The BBC today report that the Gang of 10 SPL clubs have agreed a plan to re-write the rulebook of Scottish football in order to parachute Sevco into the second tier of the game. They also report that Hibernian, Rod Petrie, briefed Charles Green of Sevco on their conditions to accept his company. These conditions involve paying Rangers football debts and fines.
The plan involved the most almighty reorganisation of the league structure in order to gain enough support from lower league clubs to entice them to agree to place Sevco in the First Division. They also want to take YOUR money in perpetuity to buy votes from lower league clubs, and have included a provision to allow them to vote for a share of home gates – all to establish a club called ‘Rangers’.
Crucially, the SFA, led by president Campbell Ogilvie and chief exec, Stewart Regan, have colluded in this scheme by not instructing the Appellate Panel to convene to consider Rangers punishment after the Court of Sessions told them to do so 30 days ago. It is expected the Appellate Panel will suspend ‘Rangers’ from football for a year when it convenes.
The Gang of 10’s plan would require Rangers to withdraw their objection to the initial Appellate Panel ruling but it would also require the independent judicial overview of Scottish football to end before action is taken against the club for illegally registering players for over a decade, or for improper use of EBTs to scape social taxes, both of which are likely to expel the club.
Disciplinary rules cannot be changed because ‘Rangers’ are about to be punished. Leagues cannot be restructured to allow a team bearing the name ‘Rangers’ an easy passage to the top. This is no longer sport.
The utter stupidity of this scheme is staggering. They are making plans with a man who owns a stadium but who cannot call on any supporters. They are about to wreck Scottish football for a company who have yet to establish their financial viability.
Your money is being bargained away by every club in the SPL apart from Celtic. Are you happy about this? Will you continue to pay for Sky TV or ESPN? Will you continue to buy tickets to attend away games? Will you ever attend a League Cup or Scottish Cup game again?
Celtic paid their bills and conducted their business fairly and properly. Be under no illusion, these changes will destroy the Celtic you recognise. Forget your Champions League trips, you’ll be scraping the bottom of the barrel with ‘Sevco Rangers’ in a few years. We cannot be exploited in this way.
It’s time the entire edifice of Scottish football was brought asunder, better that than be subject to random acts of destruction. I cannot support any operation funding this enterprise so I’m cancelling Sky Sports and ESPN.
374 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- »
Why is everyone getting their knickers in a twist over this nonsense of a story. It cannot happen this season. It is impossible to implement it.
These points on the BBC might be what will happen the 2013/2014 season after the huns have spent a season in limbo. Currently they have to start in SFL3 if the share transfer is rejected by the SPL.
hun pie in the sky…
I would rather join the Eirecom league than stay within the Rangers SFA league. At least we would help build up a corruption free league where our money would be welcome and respected we have the management to make this happen.
celtic40me on 28 June, 2012 at 13:44 said:
What’s to stop us just not paying? And not paying any penalties?
Why should our club accept any penalties from this corrupt bunch.
C’mon they have Campbell Ogilvie still employed, enough said.
They can restructure all they like, but a new club needs to apply to be accepted into the bottom division …..I can see a membership scheme being introduced to our club …..with membership costing circa £400 and members season tickets costing circa £50…….then we Bhoycott ALL away games ….we have the power, organisatIon, and the will….PATIENCE
By DAVID HARDIE
Published on Thursday 28 June 2012 12:26
Hibs boss Pat Fenlon has made a personal plea to fans to support his bid to rebuild his Easter Road squad amid a “summer of change” for Scottish football by buying season tickets.
Already facing a second year of loss-making, Hibs will take a further £250,000 “hit” over the coming season through their decision, with others, to deny a new Rangers a place in the SPL.
And Fenlon, working feverishly to attract new talent to the club, insisted supporters can play their part in seeing his plans come to fruition, revealing there are 2500 season ticket holders from last season who have yet to renew.
Thanking those who had already invested in a season ticket, Fenlon said: “So far this summer we’ve managed to get one of my top signing targets over the line with the arrival of Tim Clancy. But there is much more left to do on the transfer front and now we need the backing of our supporters more than ever.
“Do we have ambition? Yes, absolutely. Do we have a war chest of money to spend on players? No. But we do plan to use our funds wisely to assemble a squad that is more than competitive next season. The funding provided by season ticket members will go a long way to changing the dynamics of our squad.
“We are a club that tries to do things the right way. We don’t spend money that we don’t have. Given the uncertainty surrounding the SPL for next season, we certainly can’t spend what we don’t have and simply cross our fingers in hope that it will come later.
