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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Lennon n Mc….Mjallby
08:52 on 12 September, 2012
Well done Roger Mitchell,at least he is willing to admit that over one hundred years of Scottish football history cannot be bought and for the paltry sum of part of a 5.5m pound deal which includes a football stadium and car park.
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Heh, heh :o))) lol
Hail Hail
BRTH at 0822.
Superb post. AJ’s statement offers so many hostages to fortune, it really does make you wonder if Murray deliberately employed obviously incompetent directors…
Rhetorical question I know but why does it take someone like Mitchell to analyse in print the utterings of this clown??
BRTH
Brilliant post.
Moonbeams WD. Kano 1000 \o/ Supporting Neil Lennon 100%. Champions. C’mon Wee Oscar.
06:52 on 12 September, 201
———
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000
08:22 on 12 September, 2012
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Thank you for those posts.
HAIL HAIL
BRTH, hats off, another great read.
Haven’t heard the song,but seems it’s a tribute to yet another youngster who died from neuroblastoma.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2201718/Maya-Thompson-The-heart-breaking-story-year-olds-battle-cancer-inspired-Taylor-Swifts-latest-hit-Ronan.html
Fair play to all involved,and to everyone who has helped our own wee heroes who are suffering.
Mr X loves having a “fly kick”
08:50 on 12 September, 2012
All Sevco fans should read the sentence in that Mitchell article when he refers to The Celtic fans’ victory being that “their greatest rival died”.
Read it and weep bigot boys.
________________________________________________________________
When you think about it – maybe we should salute Mitchell’s incompetence
in blowing the SKY deal and, at the same time – hastened the hun demise :o)
Hail Hail
From the Glasgow Herald ( looks like the media, also, are exposing greengo’s agenda)
Does Green actually buy this stuff? Let’s take a look
Roger Mitchell
For someone who claimed the Scottish Premier League was a really bad idea a few weeks ago, I found myself surprised that I felt the strong urge to defend my former organisation in the face of the bombast from Charles Green.
I truly hope by the time that this is read, someone officially representing the SPL will have done likewise. I ask myself, does Green actually buy this stuff? Let’s take a look:
Claim 1 Rangers ceased to be subject to the SPL’s rules when they were ejected from their league.
Fact Rangers oldco was not ejected from the SPL. The fact that Rangers went into liquidation automatically expelled them from the league. The SPL shareholders then decided not to make an exception and let them back in. Two very different things.
Claim 2 The outcome of the SPL’s process will have no legal effect.
Fact What the SPL are deciding upon is whether their tournament and their trophy was assigned to the correct club in the years in question.
The SPL have every right to examine whether participants in their competition behaved within the rules. And if they find they haven’t, they can apply their rule book as recourse. More Green nonsense.
I do, however, agree with him that “whatever decision they reach is a decision of the SPL”. Indeed. But the SPL should be proud of that, and not hide behind the Law Lords.
The SPL are examining the conduct of the participants in their competition well before Rangers went into liquidation, in particular the conduct of the club then owned by Sir David Murray, with the club secretary role (in charge of those player registrations) held by Campbell Ogilvie (whatever happened to him?). Charles Green and Sevco have nothing to do with this. Whatsoever.
Claim 3 The new owners purchased all the business and assets of Rangers, including titles and trophies.
Fact Green said on June 2012 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”.
Therefore he admits he has not purchased titles and trophies. Sevco has no titles and trophies.
By the way, Charles, I would not provoke commentators like me to dig this up, because what you said is not what the Rangers fans want to hear now, as you now correctly realise. Let it lie, Charlie, let it lie.
So, even one with a leaning towards Govan would argue that, under the most superficial scrutiny, Green’s attack is less than robust. But sometimes you have to chuck a dog a bone. So, to be fair, Charlie is right with his complaint on the SPL’s lack of consistency,
Green states: “The SPL took part in discussions regarding the new company’s league status, where ‘the EBT issue’ would be dealt with as part of a package of sanctions which would be implemented in return for membership.
“We do not accept that people who are willing to come to an agreement on such matters then have a right to instigate a full-blown inquisition when matters do not unfold as they thought they would.”
Sadly this falls into the general shambles of the management of the affair by the SFA/SPL. I made my own view clear on the leadership of both bodies in the summer. But I cannot see how the credibility of the current process on a simple point of law over false registration of players with Employee Benefit Trusts (being handled by independent top QCs) can be derailed by claims that the prosecutor behaved incoherently months earlier.
Good debating point, Charles, but it’s not enough. Instead, all of us who love the game and who hold true sporting values in our hearts have a simple question: Did Rangers oldco gain unfair advantage by registering players on a basis where their full employment conditions were not declared to the SPL/SFA?
In my mind the answer is undoubtedly ‘yes’. But let’s not forget the lessons of Versailles: bloodlust rebounds.
The SPL enquiry punishment doesn’t arouse great passion in me. And it shouldn’t either for Celtic fans. For them I’d argue the victory is in the fact that their greatest rival died.
The 125-year long struggle ended with the collapse of the adversary. The war was won. Achilles vanquished Hector.
In closing, from Mark Anthony onwards history tells us that well-crafted oratory can influence the mob.
While Charles Green is no great speaker or statesman, I must admit, he is no dummy. And there is no doubt that his audience is the mob, whose money and favour he needs in order to exit the Rangers investment project with a financial return.
Stoking up hatred has always energised “the base”, another example of which we saw in the Republican convention in these days.
Well done, Charles. Initial Public Offering of shares here we come.
For Scottish football, the days of enlightenment around the Tommy Burns funeral are long gone, and I fear the worst.
miki67
08:54 on
12 September, 2012
TSD : aye, the world is a crazy place, indeed. And you live in it. Fancy that.
H *~*H.
~~~~~~~~~~~
My Dear,Dear,Dear Miki 67….
One Has To Ask….
Just What Would Dear Brother Walfrid Have To Say About The State Of Affairs.?
——————————-
I Notice A Trend On Your Planet….
Even Individuals….Advanced In Your Earth Years….
Are Increasingly Turning To Plastic Surgery….
I Would Certainly Get Those ‘Bat Ears’ Sorted….
Dealing With The Issue Of The Eyes Being ‘Too Close Together’….
Is Somewhat More Problematic….
(ThumbsUp?)
Folly Folly
08:44 on
12 September, 2012
Excellent yes Chucky would be an perfect fit for a ripping yarn
Not read phil’s book yet, I’m sure it’s a good read but just think he may have shot his bolt early as the story of the “downfall” of rfc is far from complete.
When HMRC return their verdict imminently and the ebt firestorm hits, will we find out just how far into the offices and structure of scottish football did rfc