“The tax default and reporting rules are an integral part of maintaining a fair league competition”.
Neil Doncaster, SPFL chief executive, November 2014.
“A fair league competition”. Strong words. I wonder if Mr Doncaster is keen to apply his ethics as evenly when it comes to a team with more than a couple of thousand fans. Don’t bet on it.
I suggested last week you ignore the comments coming out of Hampden about there being little appetite to look into the enormous levels of cheating which we now know went on is our game for over a decade. There is very little appetite from those occupying executive positions at Hampden, but they will not decide what happens.
Ultimate authority at the SFA and SPFL lies with the clubs, and more than just Celtic are alarmed by what went on, and the apparent flippancy show towards it in recent days by those paid to protect the honesty and reputation of our game.
Instincts exist within any organisation to protect itself. We’ve seen this play out in the Church (against their own), the police (against their own), Fifa (against their own), so it should be no surprise that those who worked, and became friends with, some of the architects of Rangers EBT scandal had little appetite to open an investigation.
An SFA or SPFL commission could lead to the disciplining of two-term SFA president, Campbell Ogilvies, or Sir David Murray, men who have made friends in the game for decades.
It would inevitably lead to the examination of the Resolution 12 issue (how Rangers were granted a licence to compete in the Champions League in 2011 when they didn’t meet the criteria). And this one is current enough to involve many still active in their roles.
And then there is the weighty matter of dealing with the consequences of what went on in our sport for all those years.
The demand of an investigation into what went on sounds reasonable but you cannot look into something corrupt without consequences, and that’s where corrupt systems work against fair competition.
Rangers rigged the system, their practises are as clear-cut a case of Financial Doping as you will find. They were playing by different rules, different tax rules and different player registration rules.
They failed to disclose information which should have been disclosed, but could have incriminated them. Unlike Craig Whyte, who was banned from the game for his duplicities, the directors who embarked on this great subversion have never been called to account.
Nor will they unless voices are heard across Scottish football. Don’t lose focus on getting angry (not yet, anyway), right now, we need fans of other clubs to share our concerns and let their voices be heard. Winning allies is the first part of winning this debate, and that’s easier done by calmly making our point.
11 clubs suffered financial consequences of Rangers Financial Doping. Motherwell lost a minimum of £2.1m from not gaining access to European competition. How would they feel if they were a cyclist half a mile behind Lance Armstrong in every race? Would if be OK, as he didn’t get caught?
There’s a Christmas toy collection for Maryhill Foodbank at Wild Cabaret, THIS Saturday, 14 November, from midday to 4:30. Families who don’t have money for food don’t have money for Christmas toys. If you have something you can donate, drop it in. There’s mulled wine and mince pies on the go.
You’ll find Wild Cabaret at 18 Candleriggs (0141 552 6165).
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Rangers cheated at football: the fraudulent silverware must go
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Cheats get punished in sport. You commit a foul: free kick. Bad foul: yellow card. Dangerous foul: it’s a red. You foul to gain unfair sporting advantages. It is cheating. It is punished.
09_rangers_g_w
Let’s widen it a bit. If you cheat off the field of competition you get punished. Lance Armstrong…Ben Johnson…you can add into the familiar rogues’ gallery. Again, the cheating is done to gain an unfair sorting advantage. Again, it is punished.
Let’s widen again a little to group cheating by a team. If you field an ineligible player to gain sporting advantage, you are punished.
So it is that the game is now up for Rangers FC and only a successful Supreme Court appeal can now save them from what must now ensue.
After the biggest organised cheating scandal in the history of Scottish football – probably British football and possibly in British sport for all I know, the former Rangers owners now face at last paying the British state the tax and NI they dodged for all those years.
But that is only one side of the cheating. Because as we know, as Rangers people testified , the club cheated because they want to get an advantage on the football field.
Eh? How do we all know this to be factually true? Why, because of “Mr Black” of course.
The Rangers Tax Tribunal was held in secret because many of those under HMRC scrutiny wanted it that way. So witnesses in the Rangers case testified under codenames of colours: Mr Red, Mr Yellow and so forth – all a bit Reservoir Dogs meets Extreme Cluedo for Suits.
Step forward “Mr Black”.
Here is how the Tax Tribunal describes him: “While Mr Black had been involved in ‘signing and selling’ 350-400 players in 20 years of involvement at Rangers, he had not, and could not, because of all his commitments, devote any real time to detailed contractual negotiations. At the start of each football season he would meet with his manager to decide on which players might be possible recruits.”
