Will Lord Nimmo Smith’s SPL Commission report this week? I’ve no idea, but as the day draws near it is perhaps worthwhile reminding ourselves of the relevant matters already established by the First Tier Tribunal, which, reportedly, Rangers ‘won’. We will have more excerpts as the week progresses.
The decision was anonymised, so names, such as Mr Black, Mr Violet and Mr Gold are not the actual names of the people involved.
Excerpts from The Decision:
“159
The suggestion made on behalf of Rangers that Mr Black’s involvement did not extend beyond concluding an outline agreement and a specific overall figure, was not borne out in evidence. Given that the burden of proof rested on the Appellants, there was a dearth of evidence available to support the Appellant’s contentions about the nature and stages of the process of agreeing “deals” on the engagement of footballers. Mr Thomson referred to specific individuals. All sub-trust monies had been withdrawn as “loans” except in the case of Mr Gold’s sub-trust.
The side-letters, while not disclosed to the SFA, were in reality part of the player’s contract with the Club.
The players expected to receive the monies paid into trust. Mr Violet believed that the purpose of the Trust was to suit Rangers. So far as he was concerned, his lawyer had reassured him that the arrangement was legal. However, according to Mr Thomson, given that the burden of proof rested on the Appellants, it had not been shown that the side-letter benefits were other than part of the contract of employment of the players.
When recently the tax advantage of trust payments had ceased for Rangers, remuneration due to Messrs Maidstone and Mr Guildford was made via payroll. Rangers had promised to ensure that even if the trust arrangements ceased, alternative arrangements would be made to give the players their agreed net pay. That crucially was the underlying reality.
160
Mr Thomson complained that it was difficult to ascertain whether the player’s contract of employment started with both the disclosed contract and side-letter being signed, or at an earlier stage and then reduced to formal terms, since the taxpayers had disclosed only limited documentation.
The over-arching contract was the contract of employment and the side-letter was part of it. No explanation had been advanced for its being a separate document. The inference was obvious: it was secret and not to be disclosed.
161
Side-letters, of course, had not been registered with the football authorities, the SFA and SPL. The spirit of their rules was that the whole contract terms should be registered.
Suspiciously, no evidence was led as to who decided that the benefits in terms of the side-letters should not be registered.
Non-registration of side-letters was incompatible with both authorities’ policing and disciplinary powers. For example any fines imposed on players would customarily reflect the disclosed wage.
Nondisclosure would thwart the authorities’ powers.
163
On any view, Mr Thomson argued, Rangers could have sought a ruling from the SFA or SPL about disclosure of side-letters but, clearly, they had chosen not to do so.
There was a conscious decision to conceal their existence, and that extended even to the Club’s auditors.”
This evidence clearly establishes the conduct by Rangers in relation to side-letters and player contract registration, the SFA and SPL rules, and Rangers detrimental action on the football authorities powers.
More than this, the matter of concealment is addressed, from both football authorities and the club’s auditors.
While “suspiciously, no evidence was led as to who decided that the benefits in terms of the side-letters should not be registered”, the SFA president, who was a Rangers director when EBTs were introduced, declared himself “somewhat vindicated” by this decision. You may feel otherwise.
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philvisreturns
13:09 on 25 February, 2013
Thindimebhoy – Horsemeat found in Ikea meatballs
To be fair, they are clearly labelled “näg”. (thumbsup)
—-
That’s what happens when you use an ABBAttoir :))
Neal Peart, Rush’s drummer, is a wordsmith of some repute apart from being able to knock seven bells out of a drum kit. Widely read, thoughtful, erudite, bookish, his bandmates referred to him as ‘The Professor’. His lyrics eschewed the usual rock and roll inspirations of wine women and more women for reference to history, philosophy and ancient mythology.
He also was yonks ahead of the curve in appreciating Ayn Rand, author of The Fountainhead and now Darling of New Right Libertarians at an Asda Bookshelf near you. Her writing influenced Peart in his lyrics for Rush’s epic mid seventies masterworks 2112 and The Trees, both allegories about individual rights over the collective.
