Faux precipice, the £30m man, fan shakedown
Lots going on today, we’ll maybe have a second blog this evening on Craig Gordon, but for now….
Last month I wrote that Dave King’s Fit and Proper issue was a faux precipice. If he was not found Fit and Proper he, “could easily appoint his own people to the PLC board, he would be able to attend board meetings and bark whatever orders necessary.” This issue would not prevent King from investing in the club, or from gaining the kind of influence Mike Ashley had until recently.
There are no SFA rules which could prohibit an unfit and improper person from being the 100% owner of a club. The matter is in the very literal sense, a formality.
Still, in passing such a tainted convict, who has already sat on the board of a club which sailed into liquidation, was subject to considerable criticism from an SPL judicial report, and had his honesty derided by a South African judge, the SFA, have made an improper decision. It’s a marginal call whether our man is better working on the inside or taking nothing to do with it. Neither option is satisfactory, the only permanent resolution to this scourge of the ages is to leave Scottish football behind.
For what it’s worth, I think King is utterly brilliant. Sounding a bit like Rhett Butler in an interview with the Daily Record, he said, “Quite frankly I don’t give a damn what people say or write about me. I will do whatever I think is best for me. The media and the fans will make no difference to my success or failure.”
Stand down all you psychological profilers.
The guy is perfect, how did he convince so many fans he was good for them? Wait, I remember. In the same article he said:
“The only way we can access that revenue is to compete with Celtic. To do that, in our first year back we are going to have to treble our wage bill as a minimum. Depending on how Dermot Desmond responds we may need to make it four times bigger.”
“First year back……. treble our wage bill…… minimum….. may need to make it four times bigger”.
He went on, “I have lost £20m in Rangers already and I’m happy to lose another £30m because I love the team”.
£30m. Go for it, Dave, we’d all love to see it. That would teach Celtic a lesson.
Here’s a few predictions. The No Surrender to a perceived enemy days will be back in spades. They need to dislodge Celtic, its influence and its support. Expect bad PR when a fan illegally disposes of litter and the onslaughts against our CEO to continue. They have not been able to lay a glove on Ronny for months, but wait until we draw a game at home. Players should avoid camera phones, and Scott Brown should never sit down in public. Anthony Stokes will be cautioned against use of a flagrantly Irish accent.
Whatever money is available will flood into the coffers in a desperate attempt to close the gap with Celtic, but there will be no trebling of wages or £30m investment. Instead, the fans will be asked to stump up the big numbers. In the event Mike Ashley is held in abeyance, the window between now and the money running out is critical. I expect nothing more than a shambles, they don’t have the money or the intelligence to take Celtic on, but this is their one big play. Celtic are ready.
Fancy winning two tickets for premium seats in the Jock Stein Stand for Trophy Day on Sunday, courtesy of Magners? To win, email me the name of the Celtic keeper who won Sportswriters’ Player of the Year this season. Put the name in the SUBJECT field of your email and send to celticquicknews@gmail.com
COMPETITION CLOSES AT 21:00 tonight, 20 May.
There was some stunning news today. Mary’s Meals, a charity founded in Scotland 13 years ago, now feed over 1m children each day. Almost three thousand of them are in schools funded by you in Malawi. While entering the competition you might want to donate £1 to the Mary’s Meals pot here.
This success is partly yours, so read what you’ve done.