Banks and bums
I hear there are rumours in the old media today that David Longmuir prepared a plan with Charles Green and Peter Lawwell before briefing Scottish Football League clubs this week. I suppose the rumours are half right. No one from Celtic was involved in this nonsense.
Special mention to Gavin Masterton, owner of 94% of Dunfermline shares, who last month told the BBC “The football club is debt-free. There is no bank debt. The debt is to myself and the other directors.”
This new kind of “debt-free”, talked about by Dunfermline and one other lower league club is more dangerous than it seems as just three weeks later Dunfermline admit they expect HMRC to apply for a winding up order.
Fans have raised around £250k, enough to pay HMRC in full, but they are asking Masterton to value his shares at a level they would reach if an administrator was appointed, which will happen if the fans don’t pay. Masterton’s recovery plan was to issue £500k of shares for around 25% of the club. Nice, for him.
Nine years ago Masterton and Dunfermline director John Yorkston were embroiled in the financial calamity which afflicted Livingston. This tale of woe is worth reading, as is the story about the downfall of Bank of Scotland by Iain Fraser, who writes, “The rot set at Bank of Scotland in when the likes of Gavin Masterton and Peter Cummings started handing millions of pounds to their pals, without doing much in the way of due diligence.
Fraser also speculates “Foolishly, Cummings and his predecessor Gavin Masterton handed [Sir David] Murray a total of £760m on a “no questions asked, handshake only” basis and, in the current environment … realised he hasn’t much chance of paying this back”, in an interesting article on the Bank and the liquidated football club.
Mr Masterton is clearly the only qualified candidate as the next president of the Scottish Football Association. After Mr Peat (former director of liquidated club Airdrieoneans) and incumbent Mr Ogilvie (former director of liquidated club Rangers) the bar has been set at an astonishing level.
“Utterly astonishing”, as our old friend used to say.
Be wary of people to say they are debt free when what they mean is they have no bank debt. Be very wary of bums who try to convince you that them being denied bank lending is a good thing.
If company credit rating equals zero, credibility rating equals (I’m away to find out if a whole number is required here).