He had absolutely no fashion sense however. Check him out here, he’s the one in the middle here:
http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/downloads/wallpaper/2112group.jpg
My point is this.
Has anyone seen Philvis and Neil Peart in a room at the same time?
HH
At the CQN annual convention , sure to happen- I look forward to seeing Philvis and Paul B in the one place at the one time .
To think I found the holy trinity a hard one to understand !!
HH
philvisreturns
To be fair, they are clearly labelled “näg”. (thumbsup)
—
Lets have neigh mare of those horse jokes
Congratulation phil back on podium where you belong, the pupils in a certain individuals class will be in for an afternoon of misery.
Please don’t start the horsey jokes, which in the mane are rubbish.
Hey guys
First up, I want to say cheers to everyone who’s bought the book, or tweeted or about the book, or shared the link to the book thus far. Much appreciated, friends.
Today’s blog on Der Singing. http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/why-dont-you-just-go/
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
11:14 on 25 February, 2013……….
Cheers pal. Got the SMS…..
My response (to the text message) maybe goes some way to explaining the/my disenchantment with the ‘beautiful game’ nowadays………….
Regards & Hail Hail
TBM
greenmaestro – Amazon are already in line for not paying there fare share of tax
Not sure what you mean. Is there any suggestion they’ve broken the law? I did read some carping about them in The Guardian, which seemed to be based on a misunderstanding of how EU law works, and Amazon did not, in fact, withhold any taxes they were due to pay.
the Tory party have us in with their dogmatic focus on debt reduction
How much have they reduced debt by?
by making sure there is even less money in collected.
It’s a fact that the Amazon US store has more content than the UK store, and I strongly suspect – although haven’t looked into it closely enough to be sure – that they don’t charge you VAT. So looks like a win-win for the consumer to me. Of course, if you feel a moral imperative to pay an additional 20% purchase tax on an electronic book that HM Government did nothing to help create – and after your income has already been taxed twice before your receive it, and in addition to the VAT included in the price of the Kindle – that’s entirely your choice. (thumbsup)
The Legend Johnny Doyle – Close. Actually my real plan is based on Richard Pryor’s groundbreaking computer work in “Superman III”, with some additional input from Leonard Nimoy’s talking space rock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4pBk3-fduU (thumbsup)
“It’s awful how just a few Sevco daft wee boy fans ruin it for the many loyal bears who want the new Rangers to behave in a non sectarian, tolerant way.”
Billy Liar
Hope you guys aren’t going to stirrup all these horsey jokes again..
VMHAN
I forwarded it to a number of people. I agree it should be discussed but I hope to allow the club a chance first. I am sure that some fellas I sent it to have your addy.
I should add that she is not the militant type-but she sure knows what is right and what is not.
continuing the Reservoir Dogs theme..
“Mr Black did not consider the Trust as a means of tax avoidance… So far as Rangers was concerned it enabled the Club to attract players who would not otherwise have been obtainable.”
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, as LNS was heard whistling lately.
On the subject of horses. Celtic Charlie is racing at Kempton today. 2.20pm and looks decent value for at least a place at 4/1.
LB
Rioskorrie @ 13 08.
Camp Coffee.?
Vile stuff . Memories of a mate who loved the stuff and served it [in enamel cups] with Penguin biscuits.. Gloopy / sludgey and totally vile.. Made crap like Nescafe taste good in comparison
My memory [ not to be relied upon ] says that the Aye Ready on the adverts was part of an attempt to big up support for the UK from the Empire at the start of WW1 . If true then I assume it refers to Loyalty to the Crown rather than referring to a dead club doon Govan way.
Does ESPN stand for Exposing Sectarian Pathetic Neds?
Cardinal O Brien resigns
HH
Philvis
Honest question, no hidden agenda.. For once!
How much have they (the govt) reduced debt by?
