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Fan pressure gets through to SPL chairmen

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

My initial reaction, that the outcome from today’s SPL meeting and votes on Financial Fair Play, was on the upside of expectations, appears to be well founded.  All matters not relating to a Newco football team were passed.  Clubs had the opportunity to vote through a process to allow a Newco access the league but it was apparent that there was clearly insufficient support for this proposal, making subsequent proposals to apply sanctions to a Newco moot.

I understand sentiment towards Rangers reflected the comments from St Mirren chairman, Stewart Gilmour, who said, “What’s a court getting involved in football for? The decision had been made.”

There is no question that fan pressure has been brought to bear on club chairmen.

This interpretation compares starkly with BBC Reporting Scotland tonight who, if I paraphrase, said, ‘If Rangers don’t get a CVA, depending on your point of view, they will either get “back” into the SPL with light or with punitive punishment’.  The broadcaster also threw in the suggestion that ‘Rangers’ might get ‘back’ in without punishment.

I’m a huge admirer of Reporting Scotland but this was perhaps the worst 60 seconds in 85 years of BBC reporting.  There was a decision made to ignore the real story, that no facility to get a Newco (not Rangers) into the SPL was approved, to ignore the outcome of several months of fan pressure, and to tailor a story that suits a controversial narrative.

Fortunately, it looks like the BBC will be back on form soon, but they really need to look at what happened today.

As for the CVA, it becomes less and less likely by the hour.

UPDATE

Having spoken to BBC Reporting Scotland’s Alastair Lamont it’s clear he has been briefed differently from me, which explains the contrast between our interpretations. This story is becoming a nightmare to report, and probably to read. Fair play to Alastair for being up for the debate. I feel much better about my favourite news programme.

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  1. bjmac on

    Canamalar

     

     

    You decide ;-)) I’m too busy enjoying my jelly & ice cream and looking forward to supporting my team…

     

     

    *BIG SMILE*

     

     

    bjmac

  2. dixiebhoy69 on

    LB

     

     

    If it has to do with yer honeymoon then yer missus might no want ye tellin us aboot that!

     

     

    HH

  3. VertWolf on

    What would be better expulsion or suspension ?

     

     

    In a way suspension is a more punitive punishment – like being stuck in limbo

     

    Club still theoretically exists but has no income, no players, no manager, no matches but is still there to be punished for previous crimes and has a history that can be revised accordingly

     

     

    VertWolf

  5. West Wales Celt on

    Paul:

     

    I’m feeling your pain mate; I go from ‘their dead’ ecstasy to ‘their bouncing back with minimal punjshment’ misery.

     

    Its officially a head f%?k…

  9. Paddy Gallagher on

    THE EXILED TIM on 30 May, 2012 at 22:12 said:

     

    PaddyG

     

     

    Maybes he got his Humperdink removed :>)))

     

    *************

     

    From where?

  10. stevebhoy on

    Anybody know if there is a link to the Stewart Gilmour interview on youtube for those of us on ipads? BBC videos dont work, as they promote one kind of computer despite their charter…

     

     

    Thanks in advance

     

    HH

  12. Laird of the Smiles aka PMTYH on

    PeteTheBeat on 30 May, 2012 at 20:33 said:

     

    Awe Naw – as our Germanic expert, would you know whether it would be possible to get tickets to a Bayern game when I go to Munich in late August?

     

    —————————————————————————————-

     

    Very difficult to get tickets for Bayern, but you might get tickets for Munich 1860, Bundesliga 2, if you just want to see a football match and visit the Allianz Arena. If you are desperate to see Bayern and Aw Naw can’t help then I have a very good contact, friend, who normally gets me tickets for FC Bayern at home, but cannot promise.

     

    I’m not sure how it is done but I’m sure Paul67 will give you my email address.

     

     

    Hail! Hail! PMTYH

  15. Glen Daly on

    Laird of the smiles,

     

     

    Been to Dubrovnik 4 times (was married there in 2010). Belfast bar is in Lapad Bay, 2 or 3 miles from the Old Tow. If you are staying nearby then fair enough, but I wouldn’t go out to Lapadse just to have a beer in that pub.

