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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Jabba really is a muppet. So after dragging football into the gutter and committing fraud for 20 years rangers get to call the shots. Aye right!
In recent times we have suffered from The Credit Crunch brought on by greedy executives, investment bankers etc…
The world economy underwent (& is still undergoing) financial moderation.
But, does anyone see any evidence whatsoever that the primary culprits, those greedy executives, bankers etc… have changed their values or beliefs?
Does anyone truly believe that the world of finance has solved its woes and we can now look forward to a ‘better world’?
No?
See any parallels in Scottish football?
Today, Scottish football pounds on the coffin lid and cries “no, no, no”. Let’s just hope the affront to dignity ends there; don’t try to open it for heaven’s sake.
Daily ranger making out they are the main force behind the sell out Saturday campaign. Disgusting, two faced newspaper.
Jabba has no power whatsoever except perhaps over the blood pressure of the Celtic Support!!
Jabba where’s yer team gone!!
Newco Rangers can’t be allowed back into SPL
By Murdo MacLeod on Jul 16, 12 08:24 AM in rangers
Rangers have brought chaos to Scottish football and it will take the club a long while to rebuild a reputation tarnished by wrongdoing.
That’s why I don’t believe it’s possible the SPL clubs who will hold their agm today at Hampden could even contemplate the idea of an 11th-hour U-turn that would readmit Rangers to their number.
In the current state of confusion that exists after Friday’s vote to put Ally McCoist’s side into the Third Division, there’s a scramble for a solution that prevents a bad situation becoming even worse.
I’m afraid that no such thing exists.
Rangers have brought about a kind of disorder that has dragged Scottish football down along with them and any course of action to clear up the mess they’ve left behind will create greater division and even more problems.
The Ibrox club’s reputation off the field is now shot to pieces. Football has a way of sorting itself out on the park but Rangers’ image will take a long time to be restored.
Trouble is, they’ve harmed the SPL in the process and if even one club there goes into administration as a consequence of the disarray Rangers have caused then that will be a nightmare.
I believe Rangers will start the new season in the Third Division and they will have no one but themselves to blame for that.
There is no get out of jail free card available to the SPL, the SFL or the SFA. We’re stuck with this mess and we’ll need to get on with it.
There was a time when I thought Rangers could have been allowed to stay in the SPL with a 30-point deduction that ensured they’d be unable to finish second and claim a Champions League qualification spot.
But now I’m of the opinion 95 per cent of non-Rangers fans in Scotland will not accept any set of circumstances other than the club being put on the bottom rung of the ladder and given a few years to restore their reputation by working to achieve a higher status.
The galling thing is that while Rangers have to be punished for what they’ve done there are other, completely innocent, parties who will have to suffer the wounds that will come with a destabilised SPL.
They also made their own beds to a certain extent by voting Rangers newco out of contention for an SPL place.
If you do that then you can have no say in what happens next – because you passed on the responsibility for Rangers’ fate to others in the SFL.
My fear is the fall-out from a toxic situation will be the stagnation of Scottish football. Contract talks with players will have been suspended for the time being at SPL clubs the length and breadth of the country. The transfer market will have a “Closed Until Further Notice” sign put outside it and a game that was in a poor state of repair to begin with will see standards fall even further.
What we now have is the right decision with the wrong consequences as Rangers get set for the Ramsdens Cup, an early start to the Scottish Cup and all of the other reality checks that will come with being among the lower orders.
If the agm was used today to put Rangers back into the SPL because some clubs there fear for survival without them, I don’t think the fans would come back to our game – even though that course of action would push the sides they support closer to the edge of the precipice.
Their attitude will be: “You’ve made your bed and now you must lie on it”. At which point the fans who campaigned for what’s taken place will have to get out and support their own teams if it’s the betterment of Scottish football they’re interested in.
Meanwhile those clubs in the Third Division who have never had the opportunity to play a competitive match at Ibrox can prepare themselves for a footnote in their history books.