If Plan A has not worked, is the likelihood that Plan B will involve even more severe cuts to public spending?
Camp Coffee is a Scottish food product, which began production in 1876 by Paterson & Sons Ltd. in a plant on Charlotte St, Glasgow. Almost one-hundred years later in 1974 businessman Daniel Jenks merged with Paterson to form Paterson Jenks plc.[1] In 1984, Paterson Jenks plc was bought by McCormick & Company. Thereafter, McCormick UK Ltd assimilated Paterson Jenks plc into Schwartz. Interestingly, McCormick claims not to be the manufacturer on their main site, and the product can’t be found on the Schwartz site either.[2]
Camp Coffee is a glutinous brown substance which consists of water, sugar, 4% coffee essence, and 26% chicory essence. This is generally used as a substitute for coffee, by mixing with warm milk in much the same way as cocoa or added to cold milk and ice to make an iced coffee, but it is commonly found on baking aisles in supermarkets as it is also used as an ingredient in coffee cake and other confectionery.
The label is rather old-fashioned in tone, consisting of a drawing of a Gordon Highlander soldier (allegedly Major General Sir Hector Macdonald) and a Sikh soldier sitting down together outside a tent, from which flies a flag carrying the drink’s slogan, “Ready Aye Ready”. This slogan uses the form of the Scots “aye” meaning yes, {aye also means always in Scottish dialect (its aye [always] ready), and this is the meaning of the word aye in the slogan}, so the drink was “Ready Always Ready” to be made. Originally the picture depicted the Sikh as carrying a tray of coffee — an intermediate version, with the Sikh standing but the tray missing was also used (see the fan site link below for this version of the label) — it is widely believed that this was changed to avoid the imperialist connotations of the Sikh as a servant, although the company does not confirm or deny this.[3][4] The original drawing was by William Victor Wrigglesworth.
wiki sourced
HH
estorilbhoy – That’s what happens when you use an ABBAttoir :))
Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Mane After Midnight) (thumbsup)
Blindlemonchitlin – Has anyone seen Philvis and Neil Peart in a room at the same time?
I am not now, nor have I ever been, from Canadia. Although I will admit that is a damn fine moustache. (thumbsup)
Thindimebhoy – Lets have neigh mare of those horse jokes
It behooves me to say them. (thumbsup)
Che – Congratulation phil back on podium where you belong, the pupils in a certain individuals class will be in for an afternoon of misery.
That’ll learn them. :) (thumbsup)
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
Hi, I hope your sister has already reported her experience through the official channels offered on Celtic’s public statement.
Email: fansagainstcriminalisation@gmail.com
Email: operations@celticfc.co.uk
Good luck, I hope she gets some answers.
Skål
Thindimebhoy, indeed.
The Legend Johnny Doyle, not so sure. When I post at unusual times Phils’ comment does not arrive.
ArranmoreBhoyLXV11, you think it is hard to figure, what do you think I make of it?
Riokorrie @ 13.08
“Ready, Aye, Ready.” The concoction is a secret blend that includes chicory, coffee and sugar. The original label depicted a seated Gordon Highlander being served by a Sikh soldier, though the current producer, McCormick (UK) Ltd, changed the label in 2006 to avoid imperialist connotations.
Hmmmm………….CSC
Gordon Smith – “surprised”
…aye.
……………..we’re not.
Paul67
163
On any view, Mr Thomson argued, Rangers could have sought a ruling from the SFA or SPL about disclosure of side-letters but, clearly, they had chosen not to do so.
There was a conscious decision to conceal their existence, and that extended even to the Club’s auditors.”
This is the killer item if part of LNS consideration. The whole EBT scheme depended on secrecy. That is why it took about a year for msm to admit it after Phil Mac broke the story and stop it being a secret.
