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Great Football Swindle reaches court

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

So the day has come. Several of the alleged conspirators in the Great Football Swindle have arrived at the High Court in Edinburgh to face their charges.

It will be four years next week since I first asserted that Rangers would be liquidated, with all of the consequences that would entail. For the last two years I’ve tried to stay away from the subject and to concentrate on the matters which brought us together in the first place, but this issue deserves coverage.

In 2012 the illegal Discounted Options Scheme and Employee Benefit Trusts (only some of which are still subject to appeal) put HMRC in a position to demand payment, and subsequently reject administrators’ attempts to agree a CVA.  Thank you, Sir David.

Charles Green must be a great poker player. He raised enough seed capital to buy the rights to pay £5.5 for Rangers assets in liquidation. From that moment, we thought one of two things would happen:

Green would pull Newco together and within a few years things would look like the old days.

Or, Green would be undermined by those he out-manoeuvred, leading to a likely insolvency for Newco.

There were suggestions early on that Green and Whyte were acting in concert, but, as someone with more experience than I have on matters like this pointed out to me, to be convicted for this type of crime you need to take a billboard advert out explaining your misdemeanours, it’s so difficult to prosecute. Or you need to be very stupid and fall out with your co-conspirators.

Stupidity is alive and well.

Green’s claim for legal fees against RIFC will have a profound impact on the club’s finances within weeks, but the bigger issue at hand is what happens at the outcome of the various criminal charges relating to the disposal and acquisition of the assets of Rangers Football Club, now in liquidation.

If it is proven that the assets were acquired criminally, the transaction is likely to be struck down, meaning the club currently trading as Rangers would lose ownership of whatever assets they have, including stadium and the name “Rangers”, irrespective of who actually controls those assets.

I’ve discussed this matter with many well-informed people and no one actually knows how it will play out, or what the consequences of guilty verdicts would be. The only thing that is known for sure is that outcomes are currently indeterminate, cannot be planned for, and contingencies cannot be made.

The club itself has to get on with business as best it can until whatever happens, happens, but no one should believe that a Duff and Phelps-type liquidation-bounce is normal, or remotely possible again. Assets could be hamstrung for years and left derelict.

Back in 2012 I said the only way forward with any certainty is to start with a clean sheet. Find a tiny club on the brink (there are enough of them), change their name, give them blue shirts, ask St Mirren or Partick Thistle to ground-share, and build your way up the leagues. Let the courts take their course and bid for the assets you want when the dust settles.

But that’s not going to happen. It would require more strategic thinking than is possible right now.  My guess is they’re finished.  Finished.

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  2. The Spirit of Arthur Lee on

    Bed Time

     

     

    The mighty Cleland have a late 10 am kick off the morraw

     

     

    Grassrootsinyourarea

  3. Tontine Tim on

    Dallas Dallas where the heck is Dallas on 16th October 2015 10:34 pm

     

     

     

    Quonno, I’m still surprised Neil hasn’t went public with what Sally said to him.

     

     

    Sally knew what he was doing that night. Look at the smirk on his horrible coupon when Neil reacted. Sally just stood back and knew Neil woud cop the flak.

     

     

    *I have no doubt he was carrying out the orders of his mentor

  8. Tontine Tim on

    Rubicon on 16th October 2015 11:01 pm

     

     

     

    Tontine Tim from 9.17pm,

     

     

     

    I’ve been rooting for the Cubs all season. Joe Madden is an inspirational coach and it would be great if he could win the World Series in his first season in Chicago and give the Cubs their first WS since 1908! In a little way, he reminds me of Jock Stein.

     

     

    *in the movie “Back To The Future II” they go forward to the year 2015 and spot a billboard with the sign “Cubs World Series Winners”.

  12. GuyFawkesaforeverhero on

    Thanks, O’neill’s for having the Ross County game on screen tonight, Redtv. Enjoyed the laugh.

     

     

    Glenhead, Village Tavern. Lurkin’ huns GIRUYs

  14. jamesgang on

    SOAL

     

     

    Would love to but will have to rely on the telly in dunblane for the game cos I’ve no ticket.

     

     

    That said I quite fancy a wee dander into town afterwards. There’s likely still some hootenanny stragglers still there from last week!

     

     

    GFTB – I hate travelling for the job. But it’s unavoidable. But I’m very lucky compared to many others. Most nights I sleep in my house with my kids under my roof.

