In three months Duff and Phelps have not made an inch of progress on the key issue, the Only Show in Town, Craig Whyte, who has security over the stadium and Murray Park is extremely likely to inhibit any attempt to dispose of these assets against his will.
Without a stadium the SFA and SPL cannot licence and admit a football club. While Duff and Phelps may have preferred the SPL to negotiate directly with the owner of Newco (once he was appointed), they were not in a position to ask the SPL for admittance yesterday without a stadium – perhaps a more practical explanation as to why they didn’t attend yesterday’s meeting.
Now that a CVA has finally been acknowledged as undeliverable, players will leave Rangers after Sunday’s visit to St Johnstone as free agents. There will be no Newco on hand to offer them a new deal. Those who can, will find employment elsewhere. This will be more than just the headline players, I know youth players at all levels have been scouted by clubs across Scotland and England. The chance to scoop up another club’s prime youth talent for free will not be passed up.
Getting a deal done this week with the SPL, the SFA, Bill Miller and the players would have allowed Duff and Phelps to maintain continuity, with Newco taking over for Sunday’s game. This will not now happen. The finger Duff and Phelps placed in the dyke back in February is set to slip.
Staff who cannot find employment elsewhere will remain at Rangers until 31 May. If Duff and Phelps sell ‘the club’ before that date, players who want to transfer to Newco can do so under TUPE regulations, which maintains their pay and conditions, however, they will be unable to transfer their player registrations until Newco is a licenced football club (which is dependent on SFA approval, which in turn will indirectly be dependent on Craig Whyte disposing of the stadium).
Duff and Phelps have no money to fund Rangers FC after 31 May, so must sell all assets before that date or the padlocks will go onto Ibrox and Murray Park. Yesterday was their last best chance to pull a deliverable deal together.
The fact Duff and Phelps didn’t even turn up to the meeting, and yesterday evening Neil Doncaster told Radio Scotland they didn’t return his calls when he phoned to ask why, indicates how on-target plans are.
Incredibly, I read one newspaper today suggested ‘Rangers [were]to benefit from SPL delay’. Where there’s life, there’s hope, I suppose. Somehow I cannot see Duff and Phelps’ Clark and Whitehouse high-fiving at the prospect of withdrawing from yesterday’s meeting. It is more likely that an undignified disintegration of a football club is set to take place in the weeks to come.
On a separate note: Just when Duff and Phelps would have presented Craig Whyte with a take-it-or-leave-it offer for all his assets, Brian Kennedy nips in as a second potential bidder for the stadium. Unless Kennedy is putting more skin on the table than Bill Miller all he is doing is fortifying Whyte’s negotiating position.
You can buy a hard copy of the new issue of CQN Magazine via Magcloud here.
The graphic below is just for a flick through, to read the magazine go here to it’s dedicated site.
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Paul, bet you have read many a post on here in the last few weeks and felt like banging your head of the wall!
Hope all what you wrote in your leader happens, keep the good work up!
SFFS
Interesting that the DRUM feature this piece re Alext T and C4…..
The editor is a chap Young (I think) , whose sister happens to work on media side (buying and TV rights) at Rangers, and who is well connected to DR, Waddel etc so no surprise….
Even for the SINS of others. Damn iPad!!
What is the caledonian mercury? Is it some kind of nationalist freesheet? Or a forum for Scottish journalists?
I’ve never heard of it.
I have heard of Channel4 news though.
I
Celtic_First, Olegeur is a legend, you should do a piece on him for the rest of the blog!
SFFS
Has there been any statement from Ross County on how they might see things in the SPL?
As a club that started at the bottom and worked its way up you would think that they would see the benefits of this approach. And why would they want a new club to have a benefit that was never offered to them?
South of Tunis
It’s no coincidence that the national team hasn’t played a match in Bilbao since Franco’s day (1967 as a matter of fact), although its first ever home game was against Belgium in Bilbao in 1921.
Current president of the federation, Ángel María Villar, who is from Bilbao and played for Athletic and for Spain, has said he intends to take the national team to play there again before his term of office is up.
AsonofDan. Thanks for your reply fella we all have our views on the situation mine is the same as the Green Brigade.H.H.
Seven Fishes
I have to agree, there are many contributions of real quality and then there are others who sometimes appear to have their own agenda or in some cases a little too much of granpa’s old cough medicine.
Paul67…..SPOT ON…For months I’ve been asking where they are going to be playing next season, when the big hoose asset is sold…..I have also been ranting on about AUDITED accounts……. If any company doesn’t produce AUDITED accounts, they cannot trade…simples
…and all this is why the Celtic Board have ‘kept their powder dry’ …….. Never interrupt the enemy when they are driving themselves to oblivion ….. Let the LL help them to this end, and people like Ernie Lynch may now have a better understanding of the direction this is all taking, and the need to let it all take it’s inevitable course…….Good Man, Paul67 …….the font of all knowledge / unbiased logic ……..TICK TOCK…!!!!!
