There was a flutter of excitement yesterday at news from the Court of Session that Rangers liquidators, BDO, did not object to Dave King becoming a director of newco. King sought permission from the court to prevent a subsequent challenge from one of Rangers unpaid creditors, but the phoenix club are now free to appoint him as a director.
The question of whether he is fit and proper to run a football club remains. King has employed professional PR and appears to have a clutch of journos doing his bidding, I even heard one ask yesterday if the SFA would dare hold him to a higher bar that that of the highest court in the land – either deliberately or accidentally misunderstanding legal process.
The ‘highest court in the land’ was asked to adjudicate what turned out to be a matter which was not contested. The SFA is another matter.
The SFA will not seek the view of Rangers creditors, they will consider the words of Lord Nimmo Smith’s inquiry into some of Rangers misdeeds while Dave King was a director of the club:
“There is no evidence that the Board of Directors of Oldco took any steps to obtain proper external legal or accountancy advice.
“The directors of Oldco must bear a heavy responsibility for this. While there is no question of dishonesty… we nevertheless take the view that the nondisclosure must be regarded as deliberate.
“Given the seriousness, extent and duration of the non-disclosure, we have concluded that nothing less than a substantial financial penalty on Oldco will suffice”.
The SFA will also consider Mr King’s 41 criminal convictions last year for breaking tax law in South Africa. They will consider an earlier assessment by Judge Brian Southwood’s that King is a ‘glib and shameless liar’.
They will not consider some of the 281 charges of dropped as part of his plea bargain, including charges of money-laundering and racketeering.
They will consider the actions taken by King to displace the previous newco board, which led to the resignation of nomad WH Ireland and the subsequent de-listing of the club from the stock market. The possibility of shareholder legal action in light of the de-listing was disclosed last week, opening another new stage for reputational damage.
Newco Rangers can go ahead and appoint Mr King this afternoon. There is no SFA ‘Fit and Proper test’. Instead, clubs are liable for retrospective punishment should they appoint someone who the SFA subsequently regard as not fit and proper to run a football club.
To avert retrospective action, Mr King has asked the SFA to settle his fitness in advance.
If the SFA consider judge-issued phrases such as “directors of Oldco must bear a heavy responsibility”, “nondisclosure [to the SFA]must be regarded as deliberate” and “glib and shameless liar” as being appropriate to run a Scottish football club, we have no fit and proper criteria whatsoever.
His fitness is linked to his suggestions made some months ago that tens of millions of pounds will need to be invested in newco and that he was the man to make it happen. If he has the money, he will invest whether the SFA pass him or not.
This entire issue is a faux precipice. King could easily appoint his own people to the PLC board, he would be able to attend board meetings and bark whatever orders necessary. So why not just appoint a board full of experienced non-execs and set about running the club?
It could be that the tens of millions required are not there and he’s looking for a get-out, but I honestly don’t see that. Whether he invests the necessary money or not, he’s there for the long haul. This is about authority over the SFA.
Our fabulous Open Golf Hospitality auction for Mary’s Meals ends tomorrow, fill your boots…….
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Best of luck to Heid at Wigan
HAMILTONTIM
Every time he opens his mouth in public,I wonder how he has done so well for himself. A choob in a suit wi a mouth which isn’t connected to any discernible brain.
He must be dead good at interviews!
BMCUW
i will just refer to them as cheats,Thats what they are.Thats what they always will be.
even this newco and old co patter is corporateguffspeak as to me.
oldklub and newklub.
HH
sipsini,
Good one from Phil. I wonder if the unnamed player has sacked his advisers yet?
thomthethim for Oscar OK:
You are not condoning it if you are not legitimising it with your hard earned cash.
What justification would Celtic possibly have to raise season ticket prices just because the huns came back to town. Hearts are a far better team than they are. Maybe Celtic would justify any potential price increase citing the increased competition of Hearts.
What is the Hearts footballing budget?
It all reminds me of a fable I once heard when it was once touted that the ‘auld firm’ would partake in a rolling global bigot tour and the only justification was not sport it was the bigot pound.
You’ve got to pause and think for a moment when you hear others claim the ‘auld firm’ are two sides to the one coin.