     

     

    Night Timdom

     

     

    KTF

     

     

    HH jamesgang

  15. setting free the bears for Res. 12 & Oscar Knox on

    Bet you Jim Murphy would do better :-)

     

     

    “A surprise quiz on Scottish heritage left Nicola Sturgeon spluttering.

     

     

    The First Minister started strongly when she was posed a series of questions live on the BBC – boasting she could “name them all” when it came to the Broon family of comic strip legend.

     

     

     

    But the Scottish National Party leader said she was “never going to live it down” when she hesitated to get beyond one member of the Lisbon Lions – the Celtic team that won the European Cup in the Portuguese capital in 1967.

     

     

     

    She badly underestimated the £1.30 cover price of the Scotsman newspaper – explaining that she read it online and declaring that her guess of 45p was what “it should be”.

     

     

    She was not able to identify a Hawick Ball as a boiled sweet – though her suggestion it was a “rugby” thing may have shown she was aware they were a favourite of legendary commentator Bill McLaren.

     

     

    But she entirely drew a blank when it came to the profession of Hamish MacInnes – a famous mountaineer.

     

     

    As the interview with BBC News assistant political editor Norman Smith went on, she conceded she “should know” the name of the first Scot to be Prime Minister of the UK – adding that “that’s not the name that was running around my brain” when told the answer was Lord John Stewart.

     

     

    However she was able to name the three “Js” associated with Dundee – jute, jam and journalism.

     

     

    And she gave what appeared to be the correct answer – Dr No – when asked what the first Bond film was to star Sean Connery – despite being told it was Thunderball.”

  16. Gerryfaethebrig on

    Roy C

     

     

    Apologies for the requests….but many thanks !

     

     

    Am away to listen to Paddy R

  23. butsybhoy on

    BAWSMAN on 17TH OCTOBER 2015 12:15 AM

     

    Will the Socialist, non austerity SNP government, now nationalise the steel industry in Scotland?

     

    WD……………is it AYE?

     

     

    Naw…… they will buy from China like the rest of Europe

     

     

    Think its called the China steel dump

     

     

    Yanshangpo

  25. Gordon64 on

    Sftb 2.5 goals per game sounds ok. The reality is a rather turgid unattractive style of football that only us diehards will pay to watch. HH

  31. Gerryfaethebrig on

    Roy C

     

     

    Cheers

     

     

    Jamesgang 12.38

     

     

    I wasn’t having a dig,, we all need to blinking work to keep the heads above water, i was slagging me, that hates going on the rat race train for 27yrs into the “town” others put my travel to shame, both my brothers worked in Zambia then Saudi, F that Glasgow is far enough away for me , I get homesick on holiday for a week

     

     

    Hail Hail

  33. Gerryfaethebrig on

    Gordon64

     

     

    If it’s turgid don’t watch it…. We all have a choice

     

     

    Ronny’s Bhoys will be champing at the bit tomorrow

  35. setting free the bears for Res. 12 & Oscar Knox on

    gordon 64

     

     

    “Sftb 2.5 goals per game sounds ok.”

     

     

    Yep, and it is true and accurate and an established fact.

     

     

     

    ” The reality is a rather turgid unattractive style of football that only us diehards will pay to watch. HH”

     

     

    Nope, that is the perception, a matter of judgement. The miserable crowd together and reinforce each other’s views. The happy clapper takes joy where he can find it and the realist will not have a nostalgic rose-tinted view of an ever-attacking Celtic in the past.

     

     

    It swings wekk to week. A dropped point and every critic feels they have been proven right. Two wins in a row and people get wildly over-optimistic. We have been punching above our weight for many years until the last two CL campaigns but, in contrast, we have had good domestic and Europa campaigns.

     

     

    We cannot afford another CL disaster but, thankfully, we do not have to face that challenge for another 9 months.

  37. Phyllis Dietrichson on

    Paul67 – finished, you mean really finished? My definition of that is that a club is called New Rangers playing out of Cowdenbeath.

     

     

    That day may happen soon, it may happen not so soon, it may not even happen at all.

     

     

    But if it does happen I’ll be leading a hootenany up Muckish mountain – form an orderly queue.

  40. Gordon64 on

    Gftb ‘Dont watch it’ ! I have watched much worse Celtic teams. But I have never stopped supporting the hoops.

  42. Gerryfaethebrig on

    Gordon64

     

     

    I know, it was a wee joke Gordon 63…. It was funny my side if the iPad

     

     

    If Ronny beats Motherwell and Molde we could go onto great things this season, but like you said we have both watched worse teams, but at least it’s Celtic we are watching

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