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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RIP Hugh ” Dick” Doherty.
Buncrana
til yesterday our oldest past player
Will Celtic get a crowd the size of the one the huns got last night at, Thurdays European game?
Not the same Chelsea fans at Manchester
By Jim White
6:10AM BST 30 Sep 2014
Residents near rugby’s HQ have nothing to fear – Chelsea’s affluent football fans would be ideal guests
As I made my way along the Fulham Road to Stamford Bridge stadium at the weekend to watch the home team play Aston Villa, I found myself walking behind two thirtysomething Chelsea supporters. They were engaged in conversation of a kind not wholly unexpected thereabouts. It wasn’t about how they hated Arsenal, it wasn’t detailing plans to meet up with Villa hoodlums for some after-match aggro, it wasn’t remotely threatening, aggressive or abusive. Rather, what they were discussing was their position on the waiting list for a Morgan sports car.
“Only got three months to go,” said one.
“Well done you, I’ve still got 18,” said his mate. “What will you do with the Aston when you get it?” “Keep it,” came back the reply. “The Morgan’s just for jokes, really.”
The conversation came to mind when I read a report about the putative bid by Chelsea to share Twickenham for the 2016 season while the Bridge is being redeveloped. Apparently, those living close to the Rugby Football Union’s venerable stadium are in a state of high anxiety about the plan. Geoff Acton, a local councillor, says residents will be “up in arms” at the very idea, outraged by the uncouthness of those about to descend on their postcode. They are terrified for their hubcaps, petrified about their herbaceous borders, panicked about the long-term effect on house prices. Football supporters at HQ? Locally they are braced for a fortnightly visitation by Visigoths.
Which makes you wonder when was the last time Mr Acton went to watch Chelsea play. Had he been recently, he would have noticed that the games take place in a quarter of London so wealthy it makes Twickenham look like downtown Detroit. Yet, astonishingly, matches pass off without any of the nearby mega-valuable property being razed to the ground. He would have noticed, too, that the ticket prices there act as a subtle mechanism for social cleansing. In order to afford the £85 admission, those turning up tend to be drawn from the same strata as those who hold debentures at Twickenham. Chelsea is no longer home to the working man’s ballet. It is now the hedge funder’s Covent Garden.
Of course, as the recent film Riot Club would suggest, being well-heeled does not necessarily preclude bad behaviour. For sure, there is plenty of robust language at the Bridge (I once heard a regular berate a visiting player who had sworn at a linesman in front of where he was sitting: “have some respect,” the man shouted, “this is the effin family stand”.) But the sort of widespread disorder that once accompanied football matches is a thing of the past. Members of the Chelsea Headhunter gang that so alarmed Mr Acton long ago retired to attend to their buy-to-let portfolios in Weybridge.
The truth is, these days Chelsea supporters are a model of well-behaved sobriety, mocked by rivals for their polite decorum. At the Bridge, the view is never obscured, as it is at Twickenham, during games by the constant movement along the rows in front of those obliged to head to the gents to siphon off the effects of their pre-match intake. Frankly, you are more likely to have your wellbeing compromised by the annual gathering of the Dagenham Girl Pipers than you are by the arrival of Chelsea supporters in your neighbourhood.
Not that such reality is likely to impinge on the arguments over the next few months. You can understand why the Rugby Football Union would be keen to strike a deal. At the moment, their magnificent 85,000 capacity edifice is in use fewer than a dozen times a year. They see their football counterparts at Wembley rent out the premises to everything from the shoulder-padded grunts of American grid-iron to Lady Gaga, and they fancy a bit of that. Never mind preserving the hallowed turf for egg-chasing, there could be serious cash on offer.
Their problem, though, has always been persuading their neighbours to let them use HQ more frequently. A well-mobilised group of locals has historically resisted every expansionist proposal. Theirs is an issue which extends well beyond the boundaries of leafy south-west London. As grand-scale sporting events become ever more significant engines of economic growth, so the battle between those who want to stage them and those who live close by intensifies. Road closures, diversions, stadium rebuilding works: every aspect of sporting growth meets resistance.