But then Celtic won’t raise the price to welcome back a club who financially cheated the Celtic Support previously; after all, the Celtic Support is Celtic.
If they did, that would be the mother of all double dipping and the mugs who were paying for the double dipping would be who?
Not those who shift in silences that’s for sure. Hey when you think about it… maybe silence is golden after all.
AN TEARMANN
Aye,but you can call them whatever you like-I need the guid trainers on when I get started!!!!!
Few points.
The market- ie Celtic supporters- drive the agenda. The board won’t put a gun to anyone’s head. We decided to desert Celtic Park when the huns destroyed themselves. We will decide to return when Rangers emerge. Blaming the board for that is strange. Blame Old Firmism.
Nice one from Phil.
Ole Chuckles stitches up yet another hun……makes me smile. :)
No problem with criticism of our board. If Bankier is inept at business, get stuck into him. Unfortunately Bankier gets it for political reasons.
Sacking the capitalist pigs and replacing them with lesbian vegan Green Party members sounds like fun but Celtic Park would soon suffer.
fit and proper test
Are you a hun?YES. Check
Are you adept at handshakes?YES . Check
Are you a glib and shameless liar? YES.Check
Are you a a real rangers man?YES.Check
Do you promise to do everything in your power to put Timmy(by any means be it legal or illegal)in it’s place?YES. Check
Sorry to ask such irrelevant questions Mr King.
We now pronounce you fit and proper.
Welcome to the people.
Your brethren C. Ogilvie
CAPTAINBEEFHEART
Which political reasons are you referring to?
I don’t know his politics,and I couldnae care less about them.
The discussion here about Bankier is entirely about his qualities as a chairman of Celtic,and what he has done since attaining that lofty position.
Which,IMO,is considerably less than his remuneration package might suggest v
fit and proper test?
Remind me what position does Campbell Ogilvie presently hold.
And see that Bryson, he looks and sleeks and smells like yon Gollum but what tests did he ever pass apart from breaking Lord Nimmo Smith out of jail.
fit and proper test… yer having a laff, that’s for Timmy’s like when they sign the likes of Tommy Burns as manager. How much did they sting Celtic for then? How much did they sting the huns for when Walter did his wee moonlight flit?
fit and proper test? Reminds me of the balance of probability test.
Joe Fillipi I am in no way criticising Auldheid et Al but if the club really wanted to embrace this they would have.
Bobby facts depend on who decides they are facts – well in Scotland at least.
Captain beefheart I do agree that there are lots of celtic supporters who just want to return to normal or what they think normality is. I disagree with them. However they weren’t the ones who colluded in corruption where they?
Bobby,
According to our class warriors, he is a Tory scumbag. References in the past have been made to his support for Israel.
Only managed 5 games this season at home,due to work commitments can’t do midweek matches.
Continuous changing of the schedule to accommodate broadcasters at short notice for me is the final straw.
This really hurts me to do this but I’ve had enough,will try to get along when i can get a ticket,Saturdays of course!.
Sean.
Captain Beefheart @ 12:44
I detect a political slant within a lot of your posts and this one continues that trend, I reviewed the Bankier posts and saw nothing untoward, would you be kind enough mate to highlight the post you saw that had politican content about Bankier?
Fingers crossed the goatpumpers at the SFA, led by the wicked Ogilvie, pass the Monkey Messiah with flying colours (Red, White, and Royal Blue).
I don’t want anyone with real resources or quality business accumen taking over at the Doom Dome.
Let them have their classic pub-chibbing-wannabe-Glesgae-gangster’s-wet-dream that is sleekit, underhand Dave who got lucky and rich on loophole schemes and opportunist racketeering among mistrusting colonials.
God forbid they got anyone sharp, connected, creative and dynamic.
Herald in the Monkey Messiah upon his carriage of lies and false hope, drawn by the enslaved will of gullible Orcs, install him on his throne of charred fenian bones in the Palace of Hate atop the Big Hoose, let the monstrous Hun drums strike up a supremast frenzy and watch them consume each other in an orgiastic cacophany of bigotry.
Yup.
Sure Murdochbhoy,
References and links concerning his support for Israel have been posted on here before.
Actually, a reference was made about our Zionist Tory overnight.