Seven Fish
I’m going to try to get hold of the guy’s book. I think it might be a good read.
I’m about to visit Bilbao and San Sebastian in June as part of a wee trek around the North East corner any sights we should take in?
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000 on 8 May, 2012 at 11:10 said:
thats some tale to tell. you were there as a kid in Budapest, and Buenos Aires and Montivideo, amazing.
however quite irresponsible parenting there, kids should neve have time of school to go gallivanting on jonts abroad.
;-)
Paul67
That was not what your informed valuable opinion reflected.
Hindsight etc. ?
I to be honest would have been flabbergasted if we had participated in an actual vote as my posts indicated and deliberately so.
You seem to be smoothing over the idea of us even participating in it with a resounding NO which might still yet happen.
I can understand why we would want to avoid that action and believe we should.
I am just pointing out that I was not as surprised as you were and I do not consider it an over reaction at all.
Truth is I will not believe it for sure until I see the fixture list which is an indication of how severe my own Stockholm syndrome condition is.
As always you are doing sterling work my friend even on your 50th birthday and I was glad to hear that you and your dear wife did not get any food poisoning recently while eating out in Hamilton ;-)
Hail Hail
Paul67
Some Celtic fans are inevitably swithering about season ticket renewal, some do it every season without the unique potential circumstances of 2012.
Reasons for not spending £600 plus are easy enough to find, that’s without the expose and affirmation of Ragers, as cheats.
I don’t want a smaller successful Celtic, I want all Celtic fans inside a built for purpose stadium, and Celtic’s blinder needs to take into account illogical thought that induces a ‘smaller successful Celtic’.
Celtic’s stance is crystal clear, and was made indirectly and subtly with the only statement we have made, back when they went into administration that Celtic are relatively healthy and wealthy, as a ‘stand alone club’ * We don’t need no steenkin*
© Paul67
Behind our stance there must be a plan, that prevents closed sections, and shrinkage of Celtic Park, the business plan, the playing squad, and everything Celtic.
Celtic PLC saw this coming long ago didn’t they?
Changing ‘Golden Dawn’ to ‘Glorious New Era.’
Please don’t tell me they are also a nut job Greek party… :0)
Gordon J – clutching at straws there mate!
…………….
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon on 8 May, 2012 at 12:29 said:
Has there been any statement from Ross County on how they might see things in the SPL?
As a club that started at the bottom and worked its way up you would think that they would see the benefits of this approach. And why would they want a new club to have a benefit that was never offered to them?
Fellow Celts
The Signed Celtic Top I auctioned on eBay for Wellburn Care Home, Lochee, Dundee, went for £510.00.
The Little Sisters Of The Poor who run Wellburn will be well chuffed especially Sister Monica who is a red hot Celtic supporter.
Thanks to all who made bids and to Paul67 for the plugs for the top on CQN.
The generosity of the Celtic support is legendary – More Than A Club.
Hail hail.
García Lorca
Hope things work out for you in Bolivia. It sounds great, but if things become tricky on the ground, it’s never easy for the visitor.
Paul67 – just reading your comments on this page ot the thread. It strikes me as bizarre that Celtic supporters see withdrawing from Celtic as a way of punishing the Scottish football establishment.
When Celtic nearly imploded in the 90’s and languished in 3rd 4th and 5th places the rangers support went through the roof, season book wating lists for the first time ever etc. the rest of scottish football actually saw a bit of a decline in attendance.
I know you guys are flat out but I think a call from the new mhedia to the celtic support to weigh in behind Celtic is a must before too long.
If the SB sales are drastically down I think it might also be time for Celtic to do something imaginative with ticket sales.
What Celtic are engaged in is known politically as “masterly inactivity”, a term penned or spoken by Harold MacMillan (no fule he!).For anyone to take an action on something that has not happened or what they think is about to happen does not make sense. The with-holding of season ticket money until the outcome of all this is clear means the the board,the football authorities,the MSM,and other interested parties are aware of consequences.The views of the rest of Scottish football supporterss are known.Alex Thompson is worrying at it like my Lakeland cross terrier,and they will not take him on.They can’t.All he is doing is finding out the truth and doing the job they themselves are not doing. Paul67 and Phil are filling in the rest of the knowledge gaps.Duff and Phelps have had just about as much of the cake as they are going to get and are saddling the horses to hightail it out of town.Just sit back and let it happen.Enjoy the ride.If anything untoward happens rest assured that the contingency plan has been drawn up.
Transfer speculation.
McCleary is out of contract at Forest this summer and has yet to sign a new deal at the City Ground.
