Alasdair Lamont’s article for BBC this evening after meeting SPL chief executive, Neil Doncaster, is bound to provoke debate. The article is titled, “Newco Rangers could avoid sanctions from SPL”, although that claim is not supported by any direct quote from Doncaster. It could be that Doncaster made a supporting comment which wasn’t covered in the article, or that Alasdair is extrapolating from Doncaster’s comment that he is “not entirely sure why a distinction is made between the two routes [CVA or a Newco] out of administration”.
Before we open on what Doncaster actually said, it’s worth pointing out that he has never previously indicated that a Newco was likely to gain access to the SPL without penalty, despite being asked this question directly on a number of occasions. Indeed, he has proposed a number of penalties for such an eventuality, although any decision will now rest with a general meeting of the clubs, which he will not have a vote at.
To what Doncaster said:
“Newco is typically the way businesses in general escape from administration.”
Oh no it’s not. Businesses, in general, conclude their period of administration either by emerging with a CVA or by going out of business. The swathes of business failures across the UK in recent years has seen only a tiny percentage phoenix as a Newco. This statement is erroneous and misleading.
Doncaster added:
“I am not entirely sure why a distinction is made between the two routes out of administration.”
Let me explain, Mr Doncaster. In Scottish football history, no club has ever come out of administration as a Newco. Ever. Third Lanark, Airdrieonians and Gretna all failed to achieve a CVA and went out of business. Morton, Clydebank (now Airdrie United), Motherwell, Dundee (twice) and Livingston (twice), all achieved a CVA and remained in football.
Mr Doncaster must think that we are all daft, have no access to Scottish football records and have a complete ignorance of how “businesses in general” operate. He wishes to provide a Newco-Rangers with direct access to the top league in Scottish football, the first time anything like this has ever happened. Perhaps being frank with us on this matter would be advisable.
Even if I was of a mind to agree with Doncaster that rules should be changed to allow Newco direct access to the SPL, his feeble attempts to convince fans of the merits of this idea would leave me ruing the inadequacy of his plan’s execution.
All of this will be a welcome distraction from the main issue for Doncaster. The SPL allowed last season to conclude without letting clubs or fans know if Rangers competed with ineligible players. They have been in possession of the information required for over six weeks now but have no intention of letting fans know the outcome until after Newco is voted into the league.
It’s too late now. Doncaster has had his chance to report and his inquiry has failed to do so. It has now been taken out of his hands. He has failed you and all Scottish football fans.
It’s time for football executives to relinquish power and for the old media, the fans, the new media and the authorities to take control.
You can buy a hard copy of the new issue of CQN Magazine via Magcloud here.
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Stupid phone. …..,
However, if the club gets it wrong, I won’t be attending games or spending extra cash. I would suspect there would be many similarly empty seats and this will be noticed. The board will also have plenty of time to contemplate the drop in ST sales for the following season.
S
Les Brennan
Agree re Keevins…
He is inane, totally transparent ( in a cringe sort of way) and seriously out of touch.
His forced sticks to delivery makes me laugh …as – if – to – emph- sise- his – ever- y – point
The only living journalist who doesn’t drive or use the Internet.
Real journalists must be consumed by dread every time he opens his mouth.
Your assessment is spot on!!
Reality is for people who can’t face drugs.
“We’ll have news on our website very soon that’ll interest Celtic fans.”
Raman Bhardwaj STV getting in on the act now..
Very apt cartoon in an Italian fitba fanzine ———
Nice wee drawing of an old school newspaper hoarding .————-
UEFA Financial Fair Play Champions League Final May 2013.
Manchester City A v Manchester City B
googybhoy
Yes and no mention of a v neck or sweater in sight!!
starry plough on 22 May, 2012 at 11:15 said:
“We’ll have news on our website very soon that’ll interest Celtic fans.”
Bit early for a poppy debate?
Was there a fashion show in Blantyre last weekend?
Or was it a metro sexual conference?
