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.
You can continue to read CQN Magazine FOR FREE, or can subscribe for £10 or £20 and our sponsor, Executive Shaving, who offer an enormous range of grooming products, are offering readers a £20 voucher for all £30 CQN Magazine subscribers.
[calameo code=0003901711e92eb7539d6 lang=en page=14 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
933 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- »
Hutton is a health risk and a hazard to shipping.
The only good thing is I think Macedonia willtake points off everybody in this group – no mugs
Prepare now for Levein to come on and tells us there’s 8 games left and we can still qualify. Or in other words ‘I’m not quitting, I’ll wait to see if you have the balls to sack me’.
Wee Gordon?
I sure hope so.
Well thank god thats over, back to the real suff
It seems everyone is pumping Wales. Scotland are not out but they have never won in Belgium or Belgrade or Zagreb so do the math.
I wonder if Tanner will take the opportunity to ask “Walter” why he allegedly had an EBT as Scotland manager? :o|
Gordon Duffield Smith waited for months to appoint a new manager because Gordon Strachan was available. As soon as Gordon took the Middlesbro job, he went for Levein.
End the Duffield era now.
hebcelt
21:48 on
11 September, 2012
Absolutely…..Hutton moves like a cart-horse
Alan McGregor saved Scotland from defeat tonight.
A thug but a good keeper.
The Tartan Army can cancel the Samba classes
67Heaven thats being grossly unfair to carthorses!!! HailHail Hebcelt
Jings..
crivvens……….
….an’ help ma boab (y) Williamson………
Snake Plissken
Get your money on Wales.
Bound to get a result against our lot. :-)
levein was picked to let bazza and mcg back into the team
The ironic thing is that Kenny Miller does actually look like a zombie.
BMA
thanks. must have been a weird working life for him.
SFTB
I don’t agree.
Like Saturday, anti-football cost Scotland.
When they put the Macedonians under pressure they looked shaky but it should have been this way from the first minute.
Levein blew it again
is it a zombie convention on sky tonight?
Jim Jeffries must now be in with a shout for the Scotland Job
They won’t sack Levein until after the double header in October
They will draw in Wales + get beat in Brussels
GS is the obvious choice although is it a coincidence The Cardigan was in attendance tonight?
Even if any of the EBT stuff came out against him, the SFA would never sack him. Never
Hopefully JF is ok, he seemed to be out of position towards the end…
Quite good to hear the booing reverberating around Hampden.. all is not well.
Everything needs to change for Scottish football to have a future. Starting with a clear-out of the governing bodies and the laws of the game applied without fear or favour. I know, as if..
Admittedly, I have seen very little of Rhodes, but, he appears to me that he is one of those strikers that “only scores goals”.
That was one of the jibes thrown at prolific goal scores of the past.
However, I’m afraid, the modern game requires more.
Hence the failure of Anthony Stokes,e.g., to command a regular start, injuries notwithstanding.
Master Rhodes doesn’t appear to have the necessary ball retention ability of a front player.
Caveat.
I have seen very little of the boy and I am only stating an impression.
£8m. ? Mmmmmm.
SkySports 1 is in HD and EBT
Can anybody tell me why I am get tag with photos of shoes on Facebook
oh FFS ‘managers have to find a way to win’ …… oh yes wattie you sure did that!
i think we are looking the the next scotland manager right there! YUCK!
ThomtheLeedsTim
Excellent!
Glasgow & Leeds to Belfast.
drop an email to weeoscar4life@gmail.com with ‘cycle’ in the subject. FAO MWD
MWD
Soal
I heard its coz your an old boot…
Snake Plissken
We played much better in the second half and Charlie Adam brought a balance that was missing from the Maloney:Morrison partnership.
Yet, I counted, at least 3 one on one saves by Mcgregor from a Macedonian who cut through our defence. we simply never had anything like as clear cut a chance. We increased possession and we spread the ball better to Hutton and Dixon but all we create was one sclaffed header from Rhodes and a wee dart from James.
They had the easier chances. They used the same attack 3 times. The centre forward peeled off Webster and ran behind Berra, who seems blinkered to movement, and a slip pass set them up on a 1:1 with our keeper. We never learned and, only Paul Dixon providing cover saved us from a late loss.
Wouldn’t now be an ideal time for the Tartan Army to show their dissatisfaction with the connivance of the SFA in corrupting Scottish football?
It’s not as if they would be turning their backs on a good team, is it?
The Myth hanging around the studio like a bad smell.
What possible positive contribution to the conversation could he possibly add??
Remember, this is Walter the Loser.
The tactical genius who blew their ten-in-a-ro
SPF
From the B.B.C.
S.F.A. complicit re. E.B.Ts.?
Johnston said Rangers had acceded to SFA requests for information about the scheme.
“The SFA compliance officers must have known, both from the description and context of the reports, that such expenditures had some connection to player compensation,” he said.
“However, without any further investigation at the time, Rangers FC received its SFA license to compete in the 2011/2012 season.
BT
Nice one
SOAL
“Can anybody tell me why I am get tag with photos of shoes on Facebook”
Are you Aleksandr Orlov?
ole wattie looks like he has been drowning his sorrows over the summer….
ha ha…
there is no way GStrachan will get it. never never never – although he should
that tool on my tv right now will though …. i think the two with him are trying to offer him it right now!
SFTB
I wish it was Simples
The sheer brilliance of Falcao puts Colombia 2-1 up away to 10 man Chile
Rock me Amadeus