Tomorrow’s Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Premier League is set to be the third great football meeting in the last two weeks. The Prophet of Armageddon, chief executive Neil Doncaster, will face his shareholders and either have to declare he was being truthful when he told them, and Scottish Football League clubs, the SPL would be unable to fulfil their contractual obligations if Sevco were denied a place in the First Division, or that this was a cunning ruse designed to manipulate clubs and fans alike.
Doncaster was surely encouraged by some in the SPL to adopt his confrontational stance but support from SPL clubs was certainly not universal. No representatives from Celtic participated in any meetings or conversations regarding the contents of the presentation made to SFL clubs, nor was the club informed or consulted on it.
Well done to the Aberdeen fans who kicked off the Sell-out Saturday initiative. They hope to sell-out Pittodrie for their 11 August game and want to as many fans as possible to buy season tickets. The idea has been picked up by clubs throughout the league.
I get the feeling that if supporters groups got together we could use this unique moment, when camaraderie among fans coincided with unparalleled fan power over the clubs, to define a framework for the game we wanted, not something a dreamt up by a Norfolk MBA.
Even if we couldn’t get every fan group pulling in the same direction, a few productive bilateral relationships is all it takes to establish an powerful pressure group.
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Mea Culpa
Who sacks these guys?
Who decides whether they go with a golden goodbye or with nothing?
Also, once out the door would they be free to tell all or would they be legally gagged?
Like many elements of this shoddy affair, there are rules but unfortunately, as this saga has shown, the executive seem to think the game is their little plaything and can thus do what they like.
Time for the members as a whole to take control back to the membership.
Good Morning to all.
No Vmhan ?
I don’t know if this was posted yet? According to the Polish newspaper, Polish international Sebastian Boenisch is on Celtic radar.
Zbyszek
It was reported in yesterday’s in papers.
Is he any good and what position does he play?
Philbhoy
He WAS very good two and three years ago. He was fast, solid left back. Lost one year due to the serious injury. Back to the full force trainings this Spring. Played at Euro for Poland and was one of our worst players. After that long break with the ball he can’t feel the game as you would expect from the International.
Boenish is the product of the German football. Played for their U-? teams, then changed it for Poland.
I think he can play CB. Not ready for big games yet. Injury did bad things. He will need month , two or three to be back on the high level.
Morning.
I sincerely hope that Regan and Doncaster get their just deserts today.
My sneaking fear is that this will not happen.
It seems ludicrous to imagine that executive officers can so brazenly pursue a cause without the authority of their paymasters. I do not accuse Celtic of anything but the mask is slipping with regard to some of our valid defenders of integrity.
I suspect both Regan and Doncaster were very much ‘on message’ throughout. Their failings have been in delivery, not intent. They may become the scapegoats but the stench of corrupt promotion of hun interests spreads far wider; jury’s out on quite how far…
Zbyszek morning
En route to work…… :>)
HH
Zbyszek
Thanks!
I think the newspaper suggested he was a replacement for the “outgoing Izzy.”
I hope not.
The usual hand-wringing drivel from Keevins:
” Text summed up Scottish game: It’s up the lum
By Hugh Keevins on Jul 15, 12 07:35 AM inI MADE a call to one SPL director on Friday in the immediate aftermath of the decision to admit Rangers newco to the Third Division and found myself speaking to a human sacrifice.This man, who has been known to me for 20 years, had never revealed before that he’d cashed in his wife’s pension fund to help keep his club afloat.Or that one of his fellow directors had signed his house over to the bank for the same purpose.Or that when the team went away from home the club met their hotel booking while the directors settled their own bills at the reception desk.Or that the bankers had recently refused the club the meagre sum of £150,000 to tide them over because there were no overdraft facilities available for football teams.After hearing news of the SFL vote he was sitting, shell-shocked and contemplating whether to go back and watch his own team play again, while waiting for his wife to come home.And he was wondering to what extent marital relations might be strained by the realisation that the love of a club had created domestic complications. It was a conversation which put a private face on a debate that has been played out in the most public manner.The supporters of this man’s club have campaigned to have Rangers punished under the terms of “sporting integrity” while he and his fellow directors are going to be penalised on a personal basis if that happens.Season-ticket sales at his club, incidentally, have fallen below last year’s levels to add to their picture of financial gloom and doom.From the devastated director’s point of view Scottish football resembles a suicide bomber strapped to a detonator while waiting to create carnage by obliterating the game’s finances.Rangers in the Third Division is what an SFA man described to me as the “nuclear option” before Friday’s vote