I feel desperately sad about the whole business because there was a time when we could rave about our football and that time has passed.
My fear is about what will happen next if our clubs don’t do well in their various European competitions that are about to get under way – or if our national team makes a disappointing start to the World Cup campaign in September.
If either, or both, of those Doomsday scenarios took place I would be worried about a very long, and negative, season to come in Scotland.
As told to Hugh Keevins
ASonOfDan – they’ve always been the same, that’s why they call it the Daily Rhebel and we call it the Daily Ranger. Always designed to rile people and generate sales.
Occasionally I ponder whether the whole ‘sectarian issue’ might have died a death years ago had the papers simply reported the facts honestly. ( I suspect it wouldn’t have but who knows)
Murdo Mcleod?????
Can you imagine Murdo saying, unprompted-
“My fear is the fall-out from a toxic situation will be the stagnation of Scottish football”
Naw, neither can ah!
Who are they trying to kid?
Ho,ho,ho,ho!
Philbhoy – It’s just the beginning! on 16 July, 2012 at 09:26 said:
Maybe Murdo didn’t notice the stagnant smell coming from Scottish fitbaw for the last 20 years..
starry plough
…..him and a good few others who should have known better!
Each of Jabba’s positions on these matters is in complete accord with the views of Rangers fans
They will always be The Rangers- check
They should get a clean start in Div. 3- check
Every other Scottish club will “get it” for harming Gers- check
rangers have been punished too much- check
Officials to apologise for what they’ve done to Gers-check
Tell me one point where your views depart from those of Mark Dingwall, Jabba?
I’m back to work now
Doom mongers out in force in today’s papers.
The tv deal is peanuts and if we have clubs who have set themselves up that they cannot function without 2 visits from you know who ,
it is time they rebalanced their books.
Get more fans in , they have at long last a chance to compete with the other teams and get into Europe.
Sell a player or two , rear your own.
Wake up and get with the programme. The futures bright.
Just checked out Sell Out Saturday fixtures. It struck me that not only have the SPL to decide who moves up into the top league but the SFL have to decide who gets pushed up into each space that becomes available. When does that get done? How long to Rangers get to prove that are a viable entity?
Alan Black: The strange case of Rangers Football Club
The Old Firm was always a volatile cocktail, its elements rarely at ease. Now with one half gone, will the concoction that is Scottish soccer blow up?
By Alan Black
Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, of Treasure Island fame, penned a novella that many consider to be a foundation of modern fiction’s addiction to substances, transformation and death – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll liked to swallow chemicals, turning himself into something unpredictable: Mr. Hyde. It’s a good metaphor for the historic events wracking Scottish soccer.
Think of Scottish soccer as a test tube in Dr. Jekyll’s lab marked with skull and crossbones, WARNING – DO NOT SHAKE! Sitting at the top of the mix is the colors of Irish green and British blue – green is the substance called Glasgow Celtic Football Club bonded to the blue known as Glasgow Rangers Football Club. Mix them up and they can explode, but when they sit side by side at rest they produce something called the Old Firm, a successful alliance of opposites that has largely dominated Scottish soccer, economically and culturally, for over a hundred years.
The elements that make up their wholes would require too long a label to delineate – suffice to summarize it as an emulsion of historical grievance, religious division, sectarianism, and nationalist politics that produces a soccer clash unrivaled anywhere in the world. The Old Firm is the defining intense soccer rivalry. Super hot, beyond sport.
But now things have changed utterly. The tube has been ruptured. The blue half of the mix has evaporated. Rangers were declared bankrupt due to many years of mismanagement. They consumed a hubristic formula of reckless expenditure in an effort to destroy their other half, Celtic. They failed. And were left weak to the point of death like Dr. Jekyll.
Now, they have been discharged from the top Scottish league and will play their soccer in the remote world of Scotland’s lowest tier. Teams with names like Annan, Elgin and Montrose await them. Gone is the Scottish clasico against Celtic and matches against the other top teams in Scotland. Gone is playing in Europe’s competitions. The league rules and the animosity of other clubs and their fan bases dictated the plunge.
