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Fit & Proper test opens Pandora’s Box

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

I hear the SFA had asked for clarification on Craig Whyte’s alleged disqualification as a director, without getting confirmation one way or another, since the issue was initially brought to their attention by the landmark BBC documentary, Rangers: The Inside Story.  Rangers disclosure to the Plus Exchange (where the club’s shares are traded) on Wednesday that this specific BBC allegation was correct, was the information the SFA needed before they were in a position to act and apply a Fit and Proper Person (FPP) test to Whyte.

Dramatic though it sounds, failing a FPP test, in itself, is only likely to cause superficial damage to a club or its owner.  An owner would need to resign as a director but he could allow the other directors to continue running the business, or he could appoint a proxy to take control of the business, which is often the way controllers run football clubs anyway.

What is of more interest, however, are matters likely to be disclosed as part of the SFA investigation.  The Association would require Mr Whyte to explain what he did to be barred from holding a directorship for seven years, something the BBC lawyers would be able to question Whyte on in the witness box, should he actually sue, instead of repeatedly threatening to do so.

Of most interest to the SFA will be Rangers financial submission for their Uefa licence, which enabled the club to be nominated as Scotland’s participants in this season’s Champions League.  A condition of participation in Uefa competitions is that no debts to tax authorities due on 31 December the preceding year remains unpaid on 31 March.

In September HM Revenue and Customs gained permission from the court to freeze £2.3m of Rangers money in connection with an unpaid tax bill.  The principle element of this bill has not been disputed by Rangers.  The SFA will now be keen to establish if any part of this bill was in connection to taxes due in prior to 31 December 2010.  If it was, Celtic were entitled to be Scotland’s Champions League representatives, when overcoming the likes of Malmo stood between them and a £15m pay-day.

This is a legal minefield for the SFA chief exec, Stewart Regan, who has my sympathy. Things are about to become interesting.

While we are on the subject of that £2.3m tax bill, HM Revenue and Customs are due to get their hands on the cash after Friday next week, the last day Rangers are able to dispute the debt. If Rangers enter administration prior to that date, the cash would revert to the administrator and the club’s secured creditors would be entitled to it.

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  1. blantyretim on

    CT

     

     

    doing it now…thanks mate…

     

     

    Cults I think under MON we knew we wouldnt loose goals …

     

     

    that is where the big problems nowadays… the fans at Celtic park panic…

  3. ernie lynch on

    Sneddoni says:

     

    3 December, 2011 at 00:15

     

     

    ‘Anyways, thats is only serving to detract from the debate. Why does WGS not get treated the same as MON?’

     

     

     

    1. Martin O’Neill arrived when we were at a very low ebb and restored us to our rightful position.

     

     

    2. Gordon Strachan arrived when were riding fairly high and had become used to success. We pretty much flat lined during his tenure. Given he started at a much higher baseline than Martin O’Neil did that’s maybe not surprising, but it still affects how the fans felt.

     

     

    3. They have different personalities. Gordon Strachan can be, and was on a number of occasions, fairly prickly. Martin O’Neill was a bit of an ole charmer.

     

     

    4. Seville.

  4. JimmyQuinnsBits on

    BABASONICOS71 says:

     

    3 December, 2011 at 00:18

     

     

    ahm watchin you… with yer smooth r&b and yer hip indie postins…. trying to seduce Mags…

     

     

    cuttin ma grass

     

     

    hammerin nails into ma basebaw bat

  9. tarrant on

     

    setting free the bears says:

     

    2 December, 2011 at 23:40

     

     

    Ceasar67

     

     

    They could and they did.

     

     

    An East coast-sounding (definitely not Irish) Celtic fan seated behind me called WGS a “f*^%ing c@*%” just two minutes before the news came through from Pittodrie and not long before we scored at Tannadice in May 2008.

     

     

    He felt no compunction or shame in celebrating the outcome. It was pure visceral hatred of a manager on the brink of 3iar but no religious or national epithets were used in his criticism.

     

     

    It remains a puzzle to me as much as it is to Maggie but I never heard anyone seriously insult him for his religion or nationality. I did hear his hair colour traduced but, unless we are going to go all Freudian on the motives, we will lack for evidence that he was hated as a Prod or Jock.

     

     

     

    Best comment on the WGS question (ie, the one that is closest to my opinion).

     

     

    I would add the following:

     

     

    – MON brought us unimaginably high from a very low point (he huns were going to stamp on our necks with their long-spiked golf shoes, to quote some FF prick).

     

    – We were not that low again when MON left, but there was a deep sense of dejection and apprehension – at his personal circumstances; at the wider recognition that we were headed for the slow lane (the leaked phone message thing with Brian Quinn); still mourning the loss of Henrik and a season later, the hideous capitulation at fir park;

     

     

    In that situation, we were needing / hoping for a glorious name to take us onwards. Gordon Strachan, with his mixed record at Southampton and Coventry, was not going to be that name. Our aspirations were higher.

