As newco chief executive, Derek Llambias reported to his AGM yesterday, he meets the SFA today to discuss further involvement of Newcastle United owner, Mike Ashley at his club. Ashley is nearing the end of a power-struggle between his faction, which appears to include the Easdale brothers, and pretty-much everyone else who goes to Ibrox, as well as Dave King and other worthies noticeable by their absence when the assets of oldco were to be paid for.
One of this morning’s newspapers appears to suggest SFA board member Peter Lawwell may retire from this meeting on account of him apparently having a conflict of interest, however, I believe this would be extraordinarily unlikely. Peter is no more or less incentive to see business being conducted appropriately than anyone else.
That’s not to say there’s not a conflict of interest. SFA president, Campbell Ogilvie, will also attend the meeting. Ogilvie passed his Rangers shares to his wife when he became an executive director of Hearts. SFA Articles of Association expressly forbids a person from having an influence with one club while “directly or indirectly” being a shareholder in another without the prior written consent of the SFA.
Mr Ogilvie may have attained prior written consent of the SFA on this subject before accepting the Hearts job, but if he did, I don’t see the need to transfer his shares to a family member. This makes Ogilvie look like a tawdry ducker and diver, wholly inappropriate to lead the Association. If I was Llambias I’d challenge Ogilvie the first moment he opened his mouth.
As I said earlier in the week, don’t get too hung up on Ashley’s shareholding. If it proves a stumbling block he could play The Offshore Game and quickly disinvest to an entity based in the British Virgin Islands (seems to be the hot location for these types), the control of which could never be traced to him.
Those hoping the SFA will inhibit Ashley’s land-grab of retail and other rights are also likely to be disappointed. JJB and Wigan Athletic owner Dave Whelan established precedent that he was able to conclude extensive trading contract with other clubs while in charge of Wigan without compromising multi-ownership principles. Ashley can own and exploit all commercial rights of newco.
The key point Ashley will be concerned about in SFA rules is article 13. (3), which forbids persons from having “any power whatsoever to influence the management or administration of another club”.
The rules permit the SFA to grant Ashley permission to increase his shareholding but the phrase “any power whatsoever” is patently clear. Ashley cannot appoint board members or offer loan players.
The Dear Green Place
Yesterday’s uncertainty alarmed many in Glasgow but the reality of the news brought disaster to some. May God help each of them.
There’s always a spring in the step when news of our pal Kano arrives. That changed when I opened the email from Carolyn yesterday to hear Martin was in Intensive Care. We know through his time on the blog that Kano brought vigour and resolve to his life years before his illness struck. If anyone can overcome this, it’s him.
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Spiers on Sport:
six men with the keys to Rangers’ futureSpiers on Sport
Graham Spiers.Tuesday 23 December 2014
Let’s explore the ongoing Rangers mess following Monday’s AGM by homing in on the principal figures in this rumbling narrative. Few, if any, emerge with any credit. But here goes…
Let’s explore the ongoing Rangers mess following Monday’s AGM by homing in on the principal figures in this rumbling narrative. Few, if any, emerge with any credit. But here goes…
David Somers (Rangers chairman)
Somers is a loathed character, whose smug, self-satisfied appearance momentarily turned the Ibrox AGM into a zoo as the congregants booed and bleated at his arrival.
The Rangers chairman has an unnerving habit of wearing an egregious, oily smile whenever a photographer appears in his face.
He also grossly misjudges the mood around Rangers, as seen in a number of patronising remarks he made to shareholders on Monday.
With the arrival of Derek Llambias, arguably Somers’ role and power are much diminished, and he may be gone soon enough. If he is, he might feel even more satisfied.
Derek Llambias (Rangers’ new CEO)
This is now a key issue at the club: can Llambias win round supporters by reviving Rangers on and off the park? In a previous life Llambias was detested at Newcastle United, so he is perfectly suited to take on the toxic environment of Ibrox.