     

     

    Plenty of bars in Dubrovnik will be showing the Euros, especially the two Irish bars within the city wall

     

    Most Croats who atre football fans will be quick to assure you that they are well aware Prso & Jelavic signed for the wrong team!

     

     

    Hadjuk is the main team in that part of the world.

  16. Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire on

    vertwolf,

     

    expulsion,

     

    tremination of association

     

    crest hanging in the Celtic trophy room

  18. Greenlion2 on

    googybhoy ♥ Celtic and the Lisbon Lions on 30 May, 2012 at 22:10 said:

     

     

    I could not get it to work through fatbhoys or tonight

  19. bjmac on

    Canamalar

     

     

    Yip, well done, you’re on real form tonight ;-))

     

     

    You drunk again?

  20. googybhoy ♥ Celtic and the Lisbon Lions on

    knoxy2000 eating Jelly and Ice Cream and supporting Neil Lennon on 30 May, 2012 at 22:18 said:

     

    googybhoy, couldn’t listen to it as my very temperamental wife is beside me watching the apprentice, you’re fired, but visually it looks very good indeed. Well put together!

     

     

    …………

     

     

    Cheers knoxy will pass on your comments.

  27. Big Nan on

    To while away the hour or so before the E-mails are released here is the latest from Private Eye on the Hun. These articles by SLICKER are getting bigger!

     

     

    PLANET FOOTBALL

     

     

    Rangers

     

     

    THE latest saviour of Rangers, Charles Green, suggests that some of the members of his syndicate of overseas investors will come from the Middle East as well as Singapore and Malaysia – perhaps the rich Gulf state of Qatar.

     

     

    Green certainly knows a little about Qatar, as he was a onetime reported “deputy chairman” of Panceltica Holdings, a Jersey-registered but Qatar-based construction company that had a short and, for investors, unhappy life on the AIM market. Although not listed as a director of the Jersey parent, Green, then living in Dubai, was very much involved in the promotion of Panceltica.

     

     

    Panceltica was floated in March 2008 with a placing of 10m shares at lOOp, providing a market capitalisation of £230m. It was touting a new technology using lightweight, steel-framed buildings to build houses and apartments. “It’s like putting together a Meccano kit,” Green told the Daily Telegraph. Clearly there were some missing pieces.

     

     

    By June 2009 problems with its main contract for low-cost housing in Qatar – which was on behalf of its major local shareholder, the government-linked Barwa Real Estate – had delayed the accounts and threatened the survival of Panceltica. A month later Barwa terminated the contract. In August the Qatar subsidiary went into liquidation and Panceltica shareholders were told there would be nothing for them. The shares were delisted. Panceltica and two Jersey subsidiaries were wound up in 2010.

     

     

    Rangers shareholders and fans will be hoping that the Green-backed company voluntary arrangement to be sent out to creditors this week has much better luck.

     

     

    Meanwhile, more light was thrown by last week’s BBC Scotland Investigates TV documentary on the murky dealings leading up to the acquisition of Rangers last year by Craig Whyte, which resulted in administration in February.

     

     

    The programme showed the October 2010 “comfort letter” provided to Rangers owner Sir David Murray’s lawyers by Whyte’s now ex-lawyer, Gary Withey. It referred to an unidentified “UK financial institution” -previously identified here as Merchant House Group – which had confirmed that Whyte had “up to £33m” available for the deal.

     

     

    So desperate was Murray to sell that he never asked to see the MHO letter. Withey blamed MHG, telling the BBC it had confirmed Whyte’s resources as being in excess of £33m to his then law firm, Collyer Bristow.

     

     

    “I have no reason to doubt their bona fides,” wrote Withey of MHG. But what he did not reveal was that at the very time MHG was vouching for Whyte, Whyte’s Liberty Capital was (and had been since 2009) its major financial lifeline.