     

     

    We then had a close season of signings like Telfer and Naylor, and the inability to retain Craig Bellamy. This was the market Gordon would have to work in, and we weren’t ready / willing / generous enough to accept that and grant him room to work in that market.

     

     

    His first game.

     

    His second game, a return to the cesspit of fir park and a 4-4 draw that coud have felt like a victory but instead suggested a new lower level for us of struggling within the SPL, in a season with no European football, when 2 years previously we were at Seville and horsing the likes of Motherwell, Aberdeen and Rangers week in week out.

     

     

    4 games into his reign MON humped the huns 6-2. WGS team lost 0-2 (or was it 0-3) in his first huns game, and his blue-chip signing (Naka) was sent off (harshly, needless to add).

     

     

    I think WGS became the focal point for our disappointment / anger at having to adjust to a lower level and a lower standard of football. He wasn’t who we wanted after MON, and his appalling start confirmed many supporters’ expectations, probably so solidly that he never recovered, despite his actual results.

     

     

    His achievements in Europe were a fantastic example of a team punching far above its weight; MON was competing on a more level (less unlevel?) playing field.

     

     

    I also accept that sometimes the football we played was grinding and unpleasant to watch; however, sometimes it was scintillating, Samaras’ debut comes to mind. My biggest tactical crticisim of WGS was his conservatism – I wish he had played Aiden in an “in the hole” role,. centrally behind the strikers, more often. We played this way against AC milan, and I thought this could have been the start of a new Celtic team built around an Aiden emboldened by responsibility to create for others, not just for himself. Didn’t happen, and that was in my eyes Gordon;’s biggest failing.

     

     

    However, the Wee Red Book points to his actual successes, and they far outweigh my feeble opinion of his tactical judgment.

     

     

    Gordon Strachan I salute you.

  13. Friday Frank on

    CultsBhoy hates being 2nd says:

     

    3 December, 2011 at 00:20

     

     

    Timing? Spot on and not just with managers. You are always compared to the last person in the position that you have filled. Nightmare if they were good.

     

    Frank

  14. Br\o/gan R\o/gan Trevin\o/ and H\o/gan on

    Ceasar67

     

     

    Is it my imagination or does the brief shot of Kenny McDowall in the Kilmarnock clip show a man that is less than overjoyed?

     

     

    SFTB

     

     

    Liam and The Red Rose? Liam, his brothers and Makem could recite a poem like few others. Jesus I even saw them in the Apollo.

     

     

    The Clancy’s telephone number in Carrick on sur was Carrick on Sur 123– don’t ask me how I know that but it was lol

  15. ballabhoy on

    the_huddle @ 00:23,

     

    what a night! Up there with the best nights of the MON ere (and I love MON!)

     

    Hail Hail

     

    ballabhoy

  16. oldtim67 on

    I remember Gordon Strachan when he played for Aberdeen,Every time I saw him I wished he had played for Celtic.

     

     

    This talk about Gordon giving Celtic supporters the GIRUY,I think he deserved to do it to us,we gave him laldy ever time he was on the ball,I think we were very envious that Aberdeen had him rather than Celtic,If the shoe had been on the other foot and Gordon had been playing for us,we would have been Cheering Gordon if the old GIRUY was aimed at the Aberdeen supporters.

     

     

    We got him in the end.I remember speaking to him at the main door of Celtic Park and he said he was loving every minute of it,I had a great nephew with me and I got a couple of pics of him and Gordon,A true gentleman.

     

     

    The invective that has been coming from some quarters on here tonight beggars belief,to hold a grudge for thirty odd years because an opposition player enjoyed scoring a goal against us,and showing that he did enjoy scoring against us, he’s being forever vilified.

     

     

    I could see the point if it had been Maggie Thatcher,but not Gordon Strachan.

  18. Sneddoni on

    ernie lynch says:

     

    3 December, 2011 at 00:09

     

    Sneddoni says:

     

    3 December, 2011 at 00:01

     

     

    ‘I never ever heard anyone say something related to him not being a Catholic. But I saw plenty on this blog that was related to him not being ‘Celtic Minded’.’

     

     

    What that amounts to so far as Gordon Strachan is concerned is

     

     

    1. he was one of the best Scottish players of his generation but didn’t play for us.

     

     

    2. his team’s football wasn’t what we regard as ‘the Celtic way’.

     

     

    It’s being claimed that fans held him in contempt because of his religion or his nationality.

     

     

    He religion and nationality were the same as Jock Stein’s.

     

     

     

     

    OK, lets go back to front:

     

     

    I know what Big Jock’s religion and nationality were. But not sure that has anything to do with this debate, as not all the people who it is being ‘claimed’ didnt like WGS, would have been around when he was here.

