Gavin Masterton, who as managing director of Bank of Scotland in the 1990s, was one of the financial lynchpins behind the issuance of credit to some of the leading investors in Scottish football, and was responsible for what was seen as reluctance to extend competitive terms to Celtic AFTER Fergus McCann’s takeover, today issued notice that one of his companies will be wound up, as it cannot meet commitments to repay loans by new Dunfermline Athletic owner, Christopher McBay.
Masterton came under pressure, which he eventually relented to, to write-off money he loaned to Athletic to allow it to avoid liquidation last year. He also claims these developments will lead to his personal bankruptcy.
In September last year, Ian Fraser, author of Shredded, an analysis of the debacle that was the Scottish banking industry, wrote in his blog;
“Charlotte Eighteen, a shadowy company based in the tax secrecy jurisdiction of the British Virgin Islands, remains the subject of intense interest among Scottish football fans. Allegedly the holding company for the business assets of Gavin Masterton, the former treasurer and managing director of the Bank of Scotland, it looks like it could be the crux to an extraordinary financial scandal at the heart of Scottish football.”
In March last year, Mail on Sunday wrote: “Bank of Scotland wrote off a £4 million loan to a company owned by Mr Masterton – then sanctioned the £12 million loan to another of his companies that allowed it to skip repayments for the next 35 years.”
In 2004, The Sunday Times, explained that while Masterton was at Bank of Scotland, an associate of his received a loan to buy Dunfermline Athletic, which included a guarantee that the loan would not need to be repaid until the borrower’s shares in the acquiring company were sold. Two years later, after Masterton left the bank, his company bought his associate’s shares and gained control of the club.
I bet the British Virgin Islands are nice this time of year.
Sean’s Trust, the charity setup by our late friend, St John Doyle to aid those dealing with stillbirth, are holding a Terry Christian stand-up comedy evening at the People’s Palace on 24 October. The show, Confessions of a Recovering Catholic, is a light-hearted look the legacy of his Manchester-Irish upbringing and has received excellent reviews. Billy NoWell is also on the bill, performing some of his unique material.
There’s a bar and buffet, tickets are only £16, email seanstrust@gmail.com for details.
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(thumbsup)
IMPORTANT INFO ALERT!!!!
Just under a year ago we lost one of our well-known posters,
ST JOHN DOYLE.
His family set up a charity foundation
SEAN’S TRUST.
BILLY NO’WELL is supporting act on a special night for the trust in four weeks time at
THE PEOPLE’S PALACE,24 Oct.
The main part of the evening promises to be even better!
This looks like a belter of an evening with the added benefit of a great cause-oh,and a few laughs too.
Details are here.
https://mobile.twitter.com/saoirsefanclub/status/514473542818492416/photo/1
Podium??
Charlotte? That names keeps coming up …
And – for those who are interested – some thoughts on the referendum and where we go from here:
Referendum Reflections
Auldheid
12:25 on
29 September, 2014
if I found myself singing from the same songsheet as Keith Jackson I’d stop and wonder if I’m part of the solution or part of the problem.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-celtic-boss-ronny-4342571
I recall stories that it was not all sweetness and light between Neil Lennon and Chris Commons at one point.
Anyone see a pattern here?
That is not to say concerns are invalid but I have yet to see what I would consider the strongest Celtic line up play in a game that matters and the fact that Jackson is frankly stirring it would stay my criticism.
jungle jim – thank you! He’s doing well, it’s me who’s losing sleep and hair! (thumbsup)
bobby murdoch’s curled-up winklepickers – kids are unexpectedly expensive. I’ve had to put the henchmen, minions and footpads on zero hours contracts.
I walked into their dojo the other day, looking for the big box of nappies and jauntily whistling “The Wearing Of The Green”.
The whistle died on my lips when I noticed my henchmen were all glowering at me, pointedly sharpening various knives and gripping their blunderbusses. One of them made a very rude gesture with a flamethrower.
I backed out of there quickly. Now I know how Craig Whyte felt. (thumbsup)
With that track record masterton must be in line to become an MP
bournesouprecipe .
Previous thread .
Toothless octogenarian Inter fanatic down the road thinks that their performance at Celtic Park in 72 was possibly their best ever defensive performance . I once made the mistake of reminding him that Evan Williams didnt have to make a save and got this in response ———— ” we didnt go there to attack , we went there to win “
gene’s a bhoy’s name – With that track record masterton must be in line to become an MP
Has he been sending out pictures of his Member of Parliament? (thumbsup)
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon
12:23 on
29 September, 2014
And – for those who are interested – some thoughts on the referendum and where we go from here:
Referendum Reflections
==============
Linky no worky for me.
You might find this by Pat Kane interesting
http://www.scotsman.com/news/pat-kane-ready-and-waiting-for-a-new-way-1-3555837
It is a reasonably well balanced look at why Yes lost.
philvisreturns
as long as he doesn’t show his member in parliament
bobby murdoch’s curled-up winklepickers
11:22 on 29 September, 2014
I’ve only watched 3 episodes from Series One, and I’m hooked …..don’t watch a lot of these, but will look out for good ones like this in future…… :)
SOT
Sums up Italian soccer mentality in one sentence.
