Paul Simon wrote about ‘a loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires’ but if you want to raise money to rescue a company you need more than a loose affiliation. ‘The rebels’ at Celtic managed this in 1994 (somehow), but Paul Murray’s Blue Knights affiliation unravelled over a few days.
While Duff and Phelps were casting aspersions on the SPL for spiking their plans to announce a preferred bidder last week, the Blue Knights were already struggling to pull £0.5m together as a covenant to secure a period of exclusive rights to buy the club.
18 years ago a Celtic supporter walked into a branch of Bank of Scotland and paid £1m into Celtic’s bank account to bring it back under agreed limits and prevent the club going into administration – without any security or negotiating rights. A discrete but hugely important act by a man still on our board. No one from the Rangers consortium was prepared to gamble half as much last week, they even asked Ticketus, finance provider for Craig Whyte’s doomed venture, to stump up the non-refundable cash! The ticket agency declined.
The Celtic consortium soon fell apart with a modest degree of acrimony but personal issues were put to the side until the job of securing the club was complete. Paul Murray’s group was less fortunate. As a chartered accountant Murray would have been fully aware of the Employee Benefit Trusts which brought the club to its knees. What he knew and whether he benefited are likely to be some of the questions other consortium members were asking. He was not best placed to lead the recovery.
Murray also tried to keep a broad church together, from wealthy but detached Rangers fans to various elements of the support. This sounded ambitious from the off.
The most important comment from the Blue Knights yesterday was “The consortium believes that the whole deal process has become incredibly complex and it is critical that a preferred bidder is appointed this week.”
If it’s possible for the words “incredibly complex” and “critical” to be an understatement this is the occasion. The Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League announce their fixtures in the middle of June. If Rangers are to phoenix before then they better hurry up and die. The liquidation process will take weeks (if it goes smoothly) and can be open to legal challenge. Stadium ownership has also to be secured and the claims of Ticketus and Andrew Ellis have to be satisfied.
Add to the mix creditors, the big tax case, punishments from the SFA for their on-going inquiry into the last takeover, potential punishments from the SPL inquiry into improperly registered players, increasingly widespread opposition from within the SPL and the rest of Scottish football to a place being created for a phoenix and you get the picture.
The last few years reads like a lesson in how to destroy a huge football club. Chances of SPL football at Ibrox next season? No more than 50%.
Bids for the original canvass painting of Neil Lennon by US based artist, Joseph Gormley, have hit an incredible £500. Keep an eye on the auction, which ends on Thursday, here.
Buy a hard copy of CQN Magazine, issue 7, by clicking on the button below. You can read online here.
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Big Jock came on the pitch at Celtic Park before extra time started in a league cup quarter final second leg against Dundee. The referee was R H Davidson of Airdrie and he was having a shocker!
According to my Celtic Football Companion it was 1st November 1972.
Celtic won the replay at Hampden 4-1 with 4 headed goals and Davidson was the ref that night too.
Hey – I’ve just had a really groovy idea. Why doesnt Ally get an old double decker London bus and take that crazy Ibrox gang on a tour of Europe to spend all that lovely EBT money on their summer holiday?
I wonder if we will ever get to the bottom of all this Rangers cheating.
I think that those closest to Admin FC want and need to dump the history.
They have seen what will unravel. That is why all of them have “walked away”.
John Greig, Gordon Smith, Minty, Whyte, Ogilvie etc.
Everyone who knows the inner secrets has walked.
Ex players with a brain keep quiet and do not support them in public.
All the signs are there.
Cheerio Cheerio
The treatment of McTall by some posters this evening is infantile and pathetic. Are we heading down the FF route now where no criticism of our own will be tolerated no matter how deserved it is? I have no idea if what he said happened took place or not but if they did then I echo McTall’s sentiments. For the record, the following was tweeted by Maley’s Bhoys last night: “the team and support were fantastic at ibrox tonight, but if you were one of the people breaking and trying to break seats, shame on you”. This was retweeted by Phil Mac, as was this: “to clarify, I can’t praise the team and the majority of the support enough, but I saw the seats with my own eyes and it’ll reflect badly”. Of course Phil and Maley’s Bhoys might be Huns too…
For feck sake thats it radio off can,t listen to this shite on Snyde.Lenny could get 17 game ban what a load of crap
Rangers Mad then:
(Singapore 2010)
‘When he first came into the game, Ng
admitted he knew little about football.
