Charles Green, owner of “The Rangers Football Club Limited“, formed in May this year, yesterday released a remarkable statement yesterday, ahead of the SPL Commission into How Rangers FC, formed in 1872, registered football players for over a decade.
“In short, what was decided by the SPL membership is that Rangers was finished as a member of the SPL. Despite this, the SPL now see the new owners of the company, and the new company itself, which owns all the assets of Rangers FC – including SPL championship titles – as fair game for punishment for matters that have nothing to do with us at all.”
We dealt with the purchasing of history on here some months ago. Once we realised it was possible, I snapped up ancient Egyptian history, the period from the pharaohs until Mark Antony. I AM responsible for the Pyramids of Giza but any slavery which may or may not have been used in their construction is NOTHING to do with me.
No one complained about the use of slaves at the time and I am sure each pyramid would have been constructed whether slaves were used of not. If slaves were so necessary for the construction I am sure “we” would have built many more.
Mr Green seems keen to protest against the SPL process, however, he, frankly, fails miserably. He doesn’t “question the impartiality of the individual panel members” but assets “whatever decision they reach is a decision of the SPL”.
So that will be independent members reaching a decision for the SPL! I think he doth protest too little.
There is also a threat: “”To make it crystal clear, the new owners purchased all the business and assets of Rangers, including titles and trophies. Any attempt to undermine or diminish the value of those assets will be met with the stiffest resistance, including legal recourse.”
Charles Green took steps to undermine his new company’s claim on Rangers titles in a BBC interview in June when he said that if his CVA proposal was to fail (which it did) and Rangers were to be liquidated (which they are), “the history, the tradition, everything that’s great about this club is swept aside”.
“Legal recourse”, which is prohibited by Fifa and which the SFA accommodated from Duff and Phelps, acting on behalf of Rangers, will provide Scottish football with a further drama. We mentioned at the time that the true cost of the SFA being so accommodating would be a repeat performance.
Mr Green asks why the “football authorities do nothing to address an issue that was public knowledge for at least two years, and was reported in the Club’s accounts for several years”? I think I can help here. Sir David Murray, who owned Rangers during the duration of its Employee Benefit Trust years, categorically denied that the club issued players with second contracts which were not submitted to the authorities. He reiterated this point most recently on a Sky News interview in March.
The football authorities have no issues whatsoever with Employee Benefit Trusts, it’s player contracts they insist are registered. Rangers insisted they had no case to answer until the SPL set a deadline on Duff and Phelps to fully disclose the nature of the alleged second contracts.
Charles claims during those lurid weeks when the SPL and SFA were negotiating with Green, that Neil Doncaster “repeatedly stated he was not interested in stripping titles from Rangers”. If he had evidence of this, ANY evidence, it would be fascinating.
If not, we should dismiss this claim.
A curious barb is made in other directions, “Rangers was not the only Club in Scotland to use EBTs yet nothing was done and little has been heard about it”.
One more time, for Mr Green’s benefit, EBTs are not against football regulations whatsoever. They are entirely legal and permitted by the SFA and SPL. The SPL Commission is not investigating whether Rangers used EBTs or not, it will investigate whether or not all player contracts were registered.
Mr Green goes on to make varied comments against “powerful representatives from Clubs within the SPL…. who appear hell bent on inflicting as much damage on Rangers as possible”, and that some “clubs were placed in an invidious position and we believe their interests were not best served by those in more powerful positions”.
Let’s have some context here. If we were to make a list of those who inflicted most damage on Rangers, representatives from other clubs would scarcely merit a mention. Those who allowed the club to spend more than it earned for so many years, who introduced the perilous tax avoidance system, those who failed to make accommodations for HMRC’s claim when it was first made, and those directors who personally benefited from the EBT scheme all carry primary responsibility.
Then would come the cheerleaders for the disastrous Craig Whyte regime – those who last year campaigned for the takeover, including putting pressure on Lloyds Banking Group to accept the terms.
Rangers opponents were spectators throughout this period. Any suggestion that our club were anything but opponents to Rangers, and alleged victims of trophies won by illegally registered players, when they should have been campaigning on behalf of their rivals, seriously misreads what was an established Glasgow rivalry. Of course it would be the same the other way – and rightly so.
Despite clearly feeling strongly about the Commission, Green didn’t address the key point….
There was no denial of the central charge that for a decade or more Rangers fielded improperly registered football players.
Yesterday some people suggested Green had offered the Lance Armstrong defence but Armstrong denied he was guilty while refusing to participate in the investigation into doping. This is a different matter altogether. Green has offered up something for every conceivable paranoid condition without actually claiming Rangers are wrongly accused.
The headlines today are all about titles being stripped but that is not the main topic in play. More importantly, after titles are stripped, what punishment will the SPL Commission levy on the Rangers membership, granted to Sevco in June?
The sheer scale of the charge makes this question incalculable. The toxicity attached to that membership is untenable and no bogeymen at other clubs, at the SPL or SFA are responsible for that.