Reported with a working link this time (thanks Auldheid).
Some thoughts on the referendum and where we go from here:
Referendum Reflections
We could have done with some of that mentality when we were 20 minutes away from knocking the ole Mariborians out of the CL.
Just one paragraph from the wonderful new book, Caesar & The Assassin, published soon by CQN…
Billy McNeill:
‘I could sense the fans were in the mood to give us a rousing send off, come what may,’ said McNeill. ‘Everyone connected with Celtic was disappointed and the season had taken a downturn in April. We were on course for the treble and now it looked as though we would have to settle for being second best. That stuck in my throat. I tried to rouse the players in the dressing room. I told them, “Listen to that noise – that’s our support. They’re playing their part, it’s time you played yours.” I hit on the idea of sending the players out early before the start of the second-half. I wanted them to realise what Celtic meant to these fans. Sure enough, they didn’t let me down. As the players knocked the ball about and waited for the Rangers lads to come out, our supporters started singing, as only they can, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. The scarves were held head high and were swaying and the flags were flying. If that couldn’t inspire a team then I haven’t a clue what could. The players responded.’
When we had big Vic we played not to lose.
Keith Jackson – Making sports journalism look like a task a three year can do with Alphabeti Spaghetti.
From the comments..
Come in Mr Masterton your time is up…
Paul,
Your article depresses me more than a little. The establishment has shown that it has no appetite to pursue and prosecute dodgy bankers – even today its reported that a few of them have got the sack over Libor rate fiddling but no hint of actually putting someone in the dock for fraud.
If that attitude doesn’t change (and it won’t), I can’t see how we will ever get to the bottom of the Charlotte Square corruption that might have seen Minty up in court.
This is Auldheid`s DR link. Read it then ask yourself why there is any need for Celtic Supporters to criticise our manager when the MSSM produce articles like this:
” Ronny Deila didn’t arrive here with much of a reputation to lose. For the most part the Norwegian was unheralded and, yes, even unheard of. His work at Stromsgodset may have made big news in Gulskogen but it hadn’t travelled as far as Glasgow which is why Deila was up against it from the outset.
He has an army of doubters to win over and quite frankly, the more the fans see of Deila’s work the less there is to convince them.
Yes, a victory was cobbled together at St Mirren but this was another strikingly sub-par performance from Deila’s side.
In fact, his team is becoming unrecognisable from the all-conquering unit left to him by Neil Lennon and, for that, Deila has some explaining to do.
The more he tinkers the less impressive the team becomes and, more alarmingly, there are now mutterings of discontent from behind the scenes at Lennoxtown where Deila’s ultra-modern methods appear to be causing some confusion.
The 38-year-old is full of ideas but precious few of them appear to be working for his players who remain unconvinced as to how a portion of rice with their Saturday night Chinese takeaway is going to make them perform more poorly on Thursday night when Celtic take on Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League.
All carbs and sugars have been banned by Deila who is in danger of coming across as a bit of a textbook fanatic, exactly the way Paul Le Guen did at Ibrox not so very long ago.
It’s as if Deila is determined to make management look like some sort of science but he is not being asked to split the atom here. He is merely being tasked with keeping Celtic ticking over as the strongest team in Scotland and right now he’s falling a long way short.
To that end, Saturday’s 2-1 win changes nothing, especially given that Tommy Craig has amassed just three points from a possible 21 since muscling his way into the St Mirren hotseat.
Craig, of course, is another coach with his work cut out as whatever his club’s board was expecting when they binned Danny Lennon it wasn’t to be locked into another season-long slog against the drop.
Deila’s situation is nowhere near as dire but even so, nearly three months into the campaign, he is failing to hit his targets a bit too regularly.
Like Watson at Gleneagles, some of Deila’s team selections have been beyond baffling . Leaving Scott Brown and Kris Commons on the bench against Motherwell the other week was a bit like leaving Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed in the clubhouse on Friday afternoon.
Commons was absent again at the weekend with Deila revealing his talisman has “pulled a muscle in his butt”.
The real bummer will come later this week if Commons can’t face the Croats although even if he is fit, there is always the possibility Deila might come up with a reason to leave him out as he has previously done in Europe this season.
Commons provides Celtic with a creative spark and very often his subtlety and craft can make a mundane domestic match worth watching but when Celtic step up in class Deila needs all hands on deck.
Which means when Commons is not on the ball then he must be prepared to roll up his sleeves a bit further.
Deila is right to demand this from a player who can be guilty of operating like a free spirit rather than as part of a unit. But, even so, Commons may have reacted with some incredulity the other week when his boss put his recent form down to improved levels of fitness.