Hamiltontim
12:29 on
8 April, 2015
BMCUW
His comment about wanting the Celtic support to be more like the Tartan Army displayed astonishing ignorance.
—————————————–
What was it he said at the end of a certain AGM ht.
“Now go away and behave yourself”………………….patronising b*****d !!!
The SFA will consider this, that, and the next thing… Nonsense. The GSL will be waved through and probably welcomed with open arms. The SFA are as bent as the rest, and won’t do anything near to the right thing when the time comes.
Hi Paul67,
Good post, hits the target as per usual.
As the SFA bent the rules to allow Mike Ashley a shareholding in RIFC PLC, then rejected his further involvement and then censured him for “dual involvement” in Clubs. Presumably due to David King’s promise to invest £16M.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30598388
If it can’t be clearly shown that the promised investment isn’t forth coming then surely even the most “pragmatic” SFA man must see he doesn’t make the fit and proper criteria.
Hail Hail
Neganon,
Can’t answer your question as I am in a state of shock.
You said ‘I do agree. ‘
“This is about authority over the SFA.”
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Spot on again, Paul. Didn’t Paul Murray say a couple of weeks ago that they wanted to be “back” running the game?
Perhaps I am in a very small minority but I will be delighted if Dave King is considered fit and proper and can take up his place on the board of newco. I know, we all know, he is not fit and proper, and of course the football authorities also know he is not fit and proper. I prefer their boardroom to be full of unscrupulous and dishonest types. I like it that way. I feel more comfortable knowing their sectarian infested offices are crawling with thieves and liars, and like it even more so that the SFA or whomever, deem these peepul good enough to sit in office.
It’s what we all know. Never been any different. Cheating currants, cheating SFA, SPL and cheating refs.
I don’t like the thought of a fine upstanding citizen in control of them, especially a fine , and rich, upstanding citizen. So, Mr King, when cleared, will simply slot straight into a seat vacated by Whyte, Green and Murray before him, and will fit in pretty well. He has all the required traits to do a job that should keep US very happy. Well it’ll keep me happy anyhow.
Racketeering and money laundering would be quite serious if they were convictions. Amazing how someone like Dave could be embroiled in such alleged crimes.
NegAnon2:
What I can’t get my head around is why are shareholders pursuing a resolution? I thought that was the remit of the PLC on behalf of the shareholders best interests.
They either pursue it to conclusion, or give a satisfactory explanation as to why that is not possible, or sit schtum and hope every Timmy moves along.
It all reminds me of the old ‘we have a portfolio and we are not afraid to use it’.
Feckin use it, face them down, somebody has to, and all the wee diddy teams looked to us for leadership and we gave them an endorsement of the 5-way-deceit smothered in silence.
I think a green blazer would have fitted Turnbull Hutton, more so than any director, or CEO, or Chairman, or absent landlord, I’ve seen take office since Fergus came to town.
Or before.
Whats the thoughts on the team for tonight? Am I right in thinking Broony is suspended? If so i’d love to see Armstrong given the start in center mid next to big gangly legs Bitton with Joe Hansen in his usual attacking role.
McTALL
13:16 on
8 April, 2015
Back 5 as per last game, Johansen beside Bitton, Armstrong in centre with GMS & Forrst either side, Griffiths up front.
the SFA bent so far in the whole LNS Rangers back at all costs debacle they almost snapped.
If they allow the appointment of the boy who would be Dave with no censure there would be a crack in the SFA that exposed the whole bent infrastructure.
The SFA are doing the right thing saying nothing but the pressure will become unbearable for them soon I guess.
The SFA are not fit and proper, starting with the Chairman, the conflicted Campbell Ogilvie, so don’t expect them to block The GASL.
Why the SFA’s rules on “Fit and Proper Person” do not apply to Dave King: An Exercise in Scottish Football Semantics
Much has been written in recent days on Dave King, latterly a Director of Rangers Football Club plc (now in liquidation), a long standing member club of the SFA. More recently he accepted guilt on 41 criminal charges relating to tax breaches in South Africa. Mr King elected to pay a substantial fine from the court on all counts in preference to a jail term of some 84 years.
Mr King it is suggested, will shortly join the board of Directors of Rangers International Football Club plc (RIFC) in the capacity of Chairman. RIFC plc is the parent company of The Rangers Football Club Ltd (formerly Sevco Scotland Ltd), an SFA member club.