Forest are reluctant to lose McCleary, but know they face a major battle to tie him down to a new deal with a number of clubs waiting in the wings to sign the exciting wide-man.
The 24-year-old has been one of Forest’s stand-out performers this season, netting nine goals in 21 appearances.
McCleary caught the attention of a number of clubs following his stunning four-goal haul in Forest’s 7-3 win over Leeds in March.
West Brom have been keeping tabs on the flying winger’s progress and they believe he could make an impression in the Premier League.
Celtic boss Neil Lennon is also an admirer of McCleary and is keen to add to his attacking options as he prepares for next season’s campaign in the Champions League.
Should McCleary leave the City Ground on a free transfer he is sure to have no shortage of admirers with a host of clubs ready to move for his signature.
LiviBhoy on 8 May, 2012 at 12:20
I am from Whitburn.
Hail Hail
Rocket Man
You will have the time of your life. Food and drink like nowhere else on earth.
In Bilbao, there is a square called Plaza Nueva in Castilian with loads of fine bars and restaurants. I can particularly recommend Casa Víctor. Some of the back-streets leading into the square have got pictures of political prisoners on the walls and look a bit hardcore.
In San Sebastián, there is a whole area in the old town with bar after bar, many of which have exceptional restaurants, either in the back or on the floor above street level. Try a very young white wine called txakoli (Cha Koh LEE), heady stuff.
You are a lucky chap.
The Eighth Of May
The Eighth Of May
Happy Motorhead Day
RobertTressell on 8 May, 2012 at 12:39 said:
”It strikes me as bizarre that Celtic supporters see withdrawing from Celtic as a way of punishing the Scottish football establishment”
It strikes me as bizarre that anyone could misconstrue, or misrepresent, the argument to that extent.
Paul 67
Spot on, they are a busted flush.
CFC Statement on the 13 Feb 2012 , “we do not need RFC”.
No other statement required until after RFC go bust ……… there will be no votes , or decisions to take, our Board has taken the grown-up approach , keep stum, do not become the story and let the lack of cash and the various authorities take Dignity down.
Still , our more excitable ghuys will be cancelling season tickets (yawn…yawn ….) due to a perceived incompetence from our board, still means the traffic and pie queues will be a bit more manageable.
Chillpillcfc
Rangers’ administrators have denied turning down or dragging their heels over police requests for information about Craig Whyte’s takeover.
Duff and Phelps said recent media reports had wrongly given the impression that paperwork had not been handed over.
The firm said no request had been “denied nor delayed in any way”.
Strathclyde Police confirmed it had written to the administrator requesting relevant documentation be hand over.
‘Co-operating fully’
Joint administrator David Whitehouse said: “Over the last few days media reports have referred to police interest in the circumstances surrounding the takeover of Rangers Football Club in May last year.
“In particular, an impression has been given that we as administrators are in possession of information which may be of interest to the police but, to date, we have not provided.
Sir David Murray sold Rangers to Craig Whyte for £1 “Since being appointed administrators in February, we have had a number of meetings with Strathclyde Police and are co-operating fully with them.
“At no time has any request for information from the police been denied, nor delayed in any way.”
Mr Whitehouse said that as far as Duff and Phelps were aware, a decision had yet to be taken on whether the investigation would fall within the jurisdiction of Strathclyde Police or the Metropolitan Police in London.
He added: “We look forward to that decision being made and will co-operate fully with any investigation.
“It should also be noted that we have instigated civil proceedings at the High Court in London in relation to the takeover of Rangers.”
Mr Whyte bought Rangers last May for £1 from Sir David Murray.
The Ibrox club entered administration in February over unpaid tax. It has since emerged that the total liabilities facing the club could be about £134m.
Last month, Sir David Murray’s company, MHL, agreed to hand over copies of its correspondence with Mr Whyte’s lawyers, Collyer Bristow, over the sale of Rangers.
Duff and Phelps are suing Collyer Bristow for about £25m over the firm’s handling of the takeover in May 2011.
LiviBhoy on 8 May, 2012 at 11:56 said:
Enjoyed your summary of Hibs, LB. I’ve just moved from the West End of Edinburgh to 5 mins from Easter Road. Attended the game last night, as I thought it might have a good atmosphere – 1st time there since the old Easter Road.
What a cracking little stadium.
I also enjoyed objectively assessing the players. Where Hibs are concerned, Doyle up front is a player IMHO. O’Connor is literally huge, and carrying far too much weight. He is revered as a local though and seems to have a talismanic influence.
The 2nd heaviest chap on the pitch was Euan Norries, the ref – walking home, i thought he was lucky to have a fairly incident free game, until I went on to Twitter when I came home to find that the ball didn’t cross the line for the 4th goal. He is not athletic enough to be a ref. Look at Howard Webb ffs. He looks fitter than some of our players! That is the benchmark for refs in this country. Sadly, incompetence results from a lack of fitness and always being off the pace. Rant over.
