thanks for that. The crowd seems very low, but that season we did finish a [distant ]second to the Hillbillies, and we were knocked out of the Cup by the eventual winners, Kilmarnock.
Sack the Board.
All of Lanarkshire is a toilet apart from the wee bit in Bellshill where Billy came from. Holytown/Newmaains!!!! FFS HH.
Came across rangers new anthem for next season, should they attend…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tid54MWeqvE
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it’ Joseph Goebbels
HH
•-:¦:-•** -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-• on 8 June, 2012 at 11:05 said:
Mr Green thinks he has an agreement with D&P to buy the assets for 5.5M when the CVA fails.
I’m sure this was a dodgy deal to begin with, but BDO won’t be bound by it will they? If they think they can get more than 5.5M, they will sell to someone else?
———————————————————–
Well given that proper administrators are supposed to act in the interests of creditors not prospective purchasers, I think it’s fair to expect BDO to act as proper administrators, and the whole caboodle may not end up landing in Green’s lap for a knock down price.
sparkleghirl,
Most of the legal opinions I’ve seen from folk who know about this stuff read it that Green would have to bid £5.5M but that only becomes a deal if no one bids a higher amount.
Kev Jungle
Never mind the Manchester riots in the city centre, because we all know that it was Chelsea fans wot dunnit and ran away.
Apart from the 17 arrests at the ibrox beamback, oh and the stabbing inside the stadium in Manchester
That was ehmm Chelsea fans as well
Move along now timmy nothing to see here
DBBIA (from earlier)
“Anyways, I’m with ole Mr Johnny Clash in lookin’ forward to reclaimin’ the TV from the usual diet of stultifying misery that is East Enders. ”
Surely we replace East Enders with South (West?) Siders?
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon on 8 June, 2012 at 11:15 said:
Green would have to bid £5.5M but that only becomes a deal if no one bids a higher amount.
….and that BDO are satisfied that they can demonstrate to creditiors that the assets sold as a package are worth more than the assets sold individually.
Raymac on 8 June, 2012 at 11:05 said:
_______________________________
Brilliant stuff m8.
But, I would take issue with the inclusion of Dallas.
I say that because…he wasn’t, yet, should have been sacked by the SFA.
Strangely, he still moves in the ‘higher’ circles of UEFA ?
Therefore, his finger-prints are all over the MIB’s to this day.
I think that, typical of me, that the Celtic hierarchy should have thrown the toys out of the pram over Dallas being allowed to slip the net.
I mean, do UEFA know what Dallas did with the e-mail stuff ?
If they did…don’t you think that, UEFA would have emptied Dallas by now ?
I feel that we should have gone over the SFA’s head and, went straight to the organ-grinder.
In other words…”We/Celtic hierarchy, fecked it up!”
Hail Hail
I’m Neil Lennon (tamrabam) on 8 June, 2012 at 11:16 said:
____________________
Absolutely m8!
Hail Hail
From Etims
“Back to the Euros, and after the shameful act of monkey chants being aimed at the Dutch squad whilst they were training, England have taken steps to avoid racist abuse at their morning session by leaving John Terry at the hotel”
:-)