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Ht
Wow, you sure do get around. I’ll post on here nearer the time.
S
Walter Smith and Neil McCann in the studio.
What can you say?
‘O WORDS are lightly spoken,’
Said Pearse to Connolly,
‘Maybe a breath of politic words
Has withered our Rose Tree;
Or maybe but a wind that blows
Across the bitter sea.’
“It needs to be but watered,’
James Connolly replied,
“To make the green come out again
And spread on every side,
And shake the blossom from the bud
To be the garden’s pride.’
“But where can we draw water,’
Said Pearse to Connolly,
“When all the wells are parched away?
O plain as plain can be
There’s nothing but our own red blood
Can make a right Rose Tree.’
WB Yeats
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon..!!.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors
Phil makes a lot of good points though I was hoping that no one tells the bears that “Mr Green” as they now call him, is going to run for the hills with their share money!
Mind you, Phil told them all about Whyte’s motives and they refused to believe so him so there is no reason that would change.
I’m surprised that more hasn’t been made of Ally McCoist having a substantial shareholding. I don’t believe for a minute that McCoist would hand over £450k of his own money to Charles Green to invest. Instead I reckon the events went something more like this.
McCoist to his media pals: “I don’t trust this guy Green. Tell the troops to hold off on the season tickets”
Green to McCoist: “Alistair, how would you like me to gift you a £450k stake with an opportunity to treble your money in a year”
McCoist to the Bears: “Chalres Green is a great guy. Buy your season tickets.”
Green to McCoist: “There’s a good lad, Alistair.”
I haven’t heard anyone ask McCoist about his shareholding. Did he invest his own money or was he granted equity by Green?
I’m off to walk the hedgehog…
Alastair Johnstone’s comments demonstrate just how poorly served the former RFC were by their directors.
He is supposed to be one of the better ones, and all he can come out with is “we told the SFA about EBTs” 2 years ago… and… “They sneaky Tims once got off an SFA charge so they better no come after us. No surrender.”
The enormity of his and others’ failure in anticipating EBT problems, even when they had a demand for 24million pounds from HMRC in their hands, is one of the root causes of RFC’s liquidation.
Snake Plissken – If Chuckles Green bought (haha) the history of dead parrot FC including the titles, did he also buy the CUp Winners cup of 1972 from UEFA?
Chuckie bought 1972’s third best European trophy, but not the riot that marred its presentation.
“Now’t to do with us”, insisted Green. (thumbsup)
……McCrummoch…..et al…………
…tic, tock………….
What really p$€$€s me off is the accusation that Celtic fans are going ‘over the top’ with their criticism of a club who cheated their way to titles at the expense of our Club, and whose whole history was openly tainted with an ‘anti-all things Celtic’ bigoted agenda …… If they think we are gloating at the moment, wait and see our reaction when greengo liquidates sevco and walks away with millions…….
I’ve just turned on Sky for the game to discover (clattie) is on the studio panel …….. What the hell is THAT all about……the cretin is a disgrace to Scottish Football……… Telly off ……..
Empty Blazers…..Ties…….
……..stained…….
…..and scuffed brogues…
From SFM…
Please, please let this man be the source of Green’s “legal advice”
GIOVANNI DI STEFANO@DEVILSADVOKAT
I agree totally with stance taken by Charles Green re SPL and as shareholder RFC have reiterated the issues in writing to SPL.
There you go….even my iPad automatically deleted wattie ……..LOL
The Mighty Quinn on September 10, 2012 at 23:27
103 3 Rate This
The whole thing is a blatant smoke screen designed to get the majority of people to accept a lie hidden within the bulldroppings.
You’ve all missed it.
Sevco are claiming they have purchased RFC Plc’s league titles.
Duff & Duffer have colluded in the lie that league titles are assets that can be bought and sold.
Without doubt Sevco will have taken legal advice and know that RFC Plc’s misdeeds will not go unpunished. They’ll already know the oldco doesn’t have a leg to stand on and will be expecting that the oldco’s league title wins will be reduced from 54.
In knowing this they’re going for a bit of sleight of hand.
They’re trying to convince the world that the titles are owned by Sevco and that when judgement is handed down that it’ll be against their will but will then spin the further lie that it’s all okay and that they now have, say, 44 titles.
The fact remains.
They have 0 titles.
None.
Nada.
Zilch.
Zero.
Don’t fall for the smoke and mirrors that’ll fool the morons that support the Sevco myth.
The facts remain, you can’t buy league titles. They don’t pass over to a newco when an oldco liquidates. There is no continuation of Rangers.
The die have been cast and it’s obvious to anyone who is willing to look hard enough.
They have been beaten already, the bampots have beat them.
They’re now just fighting to get the morons to believe that none of it happened.
That is all fine. Keep buying the tickets. Keep buying the replica strips. Keep buying.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Well all I can say is this.
We aren’t as stupid as your target audience Mr. Green.