was taken. The same guy then sent a text after the vote that was four words long: “Game’s up the lum.”The language used might seem graphic but not when you’ve just thrown yourself on a bonfire of human sacrifices carrying family documents that have to be destroyed to see if a football club can be kept alive.The incredible irony is that Rangers caused a trail of personal destruction and they need to be salvaged in some way, shape or form to prevent the wholesale collapse of the game here.The SPL’s annual general meeting tomorrow will examine options to prevent an implosion taking place and they will probably be roundly criticised for it.However, there is no conception of the consequences to be suffered at a human level unless something is done about this issue. Some supporters say they would rather see their own club go into administration than watch a reborn Rangers get off with the problems that their mismanagement created. And then what?The SPL carries a few clubs who can stand on their own two feet without financial aid but what happens to the rest?Do they have to go into administration caused by reduced income and get docked 10 points because television went away?What kind of championship does that give us and how are we supposed to establish a product that will entice broadcasters back to Scottish football with decent deals?How can players on full-time contracts suddenly be asked to revert to the part-time game on a fraction of their wages without threatening to sue the club or simply walking away to find alternative employment in another country?There are demented directors throughout the SPL who have budgeted honestly and signed players on the understanding a broadcasting deal would be in place to let them break even.They will now be stung for redundancy payments if players are empowered to go because their work practices have been changed.How many more pension funds are going to have to be cashed in to satisfy supporters who want to feel morally superior?Survival is a natural human instinct but decisions taken in anger and confusion could blow the entire game up.I disagree with my friend Craig Burley when he refers to SFL representatives as “muppets” but there’s no case to be made for letting supporters influence business decisions within the game.The fans shouldn’t be thought of as extras who turn up to provide atmosphere at matches and have no say in anything.But they’re not the ones who will be liable for personal loss when their moral crusade goes belly up. It will be people like the director I spoke to on Friday who will pay the heaviest price.Some people in the game have become consumed by the spotlight throughout the Rangers crisis but they can’t be blinded to the truth. Power and influence must also carry a sense of responsibility.The personal finances of Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell will doubtless be in impeccable order, with no need to cancel his Sky subscription and start economising at home.But there are suggestions a divorce from Celtic’s loveless marriage with Rangers could cost the club £6million in lost revenue per annum while Ally McCoist’s side inhabit the lower divisions.Those who have done nothing wrong are being victimised by Friday’s vote. The moral high ground is full of people who have no appreciation of the calamity in our midst. It’s time they understood.I could take them to the house of a friend of mine but I’m not sure if his wife’s talking to him.There has to be some way of making Rangers pay without bankrupting everybody else.”
Vmhan
Good, have good day Muchacho.
Ach the newspapers. I remember they reported Boruc departing twice a week. Has he gone yet?
Now some changes, Hooper and Izaguirre departing twice a week.
Good morning CQNers,
Curiouser and curiouser,
“No representatives from Celtic participated in any meetings or conversations regarding the contents of the presentation made to SFL clubs, nor was the club informed or consulted on it.”
Do Celtic have an agenda that excludes the SFA?
Hmmmm
.
Starting to get busy around Lytham for the golf, mostly event staff I think, I hope they don’t all intend eating at Kevin Barry’s luxury bakery, there won’t be any pies left for me :>)
HH
Philbhoy
Second part of my post was my reply to you.
I notice Keevins doesn’t manage to lay blame firmly at the Hun door for crisis.
EC67
Keevins suffers from some kind of selective memory disorder, he completely forgets how the crisis starts in the beginning but attempts to make the reader feel sorry by playing the most sentimental drivel cards.
He makes the Sunday Post Homily look like Shakespeare.
A poor poor journalist representing the lowest for of writing..
I can’t imagine he has any credibility anywhere…
You cannot “cash in” your wife’s pension.
She has to do it.
So, unless she is a complete dummy she knew what she was doing.
Anyone who “signs their house his house over to the bank” to keep a football club going deserves all they get.
Keevins is a clown.
Another article without names or proofs.
Away an raffle yersel ya FUD!!!!
Morning all. Wondering if I’ll get any work done today. Doesn’t look good. Any news from the meeting yet? :-)
I blame WestWalesCelt for posting it in the first place. ( smiley thingy)
Keevins is also clutching at desperate straws to keep him in continuous employment.
He couldny get a job with the Beano if his rag goes belly up.
Philbhoy
He does have the potential, though, to make a good character.
Puuuuuuuufffffffffffff
Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh
MWD
MoonbeamsWD
You’re smokin’ too much!
Hope you are well!