“My budget for next season is based on season tickets actually sold, not what we might sell. I know that I will get access to every single penny that comes into the club through new season tickets. So the commitment and faith of our supporters will determine just how much I have to spend on players ahead of the new season.
“We hope that the 2500 season ticket members from last season, who have still yet to commit, will renew in good time and we would welcome them back. I know there are lots of seats at Easter Road, but we cannot make binding commitments to players hoping there will be a decent walk up [crowd].”
Fenlon acknowledged Hibs supporters have suffered “some hard times,” but claimed the club were confident about what can be achieved as they go about their business “professionally and with integrity.”
However, he insisted fans will have a massive say on helping meet that goal. He said: “Please don’t wait to see what will happen or who we will sign. You can make an immediate impact on my transfer budget by investing now in a season ticket.”
And he outlined his vision of the squad he intends building, saying: “We no longer want to be seen as a soft touch. We want players wearing the Hibernian jersey who are willing to give everything to the club and that excites our supporters.
“We want strong-minded players, showing the right attitude and application, representing the club the right way and connecting with the Easter Road crowd.”
———————————————————-
HAil Hail
Paul,
do you not think that all this is targeted at us trying to get Celtic involved.
Don’t react that’s what they want.
Born67
At least I am no longer alone in asking Celtic to now speak out.
I totally admire Paul and others for their excellent work regarding this whole debacle and I also agree with Paul that Celtic supporters must make their feeling plain and clear.
However I believe that Celtic are hiding behind the skirts of their supporters as they have done throughout this crisis. It is time that Celtic LED the debate.
NA
http://wingsland.podgamer.com/stitch-up-for-frankenstein/
A good read
The BBC should not be allowed to print articles that do not have a journalists name attributed to it. Can this not be challenged somehow ? It puts them into the same red top gossip mongering phone tabloid grouping as; The News Of The World, The Sun, The Sunday Sport, The Daily Mail, The Express, The Scottish Herald, The Scotsman
Hail Hail
I’m not sure SKY is to blame, I suspect they’re being used as an excuse.
However boycotting them might result in them pressuring the authorities and making clear that they want to televise real sport, not some ham of a competition.
Regan must go…
Doncaster must go…
Ogilvie must go…
Broadfoot must go…
ASonOfDan – Why is everyone getting their knickers in a twist over this nonsense of a story
Because there are two default emotional states among Celtic supporters:
State A) Woo-hoo! Awesome! Yay! Jelly and Ice Cream!
State B) NOW PANIC AND FREAK OUT!!!11!11
(thumbsup)
Paul67
Lets get out of here. Eirecom League application. Corruption free.
Paul 67
It gives me no pleasure to say I forecast this move, to get them into SFL1, on CQN a couple of months ago before the CVA was rejected.
As a number of contributors have previously stated, there is absolutely no guarantee that the SFL clubs will vote for whichever Sevco is appling for the SFL Div 1, indeed I think we could see a similar expression of fan power (that took place in the SPL) to ensure this does not happen.
Lastly, we only have Alisdair Lamont’s word for this so far, and he’s hardly been driving the story on this over the past few months.
There will be no ‘rangers/newco/sevco’ or whatever they call themselves next season. There are too many obstacles and too little time for it to happen. Also Charlie Bhoy doesn’t want a team next season, he wants an asset sale to make a tidy profit and bolt.
There will be a carve up, ‘for the good of the game you understand’, and a restructured league set up for the 2013/14 season.
Restructuring is desparately needed in Scottish football but if its done to appease cheats then it will inevitably end up being a botched compromise.
sham not ham. Crumbs in the keyboard.
Don’t stop at just a boycott of SKY and ESPN, it is my intention to boycott all SFA SFL and SPL “partners” they include,
Scottish Football Association,
Adidas
Bank of Scotland
Carling
G4S
Greaves Sports
IMG
Mars
McDonalds
Specsavers
SportScotland
Tesco Bank
Thomson Holidays
Vauxhall
Wm Hill
Scottish Football League,
IrnBru
SNS Group
Ramsdens Pawn Brokers
Scottish Premier League,
Panini stickers
Sega
EA Sports
Weatherseal Windows
Mitre
Poweraid Energy Drink
•-:¦:-•** -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-• on 28 June, 2012 at 13:47 said:
I’m not sure SKY is to blame, I suspect they’re being used as an excuse.
But sky is funding a corrupt set up and if they had any dignity they would advise this must come first before any tv deal.