Strange locale if it was….
voguepunter on 22 May, 2012 at 09:00 said:
Rangers and laws ,the two just don’t go together.
……………
Rankers and IN-laws don’t go together either :>)
Not in my house (thumbs up).
Hx2
Chairbhoy – I’m sure I read yesterday that Doncaster is a former Solicitor. He knows exactlly what he is doing!
Hamilton Tim – Peter is relying on 50000 people giving him millions and millions of pounds in the next few weeks. He must realise that he has to say something to encourage us to pay those sums in this period of great uncertainty. Do we play in a corrupt league or do we play in a fair league? If we are in a corrupt league why splash out over £600 to watch a fix? Also if the SPLs integrity can be bought and paid for, they can hardly complan if an official player takes money to fix a game. After all the SPL would be doing almost the same thing!
So now we have it, the future for rangers is to flog any player with potential to line the Agents pockets.
Their Hell is just beginning…
McDonald told the Daily Record:
“My main interest was investing in
new players but last Wednesday
we got the news the embargo is
standing so obviously that has
thrown a bit of a spanner in the
works from my perspective.
“That’s not to say when it’s lifted
in a year’s time or whatever, I’ll
not look at it again. I probably will
but right now Charles says he
doesn’t need me.
“It’s a bit sad really because it
would have been great to be
involved in getting a side out there
and challenging for Europe where
the big play is. Obviously that’s
going to be a bit of a slog now but
I’m sure Charles will make a
success of it.”
McDonald revealed that his plan
with Green would have involved
shared ownership of players
providing a cut in any transfer
profits.
He added: “I was going to be more
involved on the playing side than
anything else. It could have worked
in different ways, depending on
how much finance there was.
“If the club wanted money for
players we would have been there.
These part-ownership schemes
happen a lot now around the
world. People invest in potential.
“Mainly, I’ve been involved in
doing it with lower clubs, not the
size of Rangers. But when you
have small clubs that are struggling
for money, you help them look at
young players coming through –
17- or 18-year-olds.
“You put the money in and when
those kids go to higher clubs there
is some profit. But at a club the
size of Rangers I’m not sure how it
would work so it’s probably
a good thing (that the plans have
changed).”
There is a battle engaged in Scottish Football. It is not a battle for on-field success, trophies and triumph. It is a battle for the essence of the Game.
It is my good and lasting fortune that my Father took me along to Celtic Park as a kid. Every other Saturday meant parking at the top of Kinnear Rd, the short walk across London Rd and up to the stadium. We’d meet my Father’s uncle, Joe, always well stocked with Coca Cola and chocolate bars, Fry’s chocolate Cream generally, and make our way into the main stand to watch the Celtic.
The Celtic of my childhood was the team of the Quality Street Kids: McGrain, Hay, Connolly, Murray, Dalglish, Wilson. And Billy McNeill. Always Billy McNeill. A gazelle was Billy, according to Uncle Joe.
I remember seeing Dixie Deans banging in 6 against Partick Thistle, and Hamish McAlpine taking a penalty for Dundee United. I remember learning the geography of Europe by the teams we played in the European Cup: Ujpest Dozsa, Turun Palloseura, Jeunesse Esch.
Teams seemed to be defined by their Goalkeepers at that time. Evan Williams or John Fallon, Denis Connaghan or Ally Hunter, Roy Baines or Peter Latchford.
I remember the fear for Jock Stein following his accident, and the muttering around me the following season that ‘the Big Man has lost it’ as we watched a team in which Ronnie Glavin tried to make us forget about King Kenny and succeeded only in reminding us what we were missing.
But while I was a Celtic fan from childhood, there was one thing I loved more, one thing that I found before I found Celtic: Football. I remember my first proper ball. My first pair of proper boots. When the TV had Scotland V Brazil in the 1974 World Cup, I lasted only the first half before I was out the back pretending to be Rivelino.