The difficulty foreseen in such an appointment is the requirement for any Director of an SFA member club to meet the SFA’s standard for “fit and proper person”.
For information, Article 10 of the SFA’s Articles of Association requires, amongst other matters that: “The Board [of the SFA] must be satisfied that any such person is fit and proper to hold such position within Association Football.”
The Articles thereafter describe a number of circumstances in which the Board of the SFA might “reserve its discretion” on such an appointment, and include with regard to the person concerned:
…(h) he has been convicted within the last 10 years of (i) an offence liable to imprisonment of two years or over, (ii) corruption or (iii) fraud;
…(j) he has been a director of a club in membership of any National Association within the 5-year period preceding such club having undergone an insolvency event;
Clearly, given that Mr King was liable to 84 years in prison for his tax indiscretions, and was until 2012 a director of the SFA member club Rangers Football Club plc, he has certain regulatory obstacles to overcome before he can accept the position of Chairman of Rangers International.
However, the challenge for Mr King may not be quite so difficult as the SFA’s rules appear to suggest.
It may come as something of a surprise to keen followers of Scottish Football, particularly those who take an interest in the governance of the Game, to find that in June of 2013 the SFA’s Articles were amended as regards the definition of a ‘club’. This change was unheralded at the time, and remains little known outside of Hampden Park.
Whereas previously, a ‘club’ was defined as “a football club playing association football in accordance with the provision set out in Article 6”; the revised SFA Articles now define a ‘club’ as:
“a football club playing Association Football in accordance with the provisions set out in Article 6 and, except where the context otherwise requires, includes the owner and operator of such club”
Article 6 requires, inter alia, that a ‘club’ is a member of the SFA.
This change reflects the concept first described by Lord Nimmo Smith in his SPL Commission’s Notes of Reason in 2012, whereby the undertakings of a football club can be separated from its owner and operator.
On ordinary reading, and taken together, one would conclude that the SFA member club is The Rangers Football Club Ltd, and its “owner and operator” is RIFC plc, to which board it is suggested Mr King be appointed Chairman.
However, one can adopt a different reading of the rules, such that the ‘club’ is in fact the intangible entity ‘Rangers FC’ as originally suggested by Nimmo Smith, and that its ‘owner and operator’ is The Rangers Football Club Ltd (formerly Sevco Scotland Ltd).
Thus, Mr King’s appointment to the board of RIFC plc is outwith the scope of the SFA’s rules, given that RIFC plc is effectively no more than the Owner of the “Owner and Operator” of the “club”.
I am quite sure the Board of the SFA is way ahead of me here.
McTALL
Brown is oot and big Virgil is the skipper the night.
Captain Beefheart @ 13:06
Thanks for your reply, I usually trawl back throught the posts in the morning, I missed that one so Ill go back and have another look.
I’ve been tempted to post some political comments and this morning I had a hell of a job resisting a post about the 140 senior doctors castrating the coalitions record on the NHS but I resisted as there seems to be a self-imposed moritorium on political posts.
Burgas Hoops
11:54 on
8 April, 2015
While CFC PLC have a chairman called Ian Bankier we will always be back of the bus material.
Is it too difficult to appoint a chairman who at least is a club supporter?
The fact that he is a Celtic minded person makes it all the worse.A more mundane,low profile ,nonentity,we would have struggled to hire.In fact,have any of the current board put their heads above the parapet yet.I am struggling to name them.Only PL is high visibility.
Paul67,
The start of your last paragraph ‘It could be that the tens of millions required are not there’
I am told that DK is finding that it’s not easy to get huge amounts of money out of SA.
I am also told that the shares he bought was done using borrowed money too.
I am also told that Mr Park feels duped, he’s providing the funding at the moment and has told DK that he won’t be parting with anymore until he sees DK commit.
I don’t know how much of that is true, it may be all made up gobbledegook, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it was true.
The self imposed moratorium on posts about wee Taylor Swift is over.
been a while since we’ve had to play without Broony be very interesting to see how the boys react. Gary 67 I think Armstrong and jo hansen would be interchangable in center mid.
Paul67
Do you believe that the SFA deem King to be fit and Proper?
TT