Keevins is so inconsistent.
He writes some good stuff for his RTC.com blog and then he comes away with that rubbish.
C’mon Neil and Stewart, one last time to bang the drum for the big corporate sponsors and the MSM. Their continued prosperity and arguably, the MSM’s very survival, depends on you succeeding – as evidenced by Mr Keevins’ latest work of art. One last time to give the V’s to the ordinary man at the turnstiles, but if you get your way there won’t be many of them left. One last time to show us all that you both completely lack judgement. One last time to demonstrate that this whole situation could not have been handled worse. After all, all that was needed was for the rules to be applied without “fear or favour”. Who said that? And then hopefully, it will be P45 time. And do us all a favour, on your way out, please take the “heavily conflicted” one with you. Apart from stadia disasters, this is the greatest crisis Scottish football has confronted and the Scottish Football Association President does not utter a word!! Unbelievable! What purpose or whose purpose does he serve?
Another day, another meeting. Club 12? They can have a discussion today but it has to be decided by another General Meeting. Doesn’t leave any preparation time though. Still, at least they will finally have to realise that Rangers is no longer a football team and has to be kicked out. Or will they just argue that “the club” has joined the SFL?
Hopefully today will be Doncaster’s last big meeting before he resigns.
Rangers players can become legends if they win all four leagues
By Mark Hateley on Jul 16, 12 08:25 AM in rangers
DUST yourself down. Draw up a battle plan. Set the goal you want to achieve.
That’s what you do when you’ve been knocked from pillar to post and it’s what The Rangers FC will do now.
They will start life in the Scottish Third Division this season – with a massive point to prove.
They will also have a target in mind – to become the first club in history to win all four leagues on the trot and get back to where they belong.
I’m not saying four in a row would be a similar feat to the famous nine in a row I was part of alongside Rangers boss Alistair McCoist.
But, believe me, if Alistair’s side can win the Third, Second and First Divisions followed by the SPL, it will feel just as good as Walter Smith’s remarkable achievement in the 90s.
As players back then, we set ourselves goals to aim for all the time. To be honest, with that side, our target was to win every game in every competition we played in.
That was the secret of our success. We simply didn’t care what had gone on before, it was all about what was ahead of us. It’s the sign of a top-class team.
But, as we closed in on the nine, perhaps two or three years before we achieved the feat, it was definitely in our heads as something we were desperate to go for.
The nearer you get to your object point the harder you work.
And this season’s Rangers squad, whoever they may be, will need that kind of focus.
In our eyes back in the 90s it was all about identifying an achievable target. And what a feeling it was when we pulled it off.
It will be the same for the Rangers boys, who are preparing for at least one season in Scotland’s bottom tier.
Of course, it’s the lower leagues we’re talking about. But if they could win four titles on the spin and take the club back to the summit of Scottish football it would be an incredible feat.
It’s never been done before and it’s something new to the Ibrox club. The whole club will also have been completely restructured.
They’ll want to do it ASAP and that means rapidly going through the leagues. By the time they reach the top, other clubs in Scotland could be in turmoil.
Alistair will want to build a side now that will be ready for the SPL in three years.
But that’s if there is an SPL, which is another story altogether. The way things are going, with clubs set to go into administration due to the cash crisis, Rangers could be in the top flight in two years.
It could be like the TV show QI where you start on -7 points. The majority of the SPL clubs could begin the season like that – it’s crazy.
But that’s not Alistair’s concern. His job is to rebuild the squad and that means having an experienced spine with talented, promising players around them.
He’ll want a keeper, centre-half, central midfielder and a striker he can rely on. That’s where he’ll need a bit of wisdom.
Certainly, Lee McCulloch is an ideal captain for him as he has been there and done it. He has nothing to prove but it’s great that, at this stage in his career, he has a brand new challenge.
That will give him a freshness and he’ll relish it. Guys in the lower leagues will be keen to prove themselves against Rangers in every game but that’s where pros like Lee will come in extremely handy.
Kids can get bullied at the lowest level so Rangers will rely on the experience of the likes of McCulloch.
This is a chance for the young players to find their feet in the game, learn about football from the bottom and ensure they’re ready when they reach the top.
They could be legends through this turmoil. They will be remembered by supporters as the players who took the club back to where belongs.
It’s also a great chance to find out what playing for Rangers is all about, without the spotlight of being thrown in at the highest level.
Everyone has to pull together at Ibrox, from Charles Green all the way down. Now that he knows what league they’re in, Green must reveal his plans and his vision because the supporters have still to be convinced.