     

     

    Liberty Capital first became a major shareholder in MHG in November 2008, when it surfaced with a 9 percent stake, costing around £120,000 following a share placing earlier that year. In December 2009, Liberty transferred £500,000 of preference shares in another Whyte company, Tixway, to Merchant Capital, an MHG subsidiary, to enable it to meet capital requirements for Irish regulators. Liberty received a £500,000 unsecured, no-interest convertible note from MHG due in 2015.

     

     

    Around this time, Merchant Capital agreed to push all its investment fund business through Prichard Stockbrokers, where Whyte was company secretary and a major shareholder.

     

     

    In February 2010, Liberty provided another £100,000 to meet capital requirements in Ireland in return for almost 42m shares in MHG. This took Whyte’s stake to 29.9 percent. The following month, Liberty sold 35m shares at a big profit for £175,000 ahead of a deal whereby it acquired another 50m new shares for £250,000, restoring the Whyte stake to just below the bid-trigger level of 30 percent. But by July 2010, Liberty had managed to unload 59m shares on to a falling market which could have realised as much as £3m, thereby more than recouping its investment.

     

     

    However, MHG was still in need of Whyte’s help. In June 2010 Liberty had agreed to “provide financial support” for at least 12 months. So Whyte agreed in August to pump in £617,000 by way of 400m new shares and a new convertible loan. This pushed Whyte’s stake in MHG from 5 percent to over 20 percent, making him again the biggest shareholder as well as its main financial backer.

     

     

    And that was the position at the time Withey wrote his “comfort letter”. No wonder Withey did not identify the “UK financial institution”. MHG would have no doubt been prepared to say anything Whyte wanted – especially so long as it was not identified. Had MHG been named the warning signs would have been flashing even to the desperate Murray.

     

     

    As for Whyte, Liberty sold some MHG shares and convertible before dealings in MHG were suspended in April – due to concerns about its financial condition. But it is likely to take a six-figure hit on the remaining shares, convertible and preference shares. But then nothing a supposed “billionaire” like Whyte could not afford.

     

     

    ‘Slicker’

  41. Kojo on

    My dear,dear,dear,friend.. Pujol

     

     

    Hiya.. Auld Friend?

     

     

    Long time, since Ah heard fae Ye.

     

     

    Hope ye are feelin’ Mighty Fine.

     

     

    Yep.. Ma Boss, Fargo.. said it Years ago..

     

     

    “Murray, is Heading fur Donkey Island”

     

     

    And fir those who dinna know.. whit or where Donkey Island is..

     

     

    Ah wull Tell ’em.

     

     

    It is aff the East Coast of Hameldaeme…

     

    and it is where wee Boys …And .. sometimes.. Big Men.. as well.

     

    Go..

     

     

    Who Tell Lies.

     

     

    and when they get there.. they Grow Ears and a Tail.. and eventually, change completely.. Inta Donkeys.

     

     

    This is no Fable.. This is The Truth.

     

     

    Jist you wait.. Murray, is Going There.. Jist as sure as

     

    Cat’s dinnae Wear Pajamas!

     

     

    Unfortunately.. Howevahhhhhhh……….

     

     

    Ah must inform ye,pal..

     

     

    the last Part o’ that stuff Ah jist wrote.. wiz a LIE..

     

     

    But, that is only..

     

     

    On accounta

     

     

    In the First Part of the Stuff Ah wrote..

     

     

    Ah wiznae tellin’ the Truth!

     

     

    Anyway.. Murray, did leave the scene in Disgrace..

     

    so.. There is a wee bit Truth there..if ye look Hard enuff.

     

     

    Right?

     

     

    Nice Chattin’ wi you again, pally..

     

    Don’t be a stranger.

     

     

    Kojo

     

    yer pal.. who thinks ye are swell.

     

     

    Still, Laughin’… like Hell.

  42. viewfaethewindae on

    Kojo,

     

    I’ve kept away from the blog for many months now, this whole Rangers thing just not my thing, anyway old chap glad to see you’re well and in good form. Keep telling it like it is – Viewfae who thinks, you’re a one off, right?

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