The economic implications are terrifyingly negative. Fears for other teams following Rangers evaporating are real. Rangers worked the pump of investment in the Scottish game – their games with Celtic broadcast globally, a premium brand. The Old Firm was the bank that all the other clubs had an interest in. With no Old Firm game, it will mean less or no money if TV contracts are canceled, and therefore less money to share with all the other clubs in Scottish soccer. The prospect of Scotland’s game boiling down is now a possibility.
The Scottish Football Association believes it may be the end. Besides the economic Armageddon for the clubs, the chiefs have warned of “social unrest.” It’s an extraordinary claim that social strife could result as a consequence of a soccer club going bust. The commentary from Scottish soccer fans has ranged from celebratory dances on Rangers grave to dire warnings of revenge when/if Rangers return from the shadows.
Dr. Jekyll was unrecognizable after swallowing the poison – disfigured, mean and hostile – and finally died. Will Scottish soccer follow the script or synthesize a new beginning free from the mix of the Old Firm chemistry?
Alan Black is the soccer columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle.
Charles Paterson @charlesp_sky
Stephen Thompson arrives at Hampden for AGM saying there’s “no chance” of Rangers being allowed back into SPL
Retweeted by Fritz A. Grandold
They should never kick a ball in Scotland until the full extent of their cheating has been brought into the public realm, all this borrocks about it being a new team is not fooling anyone who has half a brain, they are still trying to be rangers and are not taking any responsibility for any of the colossal damage they have done to the national game and we don’t even know a tenth of it.
No football for Newco/Sevco or huns in any form until we know.
Regan Doncaster and Ogilvie are all trying to stitch this up to look like something else, they are cheats, they have not repeat not been punished at all.
Just not cricket Mr Regan you twit..
Suspension, expulsion or complete extinction serves the purpose of justice here.
Last word on sports.com
Discussing the Possibility of the English Premier League Opening its Doors to Rangers and Celtic
July 16, 2012 By Arthur Court
Okay, before you all cast your first stones, please, hear me out…
As you undoubtedly already know, Rangers have been demoted to play in the 17th division of the Scottish Premier League. Well, not the 17th, but you get the idea. Basically they will be playing from the backyards of the Stuart and Burns’ estates. They have fallen so far off the map that even Juventus (who were demoted to Serie B several years ago you will remember) is laughing. A team who is not laughing, surprisingly, is Rangers’ most hated rivals – Celtic.
*Warning* – about to state the obvious – Rangers and Celtic need each other, and their rivalry drives their businesses. Not only does the demotion of Rangers hurt their own fan base, players and staff, but also Celtic’s. The rivalry is one of football’s oldest, and without checking Wikipedia for an exact “established on” date (hey, it’s good for something, don’t laugh!) I would venture to guess it’s one of the oldest rivalries in all of sports. Fair to say? The rivalry got more interesting when Celtic’s fan based forced the club’s management to vote against Rangers, leading the latter to be demoted to the fourth division – the equivalent of playing top-flight football in Madagascar (no offence meant to readers from Madagascar).
Although this idea might sound convoluted, and I might even think so come morning, what if the English Premier League were to extend an invitation to Rangers and Celtic to play in the premiership? Of course the chances are about as great as Pier Morgan not sounding like an ass every time he tweets something “#Arsenal”. Hear me out…
Of course the schedule is set, teams are already preparing for the August 18th start, but we can always discuss “what ifs” such as these. I’m not actually suggesting that this year the FA do an about-face and rearrange everything to include the two Scottish sides – that of course is impossible. But how about for the 2013-14 season? Imagine two very well-supported and powerful clubs joining the English league. Would it not raise the league’s quality, financial stability and power? Don’t we want to see the best calibre of footy possible?
