“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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Dirty manky cheating zombies. Having a set 2 with a few on my football team chat about cheating and poppies. I’m actually enjoying it. I hope the fans do bhoycott the semi final as the sfa must be short of a bob or two after failing 2 qualify for euros. FTSFA.
Joe Filippis Haircut on 9th November 2015 6:17 pm
Cheers.
The biggest scandal in the history of sport, 12 years of cheating, the titles have to go or the game up here is finished.
Shortbread,, Darren O’Dea saying they cheated and should have the Trophies taken off them, Paul Lambert completely disagreeing saying they were won fair and square on the park and we should all forget about it and move on. Paul – what have you been drinking?
Easy for Lambert not to see a Celtic fans perspective.
Irony that speirs is more vociferous about the cheating than the hired hands of lambert and Sutton who don’t care and dot get it.
If Paul Lambert disnae understand the situation then he should keep his fecking month shut..
How can you win fair and square with illegally registered players ya rocket:)
Lambert would only be at Celtic to serve the hamburgers on this showing…
They never disclosed the money in there contracts to the S F A which was against the rules so they should be throwing out of scottish football
JimmynotPaul and Canamalar …. I like JnP’s term … simple, eloquent and straight to the point. Might steal that one if you dont mind. thanks.
If you or I owe the taxman he will send out a demand on that demand it will explain why you owe the tax if you fail to pay you will be taken to court and could end up with a jail sentence.I am pretty certain that HMRC will after the appeal if their is one is finalised and remains the same verdict as is current will start procedures against Glasgow Rangers and the people involved. This may go on for many years to come and it is not beyond belief that people could end up in prison.HMRC will not be interested in what the Scottish football authorities say other than to get an understanding of any involvement they may have had.In Ronny I and Peter I trust. H.H.
BBC Sportsound’s Dave King correspondent (Dickie Wilson) putting forward a staunch defence of the non-title stripping. They’ve suffered enough!
Wilson starting to sound like a fan. Oh, hang on…….
For reference, related to BlantyreKev’s post on page 5 at 5.44pm, this is the relevant extract from the Note of Reasons of the SFA’s Disciplinary Tribunal into Rangers & Craig Whyte:
“On any view the matters involved in this case are as serious offences against the ordinary standards of corporate governance as one could imagine. The Tribunal attempted in its exercise of fixing these matters on the scale of offences to identify a more serious offence than those on the complaints, and concluded that only match fixing in its various forms might be a more serious breach. It had no hesitation in concluding that the breaches struck at the heart of good corporate governance and social and financial probity and responsibility. They brought the game into serious disrepute. As such, they required to be regarded as at the top of the scale of seriousness.”
The offences were, primarily, the failure to disclose Craig Whyte’s disqualification as a Director, and Rangers’ failure to remit employee PAYE and NIC deductions.
So, what do you get for a Discount Options Scheme that hides ‘moneyboxes’ in a bank in the Cayman Islands, said moneybox stuffed with notes for Craig Moore, TA Flo and R de Boer, giving each a million or so out of sight of the Football and Tax Authorities, and contrary to the FIFA Rules of Registration?
What do you get for running a huge, unlawfully administered Employee Benefits Scheme, that provided players with undeclared earnings to the tune of £40 odd million, such payments withheld from the SFA and SPL, contrary to the rules of both organisations and the FIFA Rules of Registration?
What do you do when the failure to disclose, involving over 50 players in more than 500 matches, was part of a deliberate effort to conceal these payments from HMRC?
And thereafter, admit in evidence that the schemes were implemented entirely to be “able to attract players of a certain standard than, perhaps, we may not have been able to otherwise” the club being “very successful” and “very ambitious at that time”
What do you do?
What do you get when the Directors responsible for administering these schemes were not only benefiting from them personally, but serving as Directors on the Boards of the SFA and SPFL, perhaps the greatest offence of all. Directors of the SFA are explicitly responsible for promoting and fostering the game AND PROTECTING IT FROM ABUSES, notwithstanding the formal Fiduciary duties of all Directors to their shareholders and members, to wit:
“A fiduciary must act in good faith; he must not make a profit out of his trust; he must not place himself in a position where his duty and his interest may conflict; he may not act for his own benefit or the benefit of a third person without the informed consent of his principal.”
What do you do? Where does that lot sit alongside the ordinary standards of corporate governance? What serious disrepute was brought upon the Game?
What indeed, do you do?
