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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The Battered Bunnet
It’s from the court case – I read it again a few days on a The Rangers blog.
He claimed the £17m from Oldco as one of his incomes
Celtic 600000000000000000 Partick Thistle 9000000000000000000000000000000000.
The Battered Bunnet
http://www.bdlive.co.za/articles/2008/11/11/king-s-tax-assessment-valid—sars
” King’s tax assessment is made up, among other things, of a R4,8m tax bill on his Sandhurst house, R101,44m on a Falcon 900, R188,47m on a Talacar shareholders loan account, R2,1m on a Ferrari, R17,24m for living expenses and – his largest single tax claim – R200m income from Rangers Football Club, as well as R281,28m in penalties and R20m in taxes on income from the Amazulu Football Club, which King insists he bought for R1 in return for paying outstanding salaries and financial obligations for the club. ”
According to McMurdo, Duff and Phelps have him as a creditor, owed £3m
Tom continues his campaign to convince the world that the earth is in fact flat………
-tojo-
13:26 on 8 April, 2015
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.
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I heard that story too last week. Was hoping for an Admin event next season, but, seems to me that there’s no point in Admin. Apart from players contracts, they dont owe money, as they cant borrow any. King’s £30,000,000.00 is a myth, and I believe he’s going through the courts and now the SFA, in the hope that either one of them declares him as not Fit & Proper, which allows him to walk away, leaving the 3 stooges holding the baby.
The guy’s potless, and is in the process of having his bluff called.
Sevcomedy. It’s not just for Christmas you know!!
HH
How many Celtic Supporters on here, or anywhere else for that matter, added on to their wee nom de plume “BING ME THE HEAD OF NEIL LENNON” just prior to that wee memorable 3 – 3 draw against Kilmarnock?
No need to answer that because few, if any of you, will ever remember, maybe you don’t want to.
But I do and I will.
To my grave.
Bada, was that you? :))
Kitalba
I wasn’t on the blog at that point, but if I was…………………………………….Yip, I would most probably have put my name to it!!
HH
Kitalba, you need something to worry about if you’re taking to the grave the fact that some football fans wanted rid of a manager after a bad run !
I don’t think I can ever remember meeting, or knowing, or having the displeasure of, a more hostile and negative ‘supporter’ than he who named himself “BRING ME THE HEAD OF NEIL LENNON”
The same person who called Neil Lennon a coward after ALL the bullets and intimidations and midnight flits and security guards and armed thugs turning up at Lennoxtown.
Guess who it was, go on, you know you want to.
Keeping The Faith:
Yeah your probably right. I should just not care.
BMCUWP
Bump.
MWd said AYE
Jonny the Tim:
Good for you and post that day… what did you think about Neil Lennon? Did you call for the head of Ronny post our last recent European debacle?
Kitalba
The second half at Rugby Park that day will live long in my memory. Rarely have I witnessed the Celtic support united so much for our common cause.
Kitalba
I’ve said all along that I loved Neil Lennon the man, but not the Celtic manager. As for Ronny, I’ve always had belief in him. My thoughts at the time of the Legia/Maribor debacles, were, that he had inherited another man’s team, and that he was, generally, blameless.
HH
Jonny the Tim:
And that team that he inherited… did they have any ‘punching above your weight’ success in European competition?
Hamiltontim:
I was here that day and on-line and was dismayed by what I was reading.
Whomsoever it was (I know WG) that started the towel retrieval business that day retired a most affluent man.
Amazulu Football CLub, now trading as Amazombie Football Club.
Kitalba
Sorry I should have made clear that the unity was evident in the ground. I don’t know what it was like on here or other sites.
Tony Mowbray was blameless his year was the year of the ramped up honest mistakes. Only now do we know what killed Tony Mowbray and it wasn’t Occam’s Razor, it was the Hubris of the Hun and our club to this day appear to be okay with that.
Take it on the chin Tony didn’t take it on the chin, regardless of all the then day board advice, he shamed our club by going to court to get his contract paid.