MDW,
EGM, great idea :o)
how many clubs does it require
EGM needs an agenda
I propose, Independent Judicial Review Panel are commissioned to investigate irregularities in the governing body which allowed a team to ignore fundamental rules for participation in the game in Scotland.
Identify and punis anyone found to have been involved in actively suppressing information which contravines these rules.
Until this investigation is complete and the governing body is seen to have been either cleared or pruged of all charges.
Until then the governing body the sfa have no authority to declare Scottish football a sport.
what be on your ageda
hen1rik on 28 June, 2012 at 13:49 said:
yes, that was my point, I think.
ASonOfDan@13:44
Good post
But some people love a flap about hee haw
you can bring an agenda too :o)
StMichaelsBhoy2 at 13:37:
I’m not opoposed in principle to away teams getting a share of the gates for league matches. It’s only comparitively recently that home teams kept the whole gate.
Disagree completely for a number of reasons.
Why should Celtic give a share of gate receipts to clubs who bring a few hundred supporters to Celtic Park when we bring thousands to their ground, unless off course you mean just what the away fans bring in and then would that be replicated across other grounds? In that case we’d be quids in so good.
Celtic Park, being a 60,000 all seater stadium costs more to run when at capacity due to additional stewards, staff etc needed to be employed added to other costs such as rates, electric, heating etc.
No other league in the world has gate receipt sharing for league games. Cups yes, but we already do that and I don’t recall the last hiome cup tie we got.
I agree that without the other clubs there would be no football to play but if there is to be change, it has to be instigated from all clubs and all clubs have to work out ways to increase revenue without just stealing our gate receipts.
Add in the fact that tickets to Celtic Park cost much more than for other games, we will be doubly disadvantaged.
According to the last Deloitte report, only Real Madrid, Man United, Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Tottenham, Liverpool, Hamburg, Shalke 04 and AC Milan brought in more money from gate receipts than Celtic. however, our gate receipts account for 60% of our total revenue compared with an average of 22% across the rest of the teams.
Any cut in gate receipts will have a devestating impact on Celtic’s ability to compete in Europe and will see us in a position where it may be impossible to ever qualify for the Champions League again.
What’s more important? Celtic or the rest of the teams who have done very little to improve their own finances.
Mort
Grant Russell @STVGrant
If the SPL find a way to relegate, rather than expel, Rangers, rule 15.1 of the SFL states they must participate in the First Division.
Alasdair Lamont @BBCAlLamont
David Longmuir of SFL says they’re ‘trying to address question of whether we’re in a position to accommodate a solution to Rangers scenario’
James Forrest is Neil Lennon! We are ALL Neil Lennon! on 28 June, 2012 at 13:20 said:
bobbyrussell:
Read the small print. There will be NO vote on Rangers admission to the SPL. Therefore the SFL clubs will NOT get to vote on where they start. Both sets of proposals have been ditched. Rangers “relegation” has been folded into the larger package of reforms. The clubs will NOT get to vote on the status of Rangers now except as part of the larger set of changes.
=========================================================
James, I don`t understand a lot of this, but last night I was informed by an extremely reliable source who`s business partner is the chairman of a first div club. His club has approx 500 season ticket holders, and on Monday morning he had recieved more than 150 emails from them all enraged about the chance of thems getting into first div, and all threatening giving up their support if integrity isn`t upheld. He (chairman) said they needed 22 votes of yes out of 30 sfl clubs to allow them in. He said there was no chance of that happening, with 5 already saying no and (most) others expected to also say no.
15.1
Notwithstanding any other provision in these Rules, any football club which
is relegated, in terms of the Settlement Agreement between the League
and The Scottish Premier League, from The Scottish Premier League, shall
automatically be admitted to full membership of the League and shall in the
season immediately following that relegation participate in the higher or
highest Division of the League.
Where ur they gonnae play, anyway????
7.0 ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP
A club or association must initially join the League as an Associate Member.
There are probably hundreds of legal objections that Celtic could make to stop this in its tracks.
Paul McConville, please, but keep it simple. Some of us aren’t that bright, especially, the MSM interlopers who follow this blog assiduously!
HH
16. REGISTRATION WITH SFA A CONDITION OF MEMBERSHIP
A Member or Associate Member who is not already a full or associate
member of the Scottish Football Association must make application to
become a full or associate member of the Scottish Football Association (as
the case may be) within fourteen (14) days of being admitted to membership
of the League failing which its membership of the League will lapse, and in
the event that the application is unsuccessful, its membership will lapse
upon that decision being intimated to the League.