Midfield wise, Claros, Soares and Osbourne (all loans, 2 from England and one from Honduras) are not good enough. No pace, no grit and don’t look fit. Osbourne enjoyed a little bit more freedom to run in the 2nd half, but in tight spots, not good enough for me. The Scottish lad Stevenson looks good though – some good bursts of pace. Linked well with Doyle. What a difference ball winners like Wanyama, Kayal and Brown would make to this side. Wanyama is one of the best tacklers I have seen in the hoops for a while.
Hibs back 4 looked pretty decent to me – liked the Scottish lad Hanlon at centre half.
Good luck to Hibs in the Cup Final……..
God, I need to get back to Parkhead!
p.s best banter of the night was the full 1-12 men went to mow, with a change of lyrics to fit the visiting manager….
‘4 men couldnae carry, couldnae carry jeffries. 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his dog, couldnae carry jeffries….’
how i laughed.
Celtic First ——-
Man in question and his wife [ both in their early 70s ] left last Friday morning to drive to tomorrow night’s final . Neither has a ticket.
I hope they win . !
RobertTressell
The imaginative ideas regarding tickets should start with the German idea of cheaper tickets and standing areas , which Celtic are already looking at.
The Club should also be doing more to attract us ( the supporters ) up to the ground early on match days , Club hotel / Celtic Legends pub / shopping units etc .
I would rather spend my money in these facilities than in City centre pubs etc , price things reasonably and people will buy them and the club will benefit.
Simples really .
FGF
Spot on.
ernie lynch on 8 May, 2012 at 12:47 said:
RobertTressell on 8 May, 2012 at 12:39 said:
”It strikes me as bizarre that Celtic supporters see withdrawing from Celtic as a way of punishing the Scottish football establishment”
It strikes me as bizarre that anyone could misconstrue, or misrepresent, the argument to that extent.
Agreed its is perverse
Hail Hail
South of Tunis
Shades of Seville 2003. I hope they win too. And I hope they get to see it.
EKBhoy on 8 May, 2012 at 12:50
I prefer to think of them as less docile
Hail Hail
The Edge
Richard Northedge takes on corporate finance.
Fining Rangers FC for insolvency is insanity
Football finances belong to a different planet, but fining a club because it goes bust? That’s from a different galaxy. What chance has the authorities of receiving any payment?
The part of outer space in question is Scotland and the club is Rangers. As if owing an estimated £130m or more that it cannot repay was not enough trouble for the Glasgow club, the Scottish Football Association has imposed a series of fines and other penalties on it for brining the game into disrepute and breaking various rules.
But however sensible it is to punish a club that hasn’t paid its bills – in particular, not handing the required share of gate receipts to other clubs in the Scottish FA – where is the sense in a £50,000 fine for going bust? Or as the SFA rules put it, “where a full member or an associate member suffers or is subject to an insolvency event.”
If Rangers had the money it would probably pay. But if it had the money there would be no insolvency event.
Frankly, the chance of receiving the £10,000 maximum fine for not complying with the FA’s articles and the £100,000 maximum fine for bringing the game into disrepute must be in doubt, but at least a club could have committed those sins while still having money in the till.
The censure for not acting in football’s best interests and for failing to give Dundee United the gate receipts makes sense because censures are free but can still be painful. Ditto the bar on buying new players.
The docking of 10 points by the Scottish Premier League for going bust is a practical punishment too (it has left Rangers second to Celtic in the table, but that’s where it would have been anyway) but does is not directly financial.
Craig Whyte, Rangers’ controversial owner has been fined £200,000 by the SFA for his own offences – separate to the insolvency. And while the club has been given a year to pay, he gets only 30 pays before interest kicks in at 4 per cent above base rate. The chance of receiving any of that must be very low too: his life-time ban from the Scottish game may expire before the fines are paid.
But a fine for going bust lacks any logic. If the Scottish FA hopes to receive anything it may have to borrow the referee’s whistle.
FourGreenFields on 8 May, 2012 at 12:51 said:
Agreed. Shdn’t be beyond the wit of man. No doubt licencing issues though zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I am just a simple guy who had now retired from the cut and thrust of work life.I look at things in a simple way Now if I played cards each week with a group ofold boys and had thoughts for a while that the guy winning most of the money was cheating but I couldnt prove it then one day he got caught red handed.The group decided to have a meeting to decide what to do one or two wanted him out as they could not trust him.However,he made a plea saying he was a changed man and he wouldnt cheat again so the group had a vote and decided he could continue to play now working on the basis once a cheat allways a cheat I decided I would no longer play in this group.Simple makes sense to me Newco in the SPL is the final straw that breaks the camels back save your money dont support the cheats.H.H.