Let’s just say for a minute that I took my idea to the FA, and they, of course, laughed in my face (also very likely), what if there was a “Plan B” where the two Scottish sides would play an annual tourney with teams not involved in Champions League play (as their schedules are far too strenuous already) or Europa? Perhaps a Newcastle-Spurs-Liverpool-Everton-Celtic-Rangers tournament? It would certainly make money, and isn’t that what football’s all about these days anyway? I hope you can infer sarcasm.
Clearly my intent is not serious in nature, however, I believe it not to be so far-fetched either. I am the first to admit the footballers play far too many games as it is, so it seems even to me to be counter-productive to add more matches to their dockets. However, you can’t disagree that from a strictly financial perspective involving the two SPL teams only makes sense. Does anyone agree? Anyone….anyone…any… Oh, nevermind.
Okay, cast your stones…… now!
…until tomorrow, lads.
Mr Regan’s Email of 23/6 – Smoking Gun? Should He Step Down? Will He Try the Sevco Rescue Again?
In which I have a look at the masterplan disclosed in Mr Regan’s email on 23rd June, and wonder if the SPL teams were happy to refuse to vote Rangers FC into the SPL, because they were fully aware of the plan and had been assured by Messrs Regan, Doncaster and Longmuir that an SFL1 solution was in the bag.
Maybe a reporter could ask the SPL chairmen arriving at Hampden today for the AGM what they knew, and when, about the Regan plan?
Rod Petrie of Hibs definitely knew, as he was part of it. Did his Board know and when?
What about Mr Gilmour of St Mirren? Had he received the nod that SFL1 was all but delivered, thus explaining his anxiety, and similarly that of Inverness CT, when the SFL vote went in favour of SFL3?
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/mr-regans-email-of-236-smoking-gun-should-he-step-down-will-he-try-the-sevco-rescue-again/
Folk should lay off Keevins…I mean we are talking about an old man who probably has dementia.. He’s bound to forget stuff. He claims not yo use computers or the Internet, in fact he doesn’t even drive a car. We are talking about an old deluded fool , s guy who in his own confused mind thinks he’s a player in the world of Scottish football journalism. Thankfully he is unaware that most folk laugh at him. Old silly fool that he is…
Give him pity not pelters.
To be truly controversial. I’d let the Huns back in yo SPL today if the passed the club over to HMRC. Once HMRC have taken back what is theirs say over a 10 year period the club could be sold to the fans.
That would do me.
10 years of being humiliated ‘also rans’.. Then clean slate…
My other thought is this…
Could the SFA instigate an ‘OF’ cup whereby Celtic play Sevco 4 times over the season to keep SKY contract in place ?
I genuinely enjoyed Mark Hately’s column, as posted earlier, particularly the bit about the EPL and ‘look at them now’.
£2.5bn in debt Mark, aye, guid ane.
Cultsbhoy
Too late. Their deeder than a deed deed deed deed deed deed deed thing. In fact. They could even be deeder than that!
Puuuuuuuffffffffffffffff
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh
Last night ——-
Worryingly poor . Much improvement needed —– at least 2 of last night’s team should never have been allowed anywhere near a Celtic jersey..
Strange weather — way down south . Hit 48 at 3 PM last Friday and then dropped to 38 by 5 PM . Yesterday it was a relatively cool 35 at 3PM but then climbed to 42 at 6PM . Very unusual.
Freaked out by a cicada last night . Biggest cicada I’ve ever seen . Sitting on the terrace watching the game and then I was thumped on the forehead by a flying cicada which then jumped into my hair and started making a really disturbing shrill noise . It freaked me out —— the rough tough Pit bull whined and bolted , the fight anything dachshund hid under the table and whined and the gallus wee Jack Russell zoomed into the garden and hid under a tree. Took @ 5 minutes to get it out of my hair —– all the while it made a truly horrible disturbing noise .. The good lady from Padova limited her contribution to a very sharp —— ” Do something – that noise is unbearable ! ”
36 and rising -way down south
CultsBhoy loves being 1st forever & ever on 16 July, 2012 at 10:03 said:
Doubt it, and if they do we should boycott it. We have no rivalry with SevCo and there is no Old Firm anymore.