Cruyff. Beckenbauer. Muller. Jairzinho. I couldn’t spell them but they were first picks in my Subbuteo Allstars team. As, oddly, was David Harvey.
I was, and remain, a Celtic supporter, but I’m a football fan at heart. To me, Celtic is an expression of the Game I love. It’s a game that reaches out beyond the touchlines of the pitch and changes the way we look at life. There are moments in football that live forever. Nakamura against Manchester United. Zidane against Leverkusen. Suker against Denmark. Strachan against Denmark. Narey against Brazil. Gemmill against Holland. Dalglish against Clemence. Boruc against Saha. Goalkeepers again…
All moments for me when something remarkable happened. When a player found a moment that brought together years of training and dedication, with a spark of wonderful, precious imagination and created something new. Unique. Inspiring.
The battle now engaged in Scottish football sets the values of the Game, its magical ability to create these moments, against the value of money and its malevolent desire to determine the outcome.
The depths to which Rangers sank in pusuit of the Game’s prizes trashed the values of the Game in ways we are not yet fully aware of. Tax Evasion, Rule Breaking, Corruption amongst them.
We know that the implosion of the Murray Group caused massive financial problems at Rangers, such that in October 2009 the Board debated putting the club into Administration.
We know that had Rangers not won the league that season, delivering £20M of Champions League revenue, the Bank would have very likely closed it down.
We are told by Executives and Media alike that we cannot have a Game in Scotland without Rangers, and irrespective of insolvency, dissolution, rule breaching and mala fides, Neil Doncaster is determined that there will be a Rangers team in his SPL next season.
If a Rangers team is so important to the Game in Scotland that we are prepared to permit and retrospectively condone all manner of ignominy and dishonesty, ignoring or rewriting the Rule Book in the process to let them play, what happened in Tony Mowbray’s season in charge of Celtic, when a Celtic title win would have closed Rangers down? Was the unprecedented rise in ‘honest mistakes’ that season merely a ‘statistical outlier’ or attributable to a ‘special cause’?
Was a Rangers Title win too important for the influencers of Scottish Football to allow any other outcome? When you stash £49 Million in a complex offshore Trust framework, beyond the reach of auditors, there is no telling where the money ended up. Forget match fixing. We are looking at Championship Fixing.
These of course are outrageous suggestions: That the outcome of a match, a Championship, may have been determined by events and actions hidden from view, but this is where we are in Scottish football. If Rangers’ many offences against the Game are acceptable now, what was unacceptable then?
If Rangers can get away with those things we know about, it is human nature to consider the things we don’t know, and at that point the integrity of all players, managers and officials is suspect.
And there’s the rub. Above all, we need to have certainty that whatever happens on the football pitch is down to the collective talents, ability and tactics of the 2 teams. As soon as rules are applied according to the financial value of the outcome, we no longer have competitive sport. We have staged entertainment.
This is Neil Doncaster’s proposed Newco SPL. At least Big Brother and The X Factor allow the public to determine the outcome. In Neil Doncaster’s vision for the SPL, the outcome is determined by the Business Model, the Financial Forecast and the TV Executive. For Neil Doncaster, Football is subservient to Franchise.
The Game is unscripted. Beautifully improvised. Dramatic. Ephemeral. If there is a ‘Rangers’ team playing in the SPL next season you will know that The Game in Scotland has been lost.
TBB
Arab Trust say No to Newclub.
Dundee United supporters’ society the
ArabTRUST have called on Sky TV to
reveal as a ”matter of urgency” its
ongoing commitment to the SPL.
Sky is being pressed to explain how it would
react to the loss of audience-boosting Old
Firm clashes.
The broadcaster has yet to confirm it will
sign a new deal to show games from the top
tier of Scottish football next season as it
waits to see what develops at crisis-hit
Rangers.
If the financially-stricken Ibrox side are
liquidated, there is a strong chance any
”newco ” would not be readmitted to the
SPL , denying the broadcaster the ratings
boost of at least four Old Firm games.