Who on earth could that possibly be, we wonder? What role for instance did Sir David Murray himself play? We need to know. We have, of course, approached Sir David, but we’ve yet to hear back from him.
Why did this powerful but busy character introduce a scheme of wholesale – and now proven to be unlawful – avoidance of NI and income tax?
Why – so the club could gain advantage on the pitch, of course: sporting advantage. By attracting and keeping players they otherwise could not afford. How do we know?
Because the powerful but talkative “Mr Black” was good enough to spill the beans to the Tax Tribunal: “Mr Black did not consider the Trust as a means of tax avoidance, but rather as a means of retaining and rewarding loyal employees. So far as Rangers was concerned it enabled the Club to attract players who would not otherwise have been obtainable.”
Sporting advantage.
“Mr Black” didn’t see it as a tax wheeze at all, he said, but a football wheeze. Sadly for him if you’re now found to have been cheating the taxman you’re also cheating football – so now his unfortunate admission is a smoking gun
There is more: “As for Mr Black, he denied that the scheme was for tax avoidance in cross-examination, though he went on to describe the scheme as ‘a method of us acquiring, especially football wise, better players in a more cost effective manner than we would be able to do so’; that the club had been ‘very ambitious at that time’; and ‘it was seen as a correct and proper way for us to proceed’; that Rangers ‘have been very successful, because we’ve been able to attract players of a certain standard that, perhaps, we may not have been able to otherwise’.”
One more time: “especially football wise better players in a more cost effective manner”. Sporting. Advantage.
Of course when he said this “Mr Black” thought it was all legal. Sadly for him three Law Lords have now unanimously disagreed in uncharacteristically pungent language.
Rangers – obstructive, unhelpful and evasive, according to the Tax Tribunals – are now found to be tax cheats on an industrial scale by the Law Lords.
Which is why “Mr Black’s” candid admission – Rangers did it to again sporting advantage – now matters so much. His evidence could not be clearer.
When Lord Nimmo Smith’s commission found no such sporting advantage they did so:
1) on the basis that the tax avoidance was legal
2) on the basis of the information they had, though this turned out so much had been withheld from them
The Appeal Court judges have now changed all of that. “Mr Black” now needs to come out and be held to account for cheating at football and income tax. He is far from alone.
It is time Campbell Ogilvie explained his conduct – the man who played a part in the tax avoidance and personally benefited before going on to be SFA President.
It is time Sir David Murray – the conductor of this disastrous orchestration, by overseeing EBTs at Rangers – is similarly held to account for what he did and now, why Rangers did it for advantage on the field: cheating.
Above all, it is time the SPFL members came out from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and beyond to denounce cheating as cheating and take action as fans from Kelso to Thurso are begging them to do.
All the titles and silverware from all the years Rangers cheated at football, as they cheated at tax, must be null and void and wiped from the record.
Let nobody try and tell me it isn’t the same club – I have always said it is and now Rangers have to take the consequence of that reality right on the chin.
Turnbull Hutton RIP – how your godforsaken Scottish game needs you now.
Follow @alextomo on Twitter
The thing that really annoys me is the view that these titles were won fair and square ‘on the pitch’. Is it so hard to grasp the idea that those players wouldn’t have been on the bloody pitch without their tax dodging ‘loans’?.
Alex Thomson ….oooooft pressure building nicely
El Flaco –
Actually, whether they subsequently won or not shouldn’t even be in our thinking here. Did you break the rules – then this is the consequence. Remember Legia Warsaw. If ‘gaining a sporting advantage’ was a factor do you think we’d have been given another shot [at not qualifying ;-) ].
Teams have been kicked out of competition for only having 1 signature on a form that needed 2.
Forget sporting advantage. Triggers Broom FC broke the rules. The record books should clarly show these Asterisk Years.
Jobo…,
Yep an asterisk beside the subsequent legitimate winners name should be quite eye catching :)
Alex Thompson says near the end of that piece
“Let nobody try and tell me it isn’t the same club – I have always said it is and now Rangers have to take the consequence of that reality right on the chin.”
I disagree.
This muddies the waters.
It’s none of Newco’s damn business what happens to R*ngers.
Just my opinion.
The SFA knowingly facilitated the cheating, stop being distracted
Canamalar on 9th November 2015 4:46 pm
I think if title stripping occurs they’re fudge the re-awarding on the basis that once titles are re-awarded clubs will have a legitimate claim to lost monies.