The fans are ready for this journey but he has to get them on side and prove there is investment there.
Because, incredibly, the club could emerge from this carnage in a few years far better off.
They could be debt-free, cash-rich through season tickets and in a better physical condition than most of the SPL clubs.
In four years’ time, I don’t think the SPL will exist. In fact, it could be disbanded within a year if half of its clubs go to the wall.
The whole of Scottish football needs a total revamp, like the English FA embarked on in 1993 when the Premiership was formed.
They got rid of all the old guard at Lancaster Gate and brought in young, upwardly-thinking, ambitious professionals. They looked at the game from a different angle and look at English football now.
That’s what is needed in Scotland, and as quickly as possible. We have two bodies with completely different agendas and outlooks – but claiming they’re both trying to do good for Scottish football.
It’s ridiculous and if it doesn’t change soon, to get everyone pulling in the same direction under the same umbrella, the game is screwed for good.
As told to Scott McDermott
Is it not a SPL meeting today? why would Regan the SFA CEO be in attendance
The SPL clubs have no power to sack Regan today, its all MSM guff…………….
I suspect some SPL chairman will be told to shut up (Gilmour and Cameron) stop flapping like weans, they are their own clubs and damaging the SPL by spouting idiotic nonsense to the MSM
What we do need is
A club 12 decision
Doncaster to have been negotiating with league sponsors and Sky & ESPN with a commitment to deliver some good positive news regarding money, if he is unable to do this then SPL need to get someone in who can
Neil Doncaster must tell panic-stricken clubs to forget SPL2
By jim Traynor on Jul 16, 12 08:29 AM in rangers
STEWART Regan and Neil Doncaster will walk up the Hampden steps today like condemned men trudging towards the gallows.
The leaders of the SFA and SPL know their time could be short. One call for a vote of no confidence in SFA chief Regan has already been rejected but there is no doubt clubs and fans are blaming the two leaders for much of the chaos.
If they are to turn this tide of disapproval they’ll have to prevent a whispering campaign becoming a clamour for their removal. If they’re smart they’ll start today by doing the right thing.
Regan could begin by apologising for having tried to manipulate clubs into voting Rangers (we can drop all the newco stuff now because they will be called Rangers) into the First Division. Apparently he used Hibernian’s Rod Petrie to help spread the word. Go figure.
Anyway, while SPL chairmen listened, the lower-league clubs, when it was their turn to be advised, didn’t. They withstood the pressure and decided the Ibrox club must begin at the very bottom.
Fair enough but there will be casualties as broadcasters and corporate partners queue up to renegotiate their deals now that Rangers won’t be seen at the top level for at least three years.
From the beginning it was my view that Rangers should be sent to the bottom tier for the mismanagement and non-payment of taxes which helped tip them over, but the release of figures showing the potential carnage that might be visited upon a handful of clubs changed everything.
Integrity, if that really ever was one of the main drivers in this sorry tale of crime and punishment, had to be combined with reality. A compromise solution should have come into play because the stakes were so high.
Even if you wanted to allow for exaggeration or a degree of scaremongering by knocking several million off the £16m the authorities insist will be lost to the game annually during Rangers’ top-flight absence, the risks in refusing to accommodate them in Division One were too high.
The SFL should have grabbed the opportunity to become the architects of a new way by giving the SPL what they desired – Rangers in the First – in return for radical and intelligent changes to the game’s structure and culture.
Having said that, let me also stress that had Rangers not been punished there should have been no thought of compromise. But the fact is they have taken a kicking and I don’t think we, as a nation, have been shown in a complimentary light.
Many fans were driven only by a need to make sure fair play applied and they are blameless but there’s little doubt old scores were being settled by others. There was a nastiness about the way some fans, and clubs, lined up to have a go.
It was a pack mentality which made us appear brutal and cruel, and yet there are still some who don’t believe Rangers have suffered enough. Regan might be one of them because the SFA continue to insist Charles Green and his investors agree to accept responsibility and punishment without appeal for any as yet undiscovered “crimes” which previous owners may have committed.
They are to agree never to return to court to contest sanctions and are being ordered to give up a number of trophies won in the EBT years.
What was once a raft of sanctions has become a barge almost too wide to navigate up the Clyde yet around the end of April, when Bill Miller was close to buying Rangers, his “incubator” club was to be allowed into the SPL.
His people believed that was all but agreed and while sanctions were attached they were “soft” in comparison to the ones the SFA and SPL are still trying to staple on to Green’s concern.