     

     

    Are you telling me you know for a fact, that not one Celtic Fan dislikes WGS because of his religion or nationality? Or you are saying that the majority who didnt like him, dont care for this?

     

     

    Point 2 – by saying we, I can only assume you count yourself as the Celtic Fans? Because I know some Celtic Fans who didnt give a monkey’s what the football was like, its winning that counts. Perhaps to you they are not ‘real’ fans. But I would say, if people want to see silky football in the spl, with the refs we have, the scottish game the way it is, and win titles, your dreaming! Its not possible. But I do have a question, you think the teams that MON and NL put out play ‘The Celtic Way’?

     

     

    Point 1 – Thats the reason? Thats your number one reason for Celtic Fans not liking WGS? For anyone who considers that a good and decent reason to dislike WGS as our manager, there is only one word for that. Pathetic.

  20. setting free the bears on

    ernie

     

     

    “We pretty much flat lined during his tenure. ” ????

     

     

    if you over-stretch like that at your age, you’ll be on the injury list for a while :-

     

     

    There’s a difference between “flat-lining”, “plateauing” and “sustaining success”

     

     

    Rangers are about to flat-line

  21. blantyretim on

    SFTB

     

     

    I won’t for one give them the electric shock treatment…

     

     

    I hope they die….

  29. Summa of Sammi.... on

    .

     

     

    12hrs after the WGS gtf Chant l bet Celtic to Win the Title.. Reason: I thought that Moment would Galvanise our Team AND Support.. I think it Did..

     

     

    I also think 3-0 Down to Kilmarnock is Another one of Those times (Off the Punt so No Wager this Time).. I hope to Ghod I’m right.. This Title would be Just as Sweet.. For Different reasons..

     

     

    One thing in Common tho.. Mr Neil Lennon..

     

     

    Summa

  30. CultsBhoy hates being 2nd on

    Frank

     

     

    Aye – it’s all about timing for sure….I’m genuinely reviewing my opinion of WGS in light of my epiphany re timing. …I’d happily take 3 out of the last (or next) 4..at any price!

  31. hen1rik on

    Paul Murray: ‘I could not believe that he [Craig Whyte] took on an unquantified tax liability.’ Photo: Alan Harvey/SNS

     

     

    Published on Saturday 3 December 2011 00:00

     

     

    FORMER Rangers director Paul Murray has claimed that reservations expressed six months ago about Craig Whyte’s takeover of the Ibrox club have now come to pass.

     

     

    At the end of a week when Rangers produced a set of unaudited accounts and Whyte disclosed that he was disqualified from acting as a director for seven years, prompting the SFA to ask the club for clarification over the matter, Murray has raised concerns over the direction of the club.

     

     

    Murray’s views were last night rejected as “irrelevant” by Rangers. But he spoke out after growing increasingly frustrated about talk of the club going into administration. Whyte has admitted that if Rangers lose a tax tribunal to HMRC and face a bill of up to £50m, administration is a possibility.

     

     

    “I am puzzled that administration is even being discussed, as there is absolutely no need for it,” Murray told The Scotsman. “The HMRC tax tribunal will not deliver a decision until well into next year so at the moment there is no tax liability to pay.

     

     

    “If Craig Whyte has delivered on the commitments he made in his takeover circular – he explicitly promised to invest new money in Rangers, and we have no reason to assume that he has not fulfilled his promises – then there should be no cash issues at the moment.

     

     

    “He has now produced a set of unaudited accounts. Why? What is [accountants] Grant Thornton’s view of Rangers as a going concern? Even last year when we had all the problems with the bank, we had the accounts signed off. In my 25 years in business I have never seen a company like this not have accounts signed off.”

     

     

    Murray was a member of the independent sub-committee of the Rangers board of directors set up to assess offers. In April, the sub-committee announced it had “major concerns” over Whyte’s proposal, and released a statement which expressed disappointment that documents they had reviewed “ultimately did not reflect the investment in the club that we were led to believe for the last few months would be a commitment in the purchase agreement”.

     

     

    An alternative £25m investment proposal was then put forward by a consortium led by non-executive director Murray. But the counter proposal failed, and Murray was removed from the board shortly after Whyte completed his takeover in May.

     

     

    “Everything we said has come home to roost,” said Murray last night. “I don’t take any pleasure from that, because my overall view is one of sadness. Talking about administration, being pursued by suppliers, and the possibility of a fit and proper investigation at the SFA … it’s humiliating and embarrassing.

     

     

    “As a board we spent a lot of time with Craig Whyte ensuring that he knew what the cash flows were. There seemed to be an unwillingness to go into any level of detail of what the cash flow was. I could not believe that he took on an unquantified tax liability. I have never seen anyone do that. It’s like buying a house, finding out it has subsidence, then buying it anyway.