So what will happen is this the SPFL/SFA that due to the general overall nature of the cheating by employing players they could not otherwise afford the titles must be stripped but once those players were employed they were registered in good faith and were therefore eligible to play – so no general re-doing of results as 3-0 to the opposition – and I suggest the clubs will probably accept that. Otherwise the can of worms is just too big ie you could probably argue that if they had just obeyed the rules on the balance of probability they’d get through the early rounds of the cups – but where does that end?
No, I expect a 5-way agreement part II.
Dessybhoy-I want to go after the lot,titles,cups,Ogilvie,the whole shooting match,but it will end in a trade off IMO and Ogilvie could be given a pass in return for titles HH
I absolutely do not want any of their tainted trophies. I actually have no real desire to claim to have won 16 in a row. And while I’m on a rant* have I mentioned before how much I detest the ‘here we go, 10 in a row’ chant? Titles are there to be won. I’m looking forward to celebrating 5 in a row next May (or March?) after which I’ll be hoping we get to 6. We have no divine right to win anything. We are where we are – none of this ‘where we belong’ nonsense.
IF we’re good enough to win the treble this year – absolutely fantastic. If we have an off day in one of the cups then so be it. Never feel that we SHOULD be winning trebles.
Grrrrrrrrrr
Jobo
* – this is as angry as ole Jobo gets ;-)
Jobo Baldie on 9th November 2015 5:00 pm
I couldn’t agree more. The Legia example just highlights how farcical the situation is at snake mountain.
There are growing tweats mentioning a points deduction as THE remedy open to the SPFL rather than title stripping.
The condition of rangers obtaining any licence to compete was that they accepted the football liabilities of the old club.
John James blog mentions the possibility of points deduction and the statement from Rangers has the look of a rabid, mortally wounded dog bearing its teeth. Given the choice I am sure the new Rangers would rather they took some titles away from their history than cut the throat of Newco now.
I can’t believe anyone would countenance title stripping AND points deduction. ( insert emoticon) Perhaps Celtic are after a free run at the Champions League for the next 5 years or so?
Points deduction may compensate other clubs with a Wounded Newco unable to compete but they would still be there making noises and news to generate interest for tv.
Points deduction for Newco in exchange for their righteous same club argument and title stripping?
“Our semi will probably be on the Sunday”
Tontine Tim,
Our semi will probably be on the Sunday cos it flippin almost always is.
HH
Just read Alex Thomson’s lates, fan bloody tasting…:)
Mmmm, Mr. Black eh, he would argue black is white…what irony if Mr. Black is indeed SDM and he sold to our Hero, Mr. Whyte, Black in this instance is white, no…:)
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Weeminger,
I expect there will be an attempt to limit the responsibility but that in my expert opinion is no better than the fixing that went on, justice needs to happen and seen to happen, half arsed deals simply obfuscate the extent of the cheating and lay the ground rules for future cheating, as in, deals can always be done to protect liars and cheats.
The SFA are 100% responsible and need to be bankrupted paying out compensation, the SFA memorandum needs to be ripped up and the rules need to be less ambiguous.
Res 12 had exactly that ambition.
FFin’ Hell:
“What races did Lester Piggot forfeit?”
Kenny Macintyre @bbckennymac 3m3 minutes ago
#BBCSportsound 6.30PM @RangersFC @celticfc tune in to hear Darren O’Dea call for Rangers to be stripped of titles.
Join me Kenny MacIntyre tonight on Sportsound. Our topics tonight will be:
The League Cup semi-final draw, although not for too long as Rangers aren’t in it.
Celtic AGAIN failing to keep a clean sheet.
Martyn Waghorn again on the scoresheet for Rangers. Will they be able to hold on to him if a big offer comes in from the English Premier League?
And my studio guests to discuss whether Rangers should have titles stripped for their use of EBTs will be Bob Malcolm, Kris Boyd and Nacho Novo.
Don’t miss it!
jobo.
the titles are only tainted if rangers are allowed to keep them.
carl lewis’s gold medal is not tainted. he won it fair and square.
we won these titles fair and square.
rangers have cheated as long as i have been watching scottish football.
the late jimmy sanderson used to predict cup draws and he didn’t get one wrong.
rangers have corrupted every part of football in this country and when the next version of rangers gets into the top league the cheating will continue.
this would be a better country without this organisation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34691253
Just watching highlights from yday, anyone think Armstrong reaction when the the 3rd goal is scored is a bid odd? Griff and Forrest celebrate with each other but he doesn’t look too happy in the background.