“I came into football because I was
influenced by the love my two sons have
for the sport and I have to admit I’m not a
football man,” he said.
“When I came in, I didn’t even know
what the offside rule was and my sons had
to teach me.”
But he added: “We cannot run football
like we have in the past. The world is
changing … of course, the initial changes I
introduced were always going to be painful.’
We all know that we have clowns who follow Celtic..
I had the misfortune to be landed beside one on Sunday…
total clown of a bhoy. I am sure the two lads with him must have been embarressed by him…He actually nearly caused a fight coming out of the park just because he was a total numpty… he threw the gate back and a young fan nearly got hurt…
total and utter clown… oh anf BTW I’m not a hun…
my seat was in block D passage 29 row mm seat 94….
Cheers for the replies. So they seem to be running at a loss or at least, very close to the bone and yet they are taking what seems to be, a flyer with this action. Mental.
The saddest thing about the Lenny bashing is that it’s putting a mans personal safety at risk. If they had a decent bone in their bodies they would have been running positive spin stories on Neil for the last year, or at least be neutral. Sadly the MSM have not reached that point.
As for the current/former referees, they have proved themselves to be vindictive scum of the highest order.
These people have created the climate Neil lives in, and they have blood on their hands.
Typical just bloody typical
We have experts on everything Rangers Tax Case and what should happen and what shouldn’t happen to them
But suggest how a Football manager can utilise FIFAs law 3 to have a game abandoned and it’s deemed to be not true
Billy Ng says…….
“When I came in, I didn’t even know
what the offside rule was and my sons had
to teach me.”
Jim Fleming should sign him up as a SFA referree.
TheCelticOne on 17 April, 2012 at 18:56 said:
When you say history, you mean their trophy tally etc etc….
The reality is that they WILL transfer their “traditions” to a Newco, which means that they will drag their tainted history with them.
Since they have chosen to live in a parallel universe for decades anyway, they will have no problem in grafting on to any Newco the parts of history that suit them. I expect them to airbrush out PLG, Judas and others that offend their “traditionalist” sensibilities.
HH
Don’t really have much to say but let’s say the situation is beyond shocking.
blantyretim on 17 April, 2012 at 19:14said:
Too much info there the DWP may have their sights on you.
;););););););););););)
The acts of denial/deflection by both channels tonight is breathtaking. A current club captain is asked what the reaction in another country, not asked what reaction is inborn sides. He willing states that WE need them!
Then on the other side, how many times can we say the word BUT. For all NL’s failings, he is our man and we must defend him.
Let’s keep on the SFA back.
The bar stewards on SSB laughing about it now .
googy
aye, I’m oan the sick.. o))
What the feck? Now about the10 points. Sorry spelling pants, but on one.
Aquascutum is in trouble.
Craig Whyte to offer a pound and merge with Admin FC.
How smart the bears will look in their new suits.
Did I just hear D-El on snyde just say that he thinks Celtic won’t have a better chance of winning a treble .
Funny that as he has spent the last 2 months telling us how Celtic would dominate Scottish football if the ragers go bust
Pop quiz
Who were the last 2 managers charged with criminal offences whilst in the dugout at a Scottish game and why.
Wonder if the f***wit Celtic fans phoning Clyde know the answer. Wonder if the panel know. WTF is going on here, no Huns slagging Lenny cause we have our own fans doing it so well!
Lenny must wonder if it is worth it sometimes. Have these twats phoning in never made a mistake?
Judge him if;
You’ve been threatened with death if you play for country for signing for Celtic
Been attacked in the street. Many times.