You’re Sevco can change it’s name all it likes, you can change it to Bare Ar$e Alona if you wan’t but we all know that you’ve started an new venture and the new venture has no history, has no cups, has no way to make us believe the lies you’re peddling.
Stupid Sevco.
Craig Levein, unshaven, with cheapo reacta-light glasses.
Total jakey of a man.
Is there some sort of football match on tonight?
Last time I watched Scotland play a cheeky boy called James McFadden looked like a good prospect. (thumbsup)
Auldheid
” The reality of the situation is that Sir David Murray, who was intimately involved in the architecture of these efforts to organize the business in a way to mitigate taxation which is totally legitimate and acceptable under all tenets of the law, would have signed and paid for these very same players whether or not EBT schemes were in effect or not.”
Didn’t the Mark Daly documentary feature evidence of an email which explicitly confirmed to Watereuss’s agent that his dosh would be paid by an EBT and by EBT only?!
An utterly ridiculous argument for a grown man to come out with anyway. A bit like Ben Johnson saying “if I hadn’t taking all those steroids I would have just trained extra hard to make up the difference and still be the fastest anyway”
Keevins has just said Vogts had a better record than Levein ……. Still waiting for him to also confirm that Levein actually has a better record than (clattie) wattie
Philvis
Wasn’t Andy Murray magnificent?
In Novak Djokovic, he faced a brilliant and seemingly tireless and indefatigable opponent
_____________________________________________________
Surely you’re not going to congratulate him on his indefatigabilty !
hi ghuys.
In keeping with the topical theme;
my mate was playing darts last night and he scored 1001 with one go!
He threw a hedgehog at the board
he he
HH
PHIL
ItaliaBhoy – Total jakey of a man.
Alcoholism is the only thing standing between the Scots and the Irish and world domination.
Latin good looks and an interest in la dolce vita is what keeps the Italians down. (thumbsup)
fritzsong – Surely you’re not going to congratulate him on his indefatigabilty !
Would it be OK if I saluted his strength and his courage? (thumbsup)
We already know the sfa are complicit, they helped cover up the scam, good to see this confirmed by one of the guilty
italiabhoy
19:46 on 11 September, 2012
To be fair, he wares those spectacles because of an eye medical condition …..
AJ must be concerned he`s about to get it tight
however still the same hubris and self appointed superiority
he should be asked why he didn`t make provision for paying the tax due under the EBT scheme when it was only £25m…..rather than sanctioning a splurge on players after the Kaunas embarassment
Ten Men Won The League
19:27 on
11 September, 2012
Matthews starts for Wales
Ten Men Won The League
19:29 on
11 September, 2012
Lustig starts for Sweden
Along with Mulgrew injured,Rogne playing 2 games in 4 days (probably for the first time),a few reasons why I hate International breaks.Samaras should never have been near a jersey at the weekend.The Club should try and protect our team better by withdrawing guys who are injured.The Huns never had any compunction about doing the same,albeit with Masonic Doctors and dodgy panel lines.
philvis,
I tend to avoid national stereotyping, except when it comes to the Germans, French, Russians, Swiss and Egyptians.
In which case I find the stereotype to be a reasonably reliable guide to national character.
St stivs.
Thinking your right.
The huns wer getting cocky for a while.now its back to the no eye contact again.
Loving it.
So good to be a tim these past months.
It’s payback tenfold for all the lies and corruption we’v had to adsorb from their spoon fed media.hail hail.
67Heaven – To be fair, he wares those spectacles because of an eye medical condition ….
Out of interest, which condition?
After years of experiencing driving as an exciting blur I was forced to get glasses last year, even though technically that constitutes a crime against women, so I have an interest in all things ocular. (thumbsup)
Flower of Scotland – it’s cringeworthy, isn’t it?
neil canamalar lennon hunskelper extrordinaire
19:50 on 11 September, 2012
Cracking point ……l think they turned a blind eye …….I would be greatly relieved if it were proven not to be the case…..
ItaliaBhoy – You forgot the Japanese.
I find stereotypes are a real time saver. (thumbsup)
67 Heaven, really? Apologies, didn’t realise.
He’s doubly unfortunate then – he has an eye condition and the treatment makes him look like a benefits scrounger.
Philvis, AA Gill wrote a wonderful feature article about Japan. It’s in his book “AA Gill is away”.
He doesn’t hold back…
67heaven..,
O hope their complocity is exposed, it will require the complete overhaul we need
ItaliaBhoy – Flower of Scotland – it’s cringeworthy, isn’t it?
I have to disagree with you there, at least partly.
Most national anthems are cringeworthy. The whole collectivist concept of a national anthem is bound to bring out the worst in music.
Flower of Scotland at least has the benefit of a half-decent tune, although the French and the Russians do it better. (thumbsup)
italiabhoy
19:56 on
11 September, 2012
I’ll sing you a song ……….
Caldwell with a regulation insane barge into an opponent’s back.
Ah, the memories…
O I