     

     

    “Mr Whyte indicated during the takeover that he was prepared to meet any tax liability arising from the current case up to a significant level. I am interested to know – and all Rangers supporters deserve to know – what has changed with the club’s finances since May to bring about the cash pressures we now seem to face, and whether players might have to be sold to make up the shortfall.”

     

     

    Murray added: “It is also important to acknowledge and defend the track record of the previous board.

     

     

    “Craig Whyte has criticised the past regime but in the two years since Sir David Murray stepped down as chairman, we reduced the club’s debts from well over £30m to well under £20m, and the football club won four out of six domestic trophies.

     

     

    “In addition, the bulk of the current playing squad, one of the strongest in recent times, was assembled at significant cost.

     

     

    “That is not a bad record, by any measure, and I am pleased to see Ally McCoist’s team doing so well in the SPL today.

     

     

    “I have no personal issue with Craig Whyte, and nor do my former colleagues who stepped down following the takeover and more recently. We just want to see the club’s best interests being served and for Rangers to remain competitive here in Scotland and in Europe.

     

     

    “We await news of when Rangers will hold their agm, when the shareholders and supporters of Rangers will have the first chance to put questions directly to Craig Whyte. They deserve answers.”

     

     

    A spokesman for Rangers said: “What Paul Murray has to say about Rangers is irrelevant and of no consequence, and most Rangers fans will be aware that he was a director when much of the mismanagement that got the club into its current position to comment on this story.

  32. jtsTICks on

    BRTH, The Huddle and others on the Naka love in,

     

     

    I honestly don’t think that many Celtic fan appreciated what we had in Naka or the void he created when he left the club. A truly gifted player sadly the likes of not currently at the club!

     

     

    Hail hail

     

     

    sTICks

     

    Naka Legend?

  33. ernie lynch on

    Sneddoni says:

     

    3 December, 2011 at 00:31

     

     

     

    Oh well.

     

     

    That’s me convinced.

     

     

    Those Celtic fans who criticised Gordon Strachan in any way only did so only because he’s a Protestant.

     

     

    Or Scottish.

     

     

    Or whatever it is the laptop loyal say.

  36. Kevtic on

    Not a debate both O’Neil and Strachan were massive for Celtic.

     

     

    Both had flaws like all managers but both gave us titles and european nights we will talk about all our life.

  38. the_huddle on

    Naka was in with WGS, the shit Naka got from the fans for “not tracking back” morons. WGS had to start releasing Naka’s yardest in each game. Simple fact, some Tims are morons.

  41. Sneddoni on

    ernie lynch says:

     

    3 December, 2011 at 00:23

     

    Sneddoni says:

     

    3 December, 2011 at 00:15

     

     

    ‘Anyways, thats is only serving to detract from the debate. Why does WGS not get treated the same as MON?’

     

     

    1. Martin O’Neill arrived when we were at a very low ebb and restored us to our rightful position.

     

     

    2. Gordon Strachan arrived when were riding fairly high and had become used to success. We pretty much flat lined during his tenure. Given he started at a much higher baseline than Martin O’Neil did that’s maybe not surprising, but it still affects how the fans felt.

     

     

    3. They have different personalities. Gordon Strachan can be, and was on a number of occasions, fairly prickly. Martin O’Neill was a bit of an ole charmer.

     

     

    4. Seville.

     

     

    ———

     

     

    Nothing is rightful, it needs to be earned. But I assume you mean restored us to winning ways, which all fans enjoy. Point taken, good point.

     

     

    I notice you went with ‘fairly high’. Because Black Sunday was pretty low. I remember the actual sick to the bottom of my stomach feeling. The, where did it all go wrong thoughts. Not knowing what happens next, that empty feeling, the feeling of being cheated. But then I remembered feeling so much better once I found out WGS was coming. I remember thinking, wow, great, he knows what he is doing, he knows what this is all about, we are going to win things again. Not everyone shared this view point, of course. But we did win things.

     

     

    Personality – lol ok! pull the other one. Yes, they were very different, but I think you are taking this too far. I remember people laughing at the way WGS spoke to the english media, various e-mails going around, and everyone looking forward to him speaking to the LL. So he was more honest maybe? Anyway, a very silly reason in my opinion.

     

     

    Seville was Seville. Words are hard to explain how brilliant and amazing it was. To achieve it again, would probably take more spending than WGS was ever allowed. You think MON could achieve another one if he had stayed, or was here now? It can also be argued that WGS went one better, by qualifying from the Champions League group stages, twice. Sure, no medals for that, but you play in the UEFA cup, when you cant play in the Champions League. So its unknown how we would have done in that competition, had we failed to qualify, which was a huge achievement.

     

     

    You know, I still havent heard one, just one, really good reason for not wanting WGS as manager at a time when he was winning!

     

     

    Not one……….

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