We were forced into life in the slow lane because the arms race had become madness,being cheated is galling having lost out on season long titles by mere goal difference and the odd point,Celtic is more than deserving to be acknowledged with 16 in a row,it’s not triumphalist to be given your due.
My only second thought on the redistribution of prizes is that it’s unfair to call a title tainted if it eventually ends up where it should have been but it might be a better idea not to redistribute and nullify those prizes to blacken further the reputation of the sfa for being complicit in the fraud.
Balanced debate on shortbread on the question of Hun cheating;
4 panellists-
1 McCall – Hun
2 Wilson – Hun apologist
3 speirs – “I’ve no appetite for title stripping”
4 lambert – slurping soup, “we lost the leagues on the park” too thick to comprehend how de boer arteta etc came to be on that park with him
No counter-balance other than pre-recorded comments from Darren o’dea
Risible “journalism”
Well said Darren O Dea.
darren o dea on Reporting Scotland about EBTs – sure he’ll be misquoted forever
Por Cierto is right …. points/titles must be deducted, as per the rules. Further, it will really piss the zombies off …. which, for me, is reason enough.
Might invest in Bic pens …. going to need lots of blue ink to cover up those bogus 5 stars on all them sevco jerseys.
Between the daily Level 5 manipulation of football news, the over reporting of disrespecting the minutes silence, Jingle- Jangle Jackson’s high-finance article today ( clearly he didn’t write the economic/taxation ï bits himself) , Murray speaking with the SG about saving Dalziel Works, I actually despair . No attempt to even hide things now just blatant propaganda . This will get worse . Memo to SG : don’t even think about doing any deal with that tax cheat even if he endorsed Salmond for FM in 2011.
PS. Someone best get a haud of big Kirko Broadfitt who is out today saying Zenit should be stripped of the UEFA title if found guilty of cheating . What a novel idea.
The glorious..,
Speirs is very clever. He is playing it well
As for Wilson……HUN PANIC MERCHANT
Some half wits on here wanted Lambert to be a future Celtic manager. Thick Thick Thick
What is a ‘ irrevocable belief ‘??
Asterisks, is it?
Maybe that stadium down Govan way that naebody knows who’s the owner, could be renamed like that wan in Paris.
Naw, no’ “Parc des Paupers”, naw no’ “Disnae” – that other wan:
Asterix Parc !!!
Wilson is absolutely panicking, he keeps saying nothing illegal was done, his disinformation spreading is ridiculous.
Paul Lambert is embarrassing himself too. Thick as mince.
Isn’t it incredible that no oldco figure or deadco figure have said -‘it was wrong, we should not have done it’.
Graham Speirs – Top Man – calling it as it is and saying regardless of whats what rangers definitely cheated.
Well, Lambert has obviously ruled out any hope of being our manger, having failed in England. What’s left? A career with the SMSM. I didn’t think he needed the money, unlike Sutton. Maybe he fancies replacing Warburton when he gets the call to Man U.
Yes they were won on the pitch but if they weren’t using the scam they wouldn’t have won them!
Lambert as good at discussing the scam as he is a manager
Wilson all over the place there. Resorted to saying they had been punished through liquidation and losing their best players.
Let’s be clear the SFA are the facilitators of this corruption it starts and ends at their door the hun could only cheat if the SFA let them and the SFA actively encouraged them.
Speirs gets it and even mentioned ‘Mr Black’s’ evidence but he still doesn’t have an appetite for title stripping. It’s the old mindset that the huns should always be on top. He appeared to be laughing though at Wilson’s tortured lying and ignorance of the law.
In the second half of SSB DJ gives a DIY Brain surgery lecture.
Seville67
Well Wilson and mccall’s agenda was quite clear there. Try to make the EBTs seem like an innocent mistake that wasn’t wrong at the time. A bit like an individual inadvertently underpaying self assessment tax.
But if it’s all innocent why the hidden side letters and why the non-compliance with HMRC investigators?
Stupid lying cheating Hun morons.
Cheats and they can’t even face up to it.
Mike in Toronto.
You’re welcome.
Incidentally simple and eloquent.
I’ve been called simple, but eloquent that’s made my night.
Well said Daren O’Dea, a man with baws and I don’t mean the Fit type
Sportsound back on safe ground, slagging Celtic and Ronny.
i’vehadtochangemyname
King did…..
I hope the BBC had a medic on standby there…Wilson appeared ready to be carted.
Joe Filippis Haircut
Joe we get it you trust PL and RD
Lambert.. “Rangers demoted”.. Clown gtf