JOBO BALDIE on 9TH NOVEMBER 2015 5:15 PM
I agree don’t want their titles but I do want them erased from their history. On the say hello to 10 in a row chant, I too detest it. Same as the time we sang say cheerio to 9 in a row chant in the 96/97 season. It is a Huns type song and I hate.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Bada Bing
no, not for me that, no pass to anywhere, get them in the dock if needed this has cost clubs/plc’s money, prestige ,development and supporters the chance to have success, the scale of that has to be quantified , I’m sure there are plenty of clever clogs working on that, I have said this before I recall a tax case in the borders where the guy witheld and spent £500k that should have went to HMRC he got 5 years in the slammer.Look at the EBT figures and how much tax was due on these?
Has Mark Hately made a DIGNIFIED comment on TAINTED TITLES?
Canamalar on 9th November 2015 5:21 pm
I still swing from one view to the other on the re-awarding but that’s just what I see happening. It’ll be enough for most to consider it done I think.
Is Darren O’Dea looking to get his career as a Radio Clyde pundit off to a flyer?
If so, he hasn’t been well advised…
Lennybhoy –
cheers mate, an endorsement from you will do me just fine ;-) Hope this finds you well.
Jackson & Traynor = Murray’s Goebbels & Naumann.
Don’t care about songs but love the song debate :)
How much money did you spend going to watch your team being cheated ?
The club deserves the awards, the supporters deserve the awards and the player all deserve the awards retrospectively to show the world justice is served, great article/post earlier with an analogy about stolen ipad and who should own it after the conviction, wee point no mentioned, should the ipad be put in a museum, 16 in a row is the rightful number, it’s not spite its justice, turn your back on justice and you condone the cheating, simples.
hamilton accies were knocked out of the scottish cup by brechin but brechin played an illegible player.
brechin were disqualified and hamilton were re-admitted.
the accies manager said and i quote. “i feel sorry for brechin but rules are rules”
of course the rules are rules rule does not apply when it is rangers who are breaking the rules.
mullet and co 2 on 9th November 2015 5:16 pm
That’s exactly the type of “cunning plan” the spfl would come up with after a secret Friday meeting, “ten points, that’ll do, then the brothers have plenty of time to make up the difference”
That’s a bit like punishing Lance Armstrong by letting him keep the tdf titles etc, but next year he has to ride a pink bike.
Bhoys its plain and simple they cheated they kept money due to the tax man to themselves how many nurses,Doctors,Policeman, teachers would there with held tax have paid.This is more than a Sporting matter and I believe HMRC will take action when the time for an appeal runs out.People could go to jail this is not over by a long way.On the Sporting side they should be well and truly hammered and many of them told they cannot hold a position in World football again.Sir David Murray should lose his Knighthood and serve time for stealing from the HMRC I know the Ludge will pull all sorts of strings to save them but there corruption may well be to big for the Ludge this time. In Ronny and Peter I trust.
The Rangers that play at Ibrox started life in the 4th tier in 2012, given a free right of passage when the professional league was missing a club and there was public pressure to have a Rangers. This happened because the team called Rangers that used to play at Ibrox went into liquidation. This is the facts.
The club that was liquidated was found guilty by the LNS commission on, I believe, 3 of the 4 charges around side letters. The sentence, however perverse, was FTT dependant and was a fine. Again, factual. That FTT decision has been overturned.
Craig Whyte, in charge of the old club, did not remit ongoing taxes, irrespective of the big tax case. This was declared tantamount to match fixing and again the old club were censured.
It is in the public domain that the old Rangers used an unlawful DOS scheme prior to EBTs. The wee tax case. No sanction or prosecution has been handed down.
What we have now is new information that the BTC was indeed unlawful. No sanction for that has yet been handed down.
So, let’s be clear. The wee tax case and the big tax case are almighty crimes against sport. No one has been brought to account on either of these, the biggest scandals.
If the club that now plays out of Ibrox wishes to be the same club is it willing to accept the sanctions that these merit? The reality is they cannot and survive.
Juventus were embroiled in scandal for one season in which they influenced refereeing appointments.
They were stripped of the title, fined, demoted and ultimately started in Serie B the next season minus 9 points. That was for one season irregularity.
What do you do about a decade?
The answer is you put an asterisk against the record books as each title having no winner. A fitting black mark on our game. The Rangers now playing out of Ibrox should be left alone, this has nothing to do with them and in the ultimate judgement we should indeed all accept that an move on and they should be allowed to compete for their first title should they gain promotion through the leagues.
The cheating trophy wins, especially the cup wins should be stripped with no other winner awarded.