And there is no question a fortnightly Chelsea match will bring disruption, even if it comes from the gridlock caused by visiting four-wheel-drives rather than shaven-headed hoodlums running amok down the high street. While it might be argued that it is no more than can be expected when buying a property near a sports stadium, perhaps the locals might ultimately be better off doing what the RFU is doing: embracing the economic opportunity. Follow the lead of the home-owner nearby the last time I visited Twickenham, and make a cheery killing by charging £15 to park on the drive. What’s more, for Chelsea games, they could insist on a premium for Morgans.
Probably not, but I’ll be there supporting the bhoys in the hoops with a smile to be back in paradise.
HH tae ye all
Certainly worth a re-post….
mncelt
05:18 on 30 September, 2014
Stubbsie reflects on a good nights work – includes all first half goals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ3riDk04Lw
Aye….looks like the erse has fallen oot it, eh?
Ronny’s to blame.
Ronny brought the players in.
Ronny see’s the players every day.
Ronny manages the players.
Ronny picks the team
Ronny decides on the tactics.
Ronny has been told by John Collins
how it goes down in these parts but,
Ronny know’s better.
Ronny is in charge coz Celtic’s ‘sheep’
supporters accept him.
Ronny was brought in to manage Celtic coz
the,Thatchers children who run the club
with the ‘sheep’ money – know that the supporters
are ‘sheep’. Ah mean, who’s gonnae burst their erse
to put a product on the pitch when, it’s only a flock of
‘sheep’ supporters that they’ve to answer to?
Aye….the erse has truly fallen oot it / the ship has sailed
the horse has bolted / the baby has been thrown out with
the bathwater etc…blah, blah, blah etc…etc.
Off oot, canny be bothered anymore, lifes too short, bye.
sipsini
The basturts put the lights out on Stubbsy!
Typical hurtin huns!
HH!!
Hunmedia, magic…
To rid ourselves of Ally we also need to pay of Durrant, McDowall, Bell etc. Do we have that money as it is in reality going to be over 1mill to get them to f**k off? McCoist is never going to walk without a cheque as he is proven incompetent and will not in this life have a job in football management. I really do hate the sight of him now and still find it hard to believe he has not been stopped.
Oh well, reckon I’ll need body armour for work tonight..;))
sipsini- do you work in Gregg’s?;/)
Lionroars
An interesting article.
It appears to me however to be advocating that trouble at football matches is a social problem, a demographic problem, as opposed to that of the toffs who frequent SW London to attend Chelsea matches.
The article also fails to point out that Stamford Bridge is situated where Stamford Bridge has always been, and the nasty thugs who follow the nasty team, still go to the same Stamford Bridge.
Having witnessed violence first hand on the Kings Road, I think it a little disingenuous for the reporter to suggest it’s no longer there.
Meanwhile, on the mean streets of Scotland, this article appears today in The Courier…
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/casual-violence-dundee-football-hooligans-speak-out-on-the-emergence-of-ultra-violence-in-scotland-1.602994
tallybhoy,
Not before he put their lights oot.
Catch up at the hootenanny, looking forward to the craic.HH
sipsini
Seeya on the 11th.
HH!!
Dbbia.
I wished, think of the bonus from huns eating steak bakes, then again, thems seem to have lost their appetite for them.
Sipsini & Tallybhoy
Looking forward to catching up with you both next week. :)
som mes que un club
How could the focus unit at Police Scotland miss all this violence ? at Scotland’s football grounds
Lets have a shot how Police Scotland May have missed this violence just like they watched the recent violent incidents at George square develop into serious violence, maybe it depends on what colour of flag you have as well as your choice of song
Will we see the infamous cameras of the focus unit turn up at a match in Dundee not involving Celtic
Surgeon just away.
Op tomorrow to clear infection then intense course of antibiotics. Anyone fancy a week in Corfu from 10/10.14. All inclusive school week. What’s not to like….8)
dd
Likewise!
HH!!