In the event of that happening, Sky may
contemplate pulling the plug on its TV deal
altogether, leaving clubs looking at a major
financial shortfall.
In United’s case, based on this year’s
figures, instead of receiving around £1.4
million in centrally-distributed funds, it is
believed they would get closer to £300,000.
Added to the projected shortfall in gate
income, they would stand to lose some
£1.4m, or 30% of turnover.
Despite that, the ArabTRUST believe clubs
should still be able to vote to deny a newco
Rangers immediate re-entry to the SPL to
maintain sporting integrity — which is why
they have called on the broadcaster to
clarify the situation.
In a statement, the trust said: ”There is little
doubt that over the last few weeks the
attitude amongst many supporters has
hardened against the re-admission of a
Rangers newco to the SPL.
‘Bully-boy antics’
”This has been due, in large part, to the
damning report issued by the SFA and also
to what many regard as the unapologetic
attitude and threatening, bully-boy antics of
certain individuals associated with Rangers.
”However, it remains incongruous that in
denying a re-admission many completely
innocent clubs may, in relative terms, be
punishing themselves much more than the
guilty party.
”This defies natural justice and, given such
circumstances, it is understandable that
some are reluctant to call for a ‘no’ vote.
”It is imperative therefore that the situation
with Sky is clarified as a matter of urgency.
As a national broadcaster, they should be
called upon to confirm their ongoing
commitment to the SPL as a whole and not
just appear to give the impression that their
interest is solely based on the provision of
four Old Firm games per season.
”In the event of a vote on a newco
application to the SPL, clubs must be able to
vote on the grounds of sporting integrity
alone, without the fear of the unknown
preserving the membership of a club which
has been found guilty of such serious
breaches that the SFA considered
terminating its membership.”
Here’s your Saint Padre Pio novena prayers for today for wee Oscar Bhoys. Please complete it and send it on to all your friends and relatives. Oscar needs all our prayers.
http://www.padrepio.catholicwebservices.com/ENGLISH/Novena.htm
greenjedi on 22 May, 2012 at 11:22 said:
Hamilton Tim – Peter is relying on 50000 people giving him millions and millions of pounds in the next few weeks. He must realise that he has to say something to encourage us to pay those sums in this period of great uncertainty. Do we play in a corrupt league or do we play in a fair league? If we are in a corrupt league why splash out over £600 to watch a fix? Also if the SPLs integrity can be bought and paid for, they can hardly complan if an official player takes money to fix a game. After all the SPL would be doing almost the same thing!
———————————————–
My views on this are fairlt well known and I have no intention or desire to bore other posters with them.
However, I will repeat that I think that Celtic have played a blinder in this. Any statement, other than the one which was issued, would be used by the MSM against us.
You’re of course correct, the most important factor in all of this are the Celtic supporters. I suppose when it comes down to brass tacks it’s all about trust and do we believe that PL and the board will genuinely act in our best interests.
I happen to believe that they will.
The Battered Bunnet @ 11:23
We are of the same vintage shun…although we were strictly terracing fans…which in fact was better back then cause you just went to the end wherever Celtic attacked and walked round at half time to the other end….
Good post mate and it is what we are all about.
HH
TBB
So you never saw Dunky McKay, Jim Kennedy, Billy Price or Johnny Divers………you missed some fine, fine players………..some dross anaw mind…..Hughie Maxwell & Paddy Turner spring to mind……
Paddy T
While Celtic say nothing to the contrary then Neil Doncaster speaks for Celtic.
So nobody can say you haven´t been told.
Hail Hail
Another 60p contribution from ole clever clogs TBB, although I note he didn’t mention hoopslegned Ian Andrews in his list of netmeisters.
Was hearing from a fellow Tim last night who is, ahem…well-connected at CP that, the season 2002-3 when, Chris Sutton claimed Dunfermline lay down to the huns….apparrently, that is the season when the ‘tapping’ of Celtic director’s phone’s took place ?
And, he thinks that will be revealed on the BBC documentary tommorow, amongst other things ?