17. TRANSFER FROM ASSOCIATE TO FULL MEMBERSHIP
On completing four successive years as an Associate Member, a club may be admitted to membership of the League by resolution of the Members and without payment of any further application fee.
Hail Hail
20. EXPULSION
The Members may in general meeting expel from the League a Member
Club whose conduct has, in their opinion, been objectionable, but only on
a 75% majority of the votes cast at the meeting at which such proposal is
made.
This is easy…..
42 clubs (including the “the’s”).
3 Divisions
SPL/1st Division whatever bells and whistles you want to call it…..22 teams play each other once home and away.Bottom team relegated.
2nd Div…10 teams same.Top team promoted.Bottom team relegated.
3rd Div….same…Sevco start from here.
This is what SHOULD be on the table right now, nothing else.
Everything else is nonsense.
HH
hen1rik
How do you relagate something that does not exist?
In order to relegate them you would have to accept their share transfer and make Sevco 5088 an SPL club. I think the other fans in the SPL have voiced their opinion on that one. Once they have been accepted what is to stop Green fighting a relegation in court the same way as the transfer embargo?
This story has more holes in it than a huns trackie bottoms…
If this proposal goes ahead,the game is finished in Scotland.
Celtic must now make a statement of intent.
Can someone tweet all the tweeters and tell them that Rankers dont exist anymore
CLUBS across the SFL were today warned to listen to furious fans or risk losing scores of supporters as the Rangers newco debate heats up.
Custom byline text:
By CHRIS JACK
The news that the Ibrox side could be set to parachute into the Irn-Bru First Division next season, as part of a radical plan that would overhaul Scottish football, has been met with anger by disgruntled punters, many of whom are keen to see the Gers start life in the Third Division.
SportTimes revealed on Saturday that Partick Thistle fans are considering boycotting matches at Firhill if the Jags vote to accept Rangers into our second tier.
The Greenock Morton Supporters Trust have polled SFL fans to gauge their responses to the proposals and will hold a public meeting tonight, 24 hours after Ton chief Douglas Rae revealed he will veto any plans to put Rangers in the First Division.
Trust chairman Nick Robinson said: “The feeling is clear that if Rangers want to join the SFL they have to apply to join the Third Division.
“We have been the poor relations for years and now we are being offered changes that should have been made to Scottish football years ago in exchange for letting Rangers leapfrog the system.
“I don’t think there is an appetite to see Rangers go under all together but there is a very firm few that they need to start from the Third Division.
“What fans want are for Rangers to be treated the same as anyone else. There wouldn’t be all of these discussions had it been Caley Thistle or Kilmarnock.
“There is a question of morality here and sporting integrity and should that be capable of being bought? The majority of SFL fans say no, it shouldn’t.”
All 30 SFL clubs will meet at Hampden next Tuesday to discuss the proposals that could herald the introduction of play-offs to the SPL, a new distribution model and a pyramid system.
Morton became the third First Division club, after Falkirk and Raith Rovers, to put their cards on the table yesterday morning.
Robinson added: “These were all changes recommended in the McLeish Report. When did the SPL think they were going to be implemented?
“We have been treated like the dirt on their shoes for generations and now, all of a sudden, this happens to Rangers and the SFL has to make all the accommodations.
“These are things that should be happening anyway.
“It is vitally important that SFL chairmen understand the fans’ views on all of this. Yes, the SFL wants all of what is on offer but not at the price that is currently being asked.”
Paul67
” As oil is to the oil industry so stupidity is to football” a quote restated in Soccernomics.
On the SFA why are Rangers still a member? Article 15 gives the SFA power to withdraw membership of a club experiencing an insolvency event.
I know it is not automatic but how can the SFA justify no action?
It is not the only rule they have ignored or prevaricated on applying and if Rangers can go to the CoS and have yet another rule ignored then Celtic can and should go to law to stop the SFA destroying Scottish football by their incompetence and stupidity
They can restructure all they like but not on the basis that our game can only survive by retaining the toxic element that has destroyed it.
When McLeish made his propsals Rangers were a club of apparent strength that were a factor in his conclusions. Those conclusions and the structure he proposed have to be revisited to take account of the realtity that Rangers are gone, not try and recreate what was an illusion and maintain the contagion.
Supporters want honest football and the SFA, whose job it is to deliver it are not up to the job.
NegAnon2 on 28 June, 2012 at 13:46 said:
i could care about debates. i don’t care what the public thinks about all this i care about what’s best for my club and up to now they seem to have got it absolutely right.