DD,
Looking forward to it mate, mind bring Petec, the pool night was a great night all on form.HH
BT
Prayers offered for a successful op.
KTF
lionroars67
Couldn’t agree more.
The “riot” at Dens is something that, as a resident of Dundee, still sticks in my throat to this day. The local columnists had a field day up here in the days after the match, and their glee to report on the “riot” was evident.
However, whilst we have prominent DU supporting BBC journalists peddling the myth that the Dundee Derby, was a breath of fresh air and their supporters are an example to all other fans across the country, then we, in particular will have this continuous “focus” on us.
Although I have seen it all many times before, to be told they were an example to all is pathetic.
blantyretim is praying for the knox family
You certainly going through it BT, hope op tomorrow goes well
I thought Bilel Mohsni must be another agent placed in their midst by the unseen fenian hand to inflict further damage but it appears his name is an anagram of ‘hi no bills me’ so perhaps he has actually found his spiritual home.
B/tim- that’s a bummer.
Unfortunately these kind of infections have to be treated aggressively to eradicate them.
BT,
You’ve had a hell of a time with your leg, hopefully once and for all it will be sorted.
Goodluck,HH
Best wishes for tomorrow bt.
Only minor setback bhoys.
More deserving and people with lot worse than me..
I’m fine guys… KTF.
Barcelona gave us – Ticky Tacky!
Now to quote Chicko Dung – “they are stuck with McCoist – the glue which holds them together!”
The Sleekit-one has given us – Sticky Tacky!
:-)
BT
You have two choices here buddy.
Stick with the leg the way it is. You know it’s faults and frankly you reckon it will get a lot worse.
Or go for the op.
Good chance op could and should improve the leg situation but at worse it’s going to be on par with how it is right now.
Hope it all goes well fur yae and yon leg comes good after you say AYE. Nae talking gibberish under general anethesia now. Keep that for CQN.
Hail! Hail!
MWD said AYE
bt
Hopefully those antibiotics are not the kind that require you to refrain from consuming alcohol!
BLANTYRETIM
Stoic acceptance of a bad situation,mate. No point in anything else.
If you promise to get yerself spot on the next time I’m home-no excuses like the last few times!-the next dayooooot hoot is in the KOSC.
That should fill the coffers a tad….
Just make sure you get sorted,mate. Apart from the years of pain beforehand,it’s nearly eighteen months since that first op. Long enough.
Kev J
We will probably not have as many as were supposedly at rangers game but those who will be there will be there because they want to be, real supporters ….which is much better than 50000 glory hunters who only follow a winning team….. I am sure you will agree !
BT
Very best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.
HH!!
BT
Corfu’s highly over-rated. You’d just have come back disappointed and underwhelmed.
blantyretim is praying for the Knox family
09:45 on
30 September, 2014
Only minor setback bhoys.
More deserving and people with lot worse than me..
I’m fine guys… KTF.
++++++++++++
Actually. Come to think of it. Too right so stop yer feckin greetin.
Yae would think think you had a paper cut or something the wae your gan oan.
:-)
MWD said AYE
burnley78
09:55 on 30 September, 2014
Kev J
We will probably not have as many as were supposedly at rangers game but those who will be there will be there because they want to be, real supporters ….which is much better than 50000 glory hunters who only follow a winning team….. I am sure you will agree !
________
Well said.
The Tory Govt is to enact new laws to tackle “extremism”, whereby groups/organisations could be subject to banning orders should ministers “reasonably believe” that they intend to incite religious or racial hatred, to threaten democracy or if there is a pressing need to protect the public from harm, either from a risk of violence, public disorder, harassment or other criminal acts.
Except, of course, if such acts happen in Glasgow and the perpetrators are swathed in red,white and blue.
BT-sorry for your troubles.HH
Blantyretim.
Just come on the blog to see that you are for the chop tomorrow,and there was I looking forward to a few in the Blane Valley before the game on Thursday.
I’m glad you got in touch with the hospital too get it fixed rather than holding off until after your holiday, Makes sense pal.We can have a drink later..