Actually Tony did not shame our club, our board shamed our club and embarrassed all thinking ethical Celtic Supporters.
Celtic hung Tony Mowbray out to hang and if you remember rightly those were the days when we were boasting of the nuclear portfolio that would bring the SFA crashing down.
Campbell Ogilvie reportedly pee’d himself.
Laughing.
At us.
Hamiltontim, 14:55
And it was the much-maligned Forrest who showed the rage and passion that dragged Celtic back into that game, when plenty of heads had gone down
o.g.rafferty
Forest and Stokes both in equal measure stood up in that second half.
O.G.Rafferty:
I thought it was Anthony Stokes.
new article posted.
Stokes put the ball in the net from the fk but watching it on TV it was Forrest who was the man who had come to life
kitalba
14:58 on 8 April, 2015
Jonny the Tim:
And that team that he inherited… did they have any ‘punching above your weight’ success in European competition?
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In a word, YES, but obviously, Ronny wanted his players to play his way, which was never going to happen overnight. I was quite prepared to give him a full season in which to show his mettle. In my opinion, he has done that quicker than I would have hoped for. My issues with NL were, that I believe that any Celtic manager should serve an apprenticeship before being given the job. I believe that Neil was the right man at the wrong time, i.e., he should have gone to Bolton/Leicester first, then, if he’s any good, we take a look at him.
HH
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS 12:56 on 8 April, 2015
CAPTAINBEEFHEART
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
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Bobby M
Actually, there has not been any discussion on here about the Celtic chairman. There have been several points of view expressed where his name is mentioned, but zero discussion. A discussion implies that people listen and return with valid points so as to advance the dialogue.
On this very thread,
– the chairman’s own name was used to question his chairmanship of Celtic;
– his “alleged” lack of Celtic minded credentials and antecedents was used to discredit him
– someone knew someone else who didn’t like him, said he wasn’t a very nice person and that he had not previously shown any overt affinity for Celtic….and then latterly,
– his alleged lickspittle (my words) attitude to the “powers” in Scotland in matters concerning Celtic was mentioned. That is really code for – he didn’t scratch the itch of some Celtic fans by howling at the SFA or King David.
So before we all get carried away into some form of Orwellist parallel universe, Ian Bankier does indeed offer many reasons to some Celtic fans for their innate antipathy towards him. His name, his background, his suit, his education, his business success, his seat on the board, his failure to froth publicly on a variety of issues…etc etc
His performance as Chairman of Celtic is not one of them. Other then Brian Quinn, who only became as popular once he stepped down, there is no Celtic Chairman who has been popular. Even Fergus wasn’t popular with a hard core of “we know betters”. As far as I can determine nobody will admit to booing him on that flag day, but there are many here amongst us who know what they did.
If someone “important” from Celtic Football Club does not publicly say things that represent the frustrations of some Celtic fans, it does not follow that those fans have accurately assessed the situation, or that they have correctly understood their own bias, or that they have thought through the implications of emotionally charged outbursts that may or may not be made simply to play to the gallery, regardless of whether those words are meant or not.
Grandstanding is what the directors and owners of other clubs in Glasgow do. I don’t need any grandstanding and playing to the gallery gibberish from anyone in authority at Celtic.
Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake, even if they try to make it seem as if they aren’t. We know better.
I know that we disagree on some key issues, but that’s ok. Just because we are pals doesn’t mean I have to agree with you on everything/vice versa or even like the same choons.
Celtic fans are inclusive – it’s in our DNA. That means that we are tolerant, patient and forgiving. How else would we have survived?
To borrow a phrase – I’m off oot to get things sorted for tomorrow. If we don’t hook up before then, I’ll see you Friday.
For those who never venture this far – here is the corporate page from the official site. Unlike other clubs, we have nothing to hide.
http://www.celticfc.net/pages/corporate_boardofdirectors
Deilateful CSC