Does anybody know about this ?
Hail Hail
HT
I wish I had your confidence in the Board
tommorow=tomorrow
typo
sorry
TBB
A really good post and I understand your sentiments completely, however, I can’t agree.
I will watch the beautiful game being played on the slopes of the Himalayas, on dusty tracks in South Africa or in the local public park by overweight blokes who are red in the face after bending over to tie their boot laces. That’s how much I love football.
But I will always love Celtic, and what we represent, more than the game itself.
The Battered Bunnet on 22 May, 2012 at 11:23 said:
Great post.
GoogyBhoy. Are you working in Manchester this weekend? Will be in for most of the day Saturday and meeting up with a few like minded Hoops.
Hi Ghuys can i ask if it hasnt allready been answered have celtic allready made a statement on whether or not rangers should be included in the spl rather than saying they will bide their time and await any other outcomes to the plight of the southsiders so far the only person i have seen speaking out for fairness has been the hibs chairman have i missed something I read peter lawwells statement last week but that only said he was looking out for celtics interests is this the same as say no to newco and if so should he not say why like ron petrie has done i may be wrong but neil doncaster is only making conflicting noises because he is not being challenged just what is celtics real viewpoint on this the celtics support like myself have just shelled out around £600 pounds for a season ticket and by the time the season is out will no doubt make up the thousand our board should be more upfront with their views as far as neil doncaster is concerned he is only a puppet as far as the spl chairmen are concerned why doesn’t the puppet say no to newco
Celtic FC News @celticfcnews
Campbell Ogilvie’s garden http://bit.ly/JkYSNG #PhilMacGiollaBhain #Celtic
Our old pal R.C.O gets Phil’d
When he goes then change can come…
Awe Naw
I think the supporters will speak for Celtic. Renewal/non renewal will be as good a barometer as any.
Just my opinion.
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo on 22 May, 2012 at 11:35 said:
……………………………………………………………..
Sack The Board NOW!!! :)))
Then again….the board have got all the SB money safely tucked away so, don’t be expecting any heroics from them. IMO!
greenjedi @ 11:22,
Well that clears that one – thanks – I assumed he did (‘though I never underestimate the ramifictions of overpromotion.)
However I’m seriously confused at the clarification and amplifiction of his (untenable) position.
Doesn’t he see himself on TV and say “did I say that out loud”?
TBB – great post, should be circulated
Hi all – Can anyone tell me the best place to go for a few pre-match pints in Norwich tonite with fellow Bhoys? Is there music anywhere?
Cheers.
I wonder how the finances would stack up for Dundee Utd in a hun free league. Take the moral argument out for a moment and look at the money.
They would lose 2 games against the huns and a chunk of tv money.
They could gain 2 games against Dundee, a higher league placing, more chance of cup runs, more chance of European football and a greater share of a smaller tv pot.
How would that balance out?
HT
If we continue to participate in an already and ever increasing corrupt league that has helped defraud hundreds of millions while stifling grass roots football to maintain a bunch of crooks in well paid employment then Celtic no longer represents what you and I love.
You are either part of the problem or the solution.
That applies to Hamilton Tim and Celtic PLC.
Hail Hail
neil doncaster is head of the body that we are a member of and has repeatedly
come out with these statements there is no difference in cva and new company
i have yet to hear any chairman publicly slap him down that includes celtic,if we
and other clubs had a problem with his statements im sure at the very least he
would be told to stop peddling this, but if anything he espouses it even more with
emphasis on possible penaltys on new company, very strange that.
A Hun team in the SPL will be the definitive confirmation that Scottish football is nothing more than a money grubbing fix —— by the Hun for the Hun..
Might as well allow them [ and only them ] to play with 2 balls
hamiltontim on 22 May, 2012 at 11:41
I agree.
Hail Hail
Heading into town now and I always visit C P on the road home. Might be able show mrs j the new silverware. HaiL HaiL Wee Oscar!!