I’ve read a lot of “congratulations to Ayr United” for winning the league cup back in 2002 on the basis the cheating rangers team beat them in the final.
The rational being that because Ayr made the final they are the legitimate winners.
What tripe. If cheating rangers results are overturned it means Airdrie would have got a bye from the 3rd round into the quarter final.
Airdrie would then have played Ross County.
The winner of that would have played Celtic in the semi final, with the winner of that playing Ayr in the final.
So, the 2002 league cup could potentially have been won by Airdrie, Ross County, Celtic or Ayr.
Thanks to rangers cheating we will never know who the rightful winners would have been and therefore the winners must remain “Void due to cheating”
Sorry to Ghuys but got to paste their statement…
THE SPFL Board has stated they held a conference call to be given a factual update on the Court of Session EBT ruling and so it would be remiss of the Rangers Board not to state the Club’s view.
The first thing to be said is that Rangers has made it clear it wishes to reach out and work with all clubs to help revitalise Scottish football, which has also suffered in recent years. There is much to be done and Rangers wants to be part of the way forward.
Our game has to become more attractive to potential sponsors and partners if the finance levels required are to be generated but this can only be done if we present a coherent and united strategy. Therefore, a line must be drawn now if we are all to prosper.
It is our irrevocable belief that this Club’s history, including its many successes, is beyond debate. Rangers cannot countenance or accept any talk, attempts or actions designed to undermine what this Club has achieved throughout its long history.
So, as far as this Club is concerned there is no need for further SPFL consideration of court judgements or appeals. They should be saying it is time for everyone to move on and work together for the greater good of the game. Scottish football has suffered enough.
Apart from the obvious inference that they feel they have punished for their tax evasion. They are so far up their own backsides, two fingers up and still trying to claim they are the peepul.
We must fight this tooth and nail.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
JOBO BALDIE on 9TH NOVEMBER 2015 5:38 PM
I am well mate…:)
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
The first of three blogs from johnjames…
Club Statement
by sitonfence
“There is no need for further SPFL consideration.They should be saying it is time for everyone to move on and work together for the greater good of the game. Scottish football has suffered enough.It is our irrevocable belief that this club’s history, including its many successes, is beyond debate.Rangers cannot countenance or accept any talk, attempts or actions designed to undermine what this club has achieved throughout its long history.Rangers has made it clear it wishes to reach out and work with all clubs to help revitalise Scottish football, which has also suffered in recent years. There is much to be done and Rangers wants to be part of the way forward.Our game has to become more attractive to potential sponsors and partners if the finance levels required are to be generated but this can only be done if we present a coherent and united strategy. Therefore, a line must be drawn now if we are all to prosper.”
This is a better statement than those formerly issued by Je Suis Graham. I assume Stephen Kerr’s invoice is in the post. Let’s look at the argument. Is there no need for further SPFL consideration? I disagree. The successful HMRC appeal is a game changer. The Lord Nimmo Smith commission was not presented with the full facts pertaining to this matter. LNS proceeded on the basis that Rangers had engaged in a tax avoidance exercise. We now note that they engaged in an unlawful tax evasion strategy, which requires a formal review.
The board of the SPFL do not have a delegate from Rangers. Four of the six member clubs on their board are of the view that a new commission must be established.
As for ‘the better good of the game’ argument, this is redolent of our criminal chairman’s submission for fit and proper approval. Would it not be accurate to state that it would be better for Rangers?
The second part of the statement, that it would be in other club’s best commercial interests not to pursue a review, is a veiled threat that any deduction of points penalty, which undermined Rangers promotion prospects, would have economic consequences.
I can summarize the statement in fewer words: “If you want the blue pound in the Scottish Premiership, then overlook the EBT decade.”
Somehow I do not believe that this statement will be enough to assuage the growing consensus for an independent review. If the tax evasion did not create a competitive advantage, the board have nothing to fear. The deliberate falsifying of returns to the SFA resulted in a £250,000 fine that the shyster board refuse to pay.
I would be more persuaded by their argument if they had paid the fine and costs of the LNS enquiry. Surely the fact that they have chosen not to do so would suggest that they do not accept this outcome and that further consideration has merit?
Bhoys its plain and simple they cheated
they kept money due to the tax man to
themselves how many
nurses,Doctors,Policeman, teachers
would there with held tax have paid. ..
Sodgies anaw!!
:)
Canman
You make a very persuasive argument for the redistrubution of the baubles.
I was swithering, not now, you have convinced me wholeheartedly, and that disny happen very often when I have my mind made up.
HH