It was almost as if Deila was insinuating that his methods were turning Commons into a player, which is as insulting as it is absurd to anyone who has watched him perform so beautifully for Celtic over the past three-and-a-half years.
Commons does not need to go without two sugars in his morning cuppa to run rings around his opponents. He was voted Player of the Year for a reason last season and it had nothing to with Canderel.
He has proved himself at Celtic. Deila, on the other hand, still has some distance to go and were it not for the assumption that the title is a gimme, then the pressure on him would be approaching Le Guen levels.
If Dundee United can maintain their fine early-season form that pressure may quickly begin to build.
It’s not too late for Deila to get this right. But the more complicated he tries to make this job appear, the less likely he is to find the right answers.
Taking charge of a team is not rocket science. It’s so much more elementary. Isn’t that right, my dear Watson?”
It really is an awful article.
JJ
Why does any Celtic fan read that rag ……?
Jackson’s tortured prose reeks of a desperation to return to his 1990’s nirvana…
‘all conquering’
I must have missed our treble last year.
don’tbuytherecordCSC
when we had big Mo we played with a bounce in our step
when we had big Giorgios we played with lovely hair
Starry
Annnnnnnd the bad news about Masterton
From twitter
“Gavin Dave’s mate says he might go bust. Good job he lives in Switzerland mostly now. He’ll be all right there! JINGS “
“It really is an awful article.
JJ”
Awful in the sense that so much of it may be nearer the truth than we might like to admit you mean?
I see Mr Samaras made his debut for WBA on Sunday. Anyone see the game?
when we had Artur we played with a sense of defiance
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bym2cA7CEAAhWst.jpg:large
HH
it cannot meet commitments to repay loans made to it by new Dunfermline Athletic owner, Christopher McBay
Keith Jackson’s desire for Deila to fail is………off the radar.
auldheid – from Pat Kane’s article:
The energy of the Yes campaign is Scotland’s greatest resource
Greater than coal?
Like many of my fellow Yessers, outwith matters of the heart or family, it’s probably the hardest loss of my life.
I believe him, but here’s the problem: you shouldn’t pin so much hope on politics in the first place. It’s setting yourself up for sorrow. Politics has never lived up to its promises: look at all the disillusioned folks who thought Obama or Tony Blair would make everything peachy.
Pat is still making a hue and cry about how wonderful it would have been if Scotland went full luvvie-politically correct-socialist, yadda yadda yadda, but in the real world of limited resources, sovereign debt, competing interest groups, currency crises, structural deficits and so on, it was never going to live up to the rosy picture painted by the Yes campaign.
At least among the more affluent and settled in our society, the basic confidence that Scotland had the resources and competence to make its way as an economically independent nation, even under adverse opinion and conditions, crumbled away at the last. And with it, our majority for Yes.
This is wishful thinking. There never was a majority for independence, so it didn’t crumble. But sure, Jim Sillars threatening a “day of reckoning” and strutting like a Venezualan El Presidente didn’t help the Yes folks.
We must maintain and develop the Yes public sphere that has emerged over these last few years – finding ways to improve our platforms of media and meetings
God help you. I think I’d rather be trapped in a timeshare sales pitch than hear more constitutional patter from these guys. They’d be wise to put it on the back burner for a year or ten. (thumbsup)
gene’s a bhoy’s name – as long as he doesn’t show his member in parliament
That’s why the benches are two sword lengths apart. (thumbsup)
Another of Ian Frasers reports
http://www.ianfraser.org/revealed-the-hornet-and-the-sting-which-are-stopping-us-learning-the-truth-about-the-collapse-of-hbos/
Firsts.
1988 strip made me think of important Celtic games.
Thought I would self indulge and post a few Celtic firsts for me.
First ever Celtic game was v Jambos, league cup sectional at Celtic park we won 4.2 after being 2.1 down, I think it was about 1969. First away game shawfield, again we won 4.2 was early 70s . I’m sure we were 2 down. First proper away game ie on a supporters bus,tynecastle in the 70s went on a bus from Glen bar in govan, my sister stayed in louath st, my brother in law took me we won 4.3 we were 2.0 down before we even got into the ground, queue was massive. Great game . Sadly first game v zombies 3.2 1973 cup final. Me, my mum and dad had tickets in main stand. Nightmare. First European away game Juventus. Awful experience we lost 2.0. Juve fans were not friendly!!! Best away ground anywhere,in my opinion, take a bow Dortmund. Friendliest place I have been to by a country mile.
winning captains
Thanks for that (shivers)
HH
When we had Jinky and Tommy Burns, we played gingerly.
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon ….The angels are with Wee Oscar in Heaven.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors
12:51 on 29 September, 2014
Why does any Celtic fan read that rag ……?
###
Constipation?
Log in after the golfers weekend
The site started as a bulwark against lazy journalism has links to the DR and Keech Jackson ??? then a poster compares real genuine Celtic fans with honest opinions as on a par with Keech Jackson ?????
Log off
Enjoy your day CQN