Make your own Baileys with Camp Coffee
Ingredients
Tin of condensed milk
Tin of Carnation milk
Quarter bottle of whisky or brandy (makes it stronger than Baileys)
A couple of desert spoons of Camp Coffee
Directions
Mix the lot together put in fridge for a wee while
Sup away
Its pretty close to the real thing btw
Go for a hundred mile jog if you need to burn off the calories
Non-registration of side-letters was incompatible with both authorities’ policing and disciplinary powers.
wow – does that not settle it all ? how can anybody be vindicated by this ?
ROW Z – Let Celtic Flourish By The Cleansing Of The ‘Den!
The Camp Coffee premises were right next door to my primary school. Could pong at times.
Mind that much of what Paul has posted in the leader today is drawn from the arguments made by HMRC’s counsel, rather than the Tribunal’s finding in fact.
Speaking of anonymity I see that the flyer handed out before the game yesterday was authorless
Che @13:34 it was revealed 4 yrs ago that the Crown Estates office, over a short period, had doubled the number of staff they employ. They now refuse to answer questions on this subject. I’ve seen small pieces of public land appropritaed and sold to developers all over where I live. No notification or consultation. In one case a corner of a park. The extra staff are there to expedite this process. But still the debt rises.
I expect this to be happening in Edinburgh and Aberdeen also.
You’ll never see Jim Spence and Andrew Castle’s hair in the same room, at the same time.
Che – How much have they (the govt) reduced debt by?
Not one single penny. In fact public debt is higher than ever. This is because we’re spending on the never-never more than ever.
If Plan A has not worked, is the likelihood that Plan B will involve even more severe cuts to public spending?
That’s the problem. There haven’t been any real cuts to public spending. There’s been cuts to some individual departments, but overall we’re spending more. Partly this is unavoidable – the cost of servicing the debt Labour left behind has gone up, and welfare costs have gone up – but mostly it’s because the government is terribly afraid of the real cuts to public spending they need to make to begin righting the nation’s finances.
In the mid-to-long run, there is no credible alternative to real cuts, sadly. The UK government has been spending more than it takes in every single year since 2001, yet the economy is stagnant at best, so “too fast, too soon” doesn’t cut it. The latest estimates are that this “austerity” government is overspending by 7.8% of GDP – £126 Bn a year. How much more “stimulus” can we take?
It seems we are doomed to learn the hard way – again – that there’s no cheat code for prosperity. You have to produce things people want to buy to be prosperous. Printing money and borrowing money eventually just ruins a nation. (thumbsup)
So Argo for best picture?
Enjoyable but not outstanding for me. The ending was very tense and exciting but I felt it took a while to get there – nevertheless I am very pleased Lincoln did not win – I really found it to be preachy over-long and over-blown and very much in the tradition of shouty men in wigs.
Ang Lee for best director for me was a No brainer – Life of Pi shows what can be done with 3D and it was stunning. Another one for Spielberg would have been rather predictable. I still wish it had won for best film but you cannot have everything.
Interestingly this is the first time that best film and best Director have been given to two different films since Driving Miss Daisey won in 1989.
Thought Joaquin Phoenix was robbed though. A much better performance than DDL.
Jennifer Lawrence was very good so no big issues with that.
Spencey does favour the “diddy-men’ coiffure………..
TenMen
I heard this was very likely. I wonder of BT have any plans for capturing the Scottish audience from Sky?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/9892597/BT-broadens-challenge-to-Sky-Sports-after-acquiring-ESPNs-UK-and-Ireland-TV-channels-business.html
James Forrest is Neil Lennon! We are ALL Neil Lennon! 13:22 on 25 February, 2013
If only it was that easy.
The reality is no one wants them. They are poison on every level. The world has moved on but they stuck in the 18th centuary.
Sevco had an opportunity to lose the knuckle-draggers when the club was formed last summer – they chose the bigots pound instead.
That is why the Rangers group of clubs will always be in Celtic’s shadow.
It would take a fiendishly clever mind, trained and experienced in the black arts of dissembling, to twist and contort the huns shenanigans over player documentation to make them appear to comply with requirements of the SFA and SPL.