But there can be no doubting this: Llambias is a place-man for Mike Ashley, who now has Rangers in his grip. There is deep anxiety among Rangers fans at Ashley’s retail monopoly at the club, and so Llambias, if he can, has somehow to prove that the Ashley ticket can be good for Rangers in the long-term. We await the evidence.
This is to say nothing of the SFA’s view of Ashley’s Rangers involvement. When it comes to “influence” Ashley appears to brazenly flout the governing body’s rules about dual ownership. So, enter the lawyers.
Sandy Easdale (Rangers director, club board)
“Big Sandy” is not a popular character, and is routinely disparaged and slandered. Having “done time” in the past for VAT fraud, Easdale’s reputation goes before him and, in that way that football supporters often invoke snobbery, he is depicted as a rough-speaking heavy who ain’t got no values and no hinterland.
In fact, this is a mite unfair. Easdale appears to take nothing out of the club by way of wages or expenses, and is desperately trying to move Rangers forward.
Crucially, however, he appears central to a shareholding bloc which has thwarted the likes of Dave King from gaining power at Rangers. For that and much else Easdale is deplored.
Dave King (perennial agitator for power)
King is an utter mystery, a businessman who flies solo and is fathomed by few. For two years now he has agitated for power at Rangers, and flown various blustering kites about taking control, and has got nowhere.
Strangely, while insisting on buying not a single Rangers share, he has been out-manoeuvred by Mike Ashley up until now.
There is also his high court conviction in South Africa to the tune of 41 counts on tax breaches, which the court said carried a potential 82-year prison sentence. King settled by stumping up the equivalent of tens of millions of pounds in unpaid back-taxes, but the damage to his reputation was done.
Though not among some Rangers diehards. They couldn’t give two hoots for his law-breaking in faraway South Africa. King has money, and they want it, pure and simple. David Somers did at least get one thing right at the AGM: many Rangers fans see King as “the messiah”.
Mike Ashley (8.29% Rangers shareholder)
His name looms ever larger in this saga, with Ashley applying an alarming grip on the club, with his potential for good or ill. The jury must remain out on him for the moment.
The Ashley evidence as it stands at Newcastle United, where he is outright owner, is not clear-cut. Many Newcastle fans loath him for the way he has used that club for his own retail purposes and as a civic hoarding for Sports Direct.
Others, though, argue that Ashley has stabilised Newcastle United and actually made it self-sufficient and profit-making, having once been £80 million in debt.
Ashley’s meddling in Rangers does seem highly dubious in the context of the SFA’s rules. He wields extraordinary power for a minority stakeholder, to the extent of removing board members and putting in place his own CEO in Llambias. Ashley appears to own a coach-and-horses which rides roughshod over everything.
Ally McCoist (ex-manager, gardening leave)
McCoist’s position is now thoroughly vexing. He is a legend at Rangers, and that will surely never disappear, but his relative failures as club manager meant his end was coming sooner rather than later.
Now McCoist is in the invidious position of picking up circa £14,000 a week from a stricken club for doing nothing.
It doesn’t look good, and the longer it goes on, the worse it gets. Hopefully, to help Rangers, a more modest pay-off can be agreed by the departed manager.
I feel like I am back I’m primary and afraid to raise my hand but here goes,
What is a spiv?
HH
gsu
SonsOfErin
Let’s say, in a fictitious club, that the Holding Company, rather than simply passing on its funds to the Club, classed the transactions as loans. All the money the Club burns is now owed to the Holding Company, making it a bigger creditor than all the rest put together. A penny in the pound CVA has to be voted for by the creditors. The crooks running the Holding Company won’t give up control of that vote by letting the beneficiaries of any onerous contracts overhaul their majority.
ianDEMOTEDdurrat
ianDECLASSEDdurrat
ianDOWNGRADEDdurrat
ianFAILUREdurrat
HH
Graham Spiers drinks Babycham…
So what is going on in South Africa that is preventing king from getting involved ?
GSU
From Wikipedia and/but pretty spot on this time!