Been attacked in your workplace
Been lied to by impartial arbitrators
Been sent bombs by rangers fans
Live under incredible threats a pressure daily.
For the love of God, if we are not on his side, god help him and shame on us.
He has made less mistakes at his work than most of us. He won’t take It on the chin.
I for one am glad to have him.
A good bit of pre match reading from Sid Lowe
“Champions League: Real Madrid and Bayern Munich revive bitter battle
The Champions League semi-final has thrown up a familiar rivalry, historically full of walk-offs, stand-offs and sendings-off
The phoney war is over. Now the actual war starts, and for Real Madrid there are few battles more bitter, few duels as destructive. CSKA Moscow and Apoel have been dispatched, as were Dinamo Zagreb, Lyon and Ajax. Madrid have reached the semi-final without facing a team from Spain, Germany, Italy or England. Now, a fearful and familiar rival awaits and at a familiar stage too. Real Madrid v Bayern Munich feels like a proper European Cup semi-final. Timeless.
They have met four times in European Cup semi-finals. Yet even the “friendlies” have ended badly. There have been walk-offs, stand-offs and plenty of sending-offs.
This may well be the only genuine, cross-border rivalry in Europe. Sure, there have been isolated moments – Chelsea supporters will probably never forgive Barcelona, for a start – and, sure, the Spanish dislike the Italians. But Manchester United still seek enemies in England, while Internazionale and Milan still seek theirs in the same city. The enemy within is the real enemy. Madrid-Bayern is different. Barcelona apart, no one gets the Bernabéu really roaring like the “teutonic” team.
Between them they have won 13 European Cups. Historically, they are their country’s richest, most successful and best-supported sides and they know it. They are also their countries’ most despised. Dominating and domineering, two behemoths snarling at each other. Two giants that, for all their similarities, could hardly imagine a club more different. When they confront each other they really confront each other – and they have confronted each other often.
They first met in the European Cup semi-final in 1976. A Bayern team boasting Müller, Maier, Rummenigge, Hoeness and Beckenbauer went on to win their third consecutive European Cup; Madrid went on to a five-year ban after a fan – for ever known as El loco del Bernabéu – ran on and attacked the linesman and Müller. The ban was later reduced to three matches played away, but the seed was sown.
Four years later, they met in a pre-season friendly and Bayern won 9-1, prompting the Madrid manager Vujadin Boskov to shrug: “I’d rather lose by nine once than by one nine times.” If that sounds like perspective, think again. The following summer, Bayern were invited to Madrid’s pre-season Trofeo Bernabéu. Klaus Augenthaler was sent off for making offensive gestures towards the fans. His team-mates walked off the pitch in protest; the game was abandoned.
More semi-finals arrived. The Quinta del Buitre may be the second-best team in Real Madrid’s history but the thorn in their side was a big one: they never won the European Cup or even made the final. They made three semi-finals. Milan did them most damage, PSV Eindhoven too. But Bayern helped stick the knife in. In 1988, Madrid defeated Bayern in the quarter-finals; the previous year, 1987, they had lost to them in the semi-final. After a penalty was awarded to the Germans, Juanito lost his head and stamped on Lothar Matthäus’s. Repentant, he later apologised in person, but he got a five-year ban. It was the last European game he played.
Bad memories for Madrid, but there were good ones too: the last two times they won the European Cup, they beat Bayern in the semi-finals. An omen?
Bayern could hardly believe they had been beaten: frankly they were the better team. Between 1999 and 2004, the two sides faced each other in three out of four seasons. In 1999-2000, they played four times. Bayern won three and lost one of them, beating Madrid 4-2 and 4-1 in the group. Yet it was Madrid who reached the final and won it. Just as Madrid won the European Cup in 1998, ending a 32-year wait. Their manager? The current Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes. He was sacked immediately.