So what time does the meeting start? Does Doncaster have time to submit his resignation first?
cultsbhoy.
Keevins is the ultimate Uncle Tom. And remember, it was he who shouted down callers to Snyde, trying to ridicule them as paranoid. His constant mantra of ‘my dads bigger than your dad’ and ‘ones as bad as the other’ (just after the Manchester riot) should today have him showing some remorse. But no, he’ll never have the backbone.
hh
Mornin’……..
Couple of questions –
-When will the official sanctions due to their self-inflicfted liquidation start?
(the sanctions as per the rules have been applied but what about thems taking responsibility for all the wrong-doing?)
-What will the new klub be called, and where will it be playing? ( Has Ibrox been maintained properly from a Health and Safety aspect since they went bust, and will any new klub be allowed to play there?)
Thanks in advance.
HH.
Ghuys
Gordon Smith was removed from the SFA due to general incompetence and specifically for over stepping the mark in a diving incident (alleged) at East Stirlingshire.
What we have now with Regan is that he is party to a decision whereby Dunfermline are relegated and Dundee promoted, on what basis was this dreamt up when rhe smoke cleared?
It seems fairly clear that if the SFA had applied all of their rules correctly then Dignity would have been placed last in the league due to their ridiculous non-payment of social taxes last season.
Dunfermline should be kept in the league on clear grounds of sporting integrity. They should go to court, as a precedent has now been set that the SFA will in fact do s. f. a . if you do!
Clear dismissal grounds for Regan, Ogilvy can join him in the taxi.
My worst fear is that Regan gets replaced by a politico like McLeish, go help us if that happens.
Getthemsackedcfc
EK Bhoy.
Bob Diamond is looking for a new gig. Or that guy from G4 Security, maybe.
BBC:
1008: BREAKING NEWS
Newco Rangers owner Charles Green and manager Ally McCoist have arrived at Hampden.
———-
Now why is some SFL 3rd division team turning up for an SPL meeting?
Drizzley, Damp Day in the Chilterns…
Thanks to all @ CQN for the usual top info cutting through the guffery.
Interesting Mister plan & achieve Hately’s memory must be playing tricks, Sir David Murray poured the money from one of Scotland’s uber institutions into RFC for two goals.
So that RFC could eclipse the Great Glasgow Celtic by becoming European Champions and winning Ten-in-a-row, they failed on both counts, bankrupting the Club in the process.
It’s biazzare what passes for a plan in Scottish Football these days.
See the man with the Plan, Mr Doncaster will be at it again today, hope it’s his last performance.
CultsBhoy @ 10 03.
An Old Firm Cup for 40 pieces of silver from Rupert Murdoch . ?
Great idea ——– lets call it The Morally Bereft Cup
South of Tunis
Amazing that Celtic drawing Sevco in both cup competitions wasn’t part of Stewart Regan’s plan. If it happens, we should play our Kickers Stuttgart team as a protest, and charge £5 to get in as we usually do when we draw a division three team.
My Celtic Sevco Cup idea is just pragmatism to fulfil Sky 4 fixtures clause… If it exists
Also I fancy idea of beating Sevco 4 times a season…
Sevco has a big Glasgow derby against Queen’s Park to look forward to.
Keevins after dismissing a caller as a bampot said that he should still call in as people like him had paid for his daughters wedding’s and might pay for his grandaughter’s too.
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon on 16 July, 2012 at 10:20 said:
BBC:
1008: BREAKING NEWS
Newco Rangers owner Charles Green and manager Ally McCoist have arrived at Hampden.
———-
Now why is some SFL 3rd division team turning up for an SPL meeting?
That really is bizarre, why are they there indeed
Guys,
Can anybody please help? Im trying to find the video of the orange band outside the Catholic Church from last week where their enforcers attack the guy with the mobile phone filming. Does anybody have the link?
Ta.
HH
ACeltic_First on 16 July, 2012 at 10:20 said:
At least they would have spare cash to help found RIL