In the United Kingdom, the word spiv is slang for a type of petty criminal who deals in illicit, typically black market, goods. The word was particularly used during the Second World War and in the post-war period when many goods were rationed due to shortages. The spiv was essentially non-violent and has been described as the first out of the door when a fight broke out, in case his appearance became ruffled.
——-
So in short Klan shorthand for anyone involved in Sevco who they don’t see as being one Ra peepul.
Compare and contrast their former/current manager who was on it all simply out of the goodness of his heart!
;-)
HH jamesgang
They will hang around anyway whether Celtic make a statement or not por cierto
neil canamalar
Was there not some recent chat that if he tried to transfer more than about ‘forty quid’ out off SA then the no-jail deal was off?
So in essence he’s in a position to invest buttons?
Or looked at another way, if it is the apocryphal forty quid he could buy 2 score of said clubs!
HH jamesgang
Getting rid of players not wanted is not easy,they will not get as good a pay day if they move,and would probably prefer to run down their contract,and go on a bosman,the main change needed is still to get rid of the useless git of a manager,why trust the muppet with any more money , he has turned us into a very poor side , a patch on last season,makes mowbray barnes etc look competant
JG,
That’s good news :oD))) news for me anyway cheers that’s brightened up my day a bit :)
HH
starry plough .
Georges Soul Bar .
I loved the history but was mightily disappointed by the juke box.
jamesgang,
Thanks for the explanation, feel much better now, been bugging me for awhile that one never even thought of visiting wiki.
Hope I don’t run into any spivs over the holidays
Cheers! and
HH
gsu
Neil
Or mibbee I just dreamt it!
I actually think it’s the case. Though I shamelessly stole the ‘forty quid’ bit from kevin bridges!
HH jamesgang
JG,
Good enough :)
sftb
Not only can’t the wee Honduran wizard cross a ball, he can’t defend either.
No point in trying to punt him then as suggested, who would buy him.
What a life…………Bah Hunbug CSC
Lawwellsaccountant. We are still in Europe we are still in the League cup we are still in the Scottish cup we are top of the SPL and you want to get rid of the manager.On what grounds may I ask ? H.H.
South Of Tunis
Pretty standard fare to be sure and for a man of your knowledge dare I say a bit lightweight, spent a couple of great nights there though:)))
It’s the company you keep!
Afternoon Timland from a warm hun free mountain valley.
The 5 way agreement is what it says it is, an agreement between the 5 partners, one of whom was the SPL.
The SPL represented ALL the SPL clubs, obviously Celtic are included in this.
One of our directors was on the SPL board at the time.
I doubt the agreement was drafted by anyone at Celtic, but ALL the clubs would have had to approve it, or it wouldn’t have been possible for the hun to start in the bottom tier.
Had any club not been in agreement, or abstained, the meida would have had a field day with said club.
It’s all about the bigot pound, nothing more, nothing less, integrity doesn’t get a look in.
HH
Catching up with the blog after a few days lurking – thus avoiding much; bullying, flouncings, inquisitions and bun-fights.
Very sad day – yesterday’s tragic events in George Square. Was shocked when I saw the news coverage last night – my daughter uses that very entrance/exit and crosses the square 5 days a week on route to Edinburgh. Thoughts and prayers for all those involved.
Likewise Kano – I pray he pulls through this latest setback.
Hopefully the blog gets back on track and ‘peace and tranquillity’ breaks out over the Festive Season!
H!H!
Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire
14:15 on
23 December, 2014
A rogue team in the South African Revenue Service is now under investigation for striking low value deals with those it pursued. Dave King who paid (I think) £40M of a £140M tax bill may be one of those who gets re-pursued.
Bawsman
Spiers on sport -and your point is?
lazy journalism at its best
The Exiled Tim..Afternoon fella I have to agree with your post fella. However,there are folk on CQN wont believe a word of it. H.H.
THE EXILED TIM
14:30 on
23 December, 2014
I’m not sure that’s the case. There was something I posted from the old Scots Law Thoughts blog the other day, that suggested that the management of the SPL were able to enact this without the details having been seen by all the clubs.