During the galácticos era, the tension soared. Both sides saw provocation in every act. When Claudio Pizarro joked, “We’re going to put five past those clowns!”, Spain’s best-selling newspaper, Marca, flew into a fit of righteous indignation. Oliver Kahn became a comic bad guy. Bayern were portrayed as snarling animals, anti-footballers, lacking respect. In Germany, Madrid were posers, equally disrespectful. Hoeness dismissed Madrid as a “circus”.
“They were performing flicks and back-heels, showboating, not playing football. A complete lack of respect,” recalled Kahn in 2002. “It wound us up, so we really went for them – and they didn’t like it.” Bayern won 2-1. When Kahn then added: “No one can get two past me in the second leg,” Marca responded: “One’s enough, smarty pants!” Anyway, Madrid did get two.
As if all that were not enough, now there is Arjen Robben, the former Madrid player forced out and with a point to prove, and the Mourinho factor. “Just because you wear cashmere sweaters, doesn’t make you a gentleman,” bristled the Bayern grandee Beckenbauer. “He is rude and loutish.” Between Madrid and Bayern, the feeling is mutual.”
1-1
Witch hunt against Neil Lennon? What else is new?
An embarrassment, Neil Lennon isn’t even the worse offender in the SPL: Craig Brown punching an opposition manager? Terry Butcher slating refs almost every week, especially after getting humped by us? Old Sir Dignity himself having a dust up with Alex Totten and ending up in court for his thuggish acts?
Neil Lennon pales into insignificance against these people; so why is he the most vilified man in Scotland?
I think we know why.
Over 90% of the clyde callers for 2 nights running have slated Neil Lennon. And only a couple have been rankers fans.
This is up there with booing Fergus at the flag ceremony.
Channel 4 News coming right up tune in Hail Hail Hebcelt
Its really sad the so called greatest little country in the world continues to find new depths to sink to!
Why are you listening to them ? Turn it off, concentrate on the truth rather than their lies. Every Celtic supporter should back Neil, the vast majority do and the reason is quite simple. We are all Neil Lennon. We all recognise the hatred he faces and it’s basis.
Has Agent Whyte now paid television land to have his TV history deleted ???!?!?
Craig Whyte’s administrators are suing Craig Whyte’s lawyers…you couldn’t make this up!
Billy Ng:
“I understand the fans hurt…I know pain of a bad trip…like that time I bent back my pinky toe on the coffee table…ahhh…that was sore. For a bear right now it must be a lot like being a monkey caught on a rollercoaster you just don’t want to be on…the supporters have been like the misery meat in the baguette of chaos…its like a story my father once told me: a robot in a pink dress that is programmed not to know its own wiring. Its confusing. Its hard…but you get there in the end by spouting hollow cliches & hackneyed slogans like “We don’t do walking away” or “No Suspender”…this is the way of the teddy bear…for we have been launched over an abyss in a parachute with no rip cord…the Tims huv goat their Ice cream & shadenfreude and we’ve hid grim gruel & weltschmerz…but I am the Oz in the wizard: we will no longer be Hectors Gorilla biscuit…no longer will we have to drink the embalming fluid or antifreeze to numb those painful feelings…
don’t know about you lot but that’s inspiring stuff from that wee Mongolian guy…really impressed.
jon snow couldnt get a hold of Alex T
Daryl now spouting that their history will stay with them even if liquidated. Surely that can’t be true
Are they now just rewriting rules to suit as they go along, can someone with more knowledge than me call these idiots and put them right
Alex Thomson on now
The Admin guys & Whytey huv goat the same lawyers: the lawyers are suing themselves…whow…this is really confusing!
Wish the media would employ a REAL JOURNALIST to write, maybe some1 like Alex Thompson. Surprised there was no grovelling from snyde tonight
Exactly Wonky – this is going to run
And run…
And run…
and run…
run…
My fingers are sore…as are my ribs!
mickbhoy1888 on 17 April, 2012 at 19:15 said:
Stop squealing like a bitch and go back and read FIFA’s rule 3 in full. All rules regarding abandonment are at the discretion of the referee.
BIG-CUP-WINNERS on 17 April, 2012 at 19:37 said:
Aye, but the point is it’s Celtic fans.