Petrie was involved in the talks with Miller’s people before the American backed out so perhaps the Hibs chief, who has been a go-between for Regan and Green, could explain what has changed. Who decided the punishments had to be tougher? Regan? Doncaster? Petrie himself? Or was it someone else?
Frankly, it shouldn’t matter because it’s time Green stood up for his club and told Regan, Doncaster and Petrie where to stick further sanctions. Shouldn’t be too difficult for a Yorkshireman and he might also make it clear the only thing the SFA boss should be handing out now is Rangers’ association membership so they can get on with the business of starting over in Division Three.
If Rangers weren’t important to the game’s finances clubs wouldn’t be fearing closure without them so, if he’s smart, Green will use this to his advantage by making his own demands which reflect the wishes of Rangers fans. Especially if he wants to move those season tickets.
And if Regan is sharp he’ll dispense with the courier, Petrie, and blow away all doubts about Rangers’ future by stating categorically they’ll be in the Third Division. He should do that first thing today before sprinting to the office of his fellow Englishman, Doncaster, and telling him to wise up as well. Neil has to make sure his SPL clubs veer away from this nonsense of SPL2.
These two men must realise that, in the eyes of many clubs and fans, they are damaged goods. They allowed the process of dealing with Rangers to get away from them and don’t have much time left to regain control through bringing their squabbling, panic-stricken members to heel. If they want to remain in office somehow today Regan and Doncaster have to end the chaos.
SPL clubs have been talking and meeting all weekend desperately seeking ways of minimising the effects of last Friday’s SFL decision. As well as SPL2 it has also been suggested the top flight might decide to run with only 11 clubs instead of allowing Dunfermline, relegated last season, or Dundee in to make up the dozen. That would be yet another act of folly.
There wouldn’t be a vacancy for Rangers in the SFL and, if they couldn’t join the SPL, the Ibrox club would have nowhere to go. Green would be well within his rights to sell the assets and get himself as far away as possible from this madness which would be even more destructive if Rangers were wiped from the face of the game.
With Kilmarnock, Dundee United, Motherwell, and St Mirren facing closure if their TV payments are slashed the level of panic and fear is understandable, but as they all run around like men on fire they have to remember they charted this course themselves.
First, they allowed their fans to decide and then they asked the SFL to make a decision. But now they’re bleating that they’ve somehow been turned over because a deal to put Rangers in the First Division was supposed to have been agreed.
Perhaps they need to turn their wrath on the men who gave them that impression in the first place rather than scream at the smaller clubs. If they continue to do that, or attempt to undermine Friday’s vote, they’ll just enrage the SFL further.
Ways of coping with the savage cuts which will be made must be found and people need to calm down and keep their heads. Especially Regan and Doncaster.
Being a diddy team is alright Berrs don’t you worry- Dark Mately..
Whither the cash strapped scrofulous New hillbillies the day?
Jabba you’re going to be the last man in the bunker, I’m telling ye…
Now that Sevco Scotland Ltd are in Division 3, does that make them muppets and knuckledraggers etc? Perhaps Mr Burley will enlighten us!
I have renewed my Celtic season ticket only through my personal commitment to Celtic
The negativity and corruption that has been at the behest of Regan and Doncaster in alliance with the MSM has sickened me to the core, i no longer have anything other than contempt for these men and the SFA, i will not be attending any other SPL ground other than Paradise, i will certainly be visiting Clyde this season, as for Hampdump…………..
To be fair to Hately, his new career as a comedian is coming along nicely
Mr Hateley, if you really think that your medals were won fair and square, you are fantasising.
Morning,
Anyone else here the hun fighting fund had to pay for the cost of new towels for the players £507.00.
Greens consortium obviously rolling in it.
If they play even one fixture I will be amazed..
lionsroar67
I have posted the same previously. Sickened by the actions of Scottish football but Celtic mean too much to me.
here=hear. :0)
From the beginning it was my view that Rangers should be sent to the bottom tier for the mismanagement and non-payment of taxes which helped tip them over, but the release of figures showing the potential carnage that might be visited upon a handful of clubs changed everything.
The SFL should have grabbed the opportunity to become the architects of a new way by giving the SPL what they desired – Rangers in the First – in return for radical and intelligent changes to the game’s structure and culture.
Jabba covering all the leagues in this piece, absolute drivel arguing for a host of opposing positions
Sevco staying in the SPL due to the financial carnage
Sevco should have been in SFL 1 to allow the SFL clubs to get league construction
Sevco should be in the 3rd division due to mismanagement of non payment of taxes (EBT’S and dual contracts omitted Jabba?? oh yes that’s your succulent mate Sir Minty)