My view is that yes, all the clubs knew that a deal was going to be struck but beyond that they didn’t have any involvement.
To me that was a best of both worlds scenario for all the clubs. They’d get The Rangers revenue as soon as practically possible, while at the same time being able to deny involvement or knowledge of the details of the deal.
JFH
They don’t want to believe more like.
The suits at the club have already stated that no hun costs us 10 mill, and the head honcho has stated he wants them back.
So why would they resist an agreement that flys in the face of what they want, it’s a no brainer.
Muney, muney muney.
Maybes when folk actually realise that we are a business first, and a football club second, things will become clearer, but I have ma doubts >}
HH
Here we go. In discussing why so few people seemed to have knowledge of the details of the 5-way agreement Paul McConville wrote:
“The management of each body has authority to conclude such an agreement – there is no suggestion it was ultra vires – and there was no requirement for each organisation to approve the deal.”
ie the SPL, SFL and SFA had the power to do the deal without consulting members on the detail.
Weeminger,
I have to agree with your post but there are folk on cqn who won’t believe a word of it. ;)
weeminger
Possibly, but I would wager that the boards of the 5 parties knew fine well what the agreement said.
And no way on earth would Celtic have been party to an agreement re the hun without knowing what it entailed.
For starters. that is commercial suicide, and that is something our suits etc, etc.
HH
Where is this Nick Cave bar?
weeminger
Eric Riely was a member of the SPL board.
HH
weeminger. Sorry fella I cannot buy your post as you are saying a business the size of Celtic agreed to an agreement that affected them but they didnt know what was in the agreement. Now big Peter is an astute business man and there is no way he would agree to be party to a deal that he did not know the contents of the said deal. H.H.
Speirs telling us that Ashley has turned Newcastle into a viable club.Nonsense.Newcastle owe Ashley £160 million.He gets paid back in wedges each season.Last season he did not take his yearly payment for whatever reason.How they do the accounting at Newcastle only
Ashleys accountants will know,but to say they are debt free,and profitable,is a tad ingenuous.
On Allys pay off,he tells us hopefully Ally can take a cut for everyones benefit!!!!!!!.Whos benefit?.Certainly not Allys.Why should he?.To help out Sevco?.By all accounts he was treated like something on the sole of Llambiases shoe at the end.You stick to your (High principles)Ally.A wee bit tongue in cheek there.
I dont think anyone has a clue what will happen at the Hun.Its a West End Farce,hopefully outrunning ,The Mousetrap.
Geordie munro,
There are also people on cqn who won’t understand one word of it
at home today and trying to stay away from the news reporting from glasgow, and the idle speculation from many of whats happened and how.
all so sad.
so listening into , off the ball from saturday.
tam, stuart & jim murphy.
will leave political comment about his performance later, however,
Tam challenged him with one thing …………
when will Billy McNeill get Knighted ?
am i to believe Tam brought this up himself, or was it planted.
doesnt matter, for the moment, King Billy does deserve recognition, with Jock also offcourse.
Well Bhoys thanks for the chat as well known CQN poster says am aff oot. H.H. :-)
Greenside up-gbwo
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spiv
This may help.i smiled at the first definition having read RC Ogilvie put his hun shareholding in his wifes name.
Dave Murray is an example of a qualityspiv,operating on the mantra if you owe your bank a £ its your problem, but if you have a complex layers of company accounts owing millions it is the banks problem(ultimately you and I pay for this chicanery in bail out.
This sort of spivery usually ends up in £6million EBT recipients throwing their club of the cliffs and killing it.ending it.
Carcass spiv
– would not exist in this case without dave the duped,dave was not duped into providing a carcass
All in all Greenside
To spiv is to cheat.
To deviate for ones own game
Its in their nature
:-)
HH
Wits,
I was a wee bit lost after the word ‘minger’ if I’m honest.
I wonder if hmrc will take an interest in sallys 125k unreceipted expenses – i am sure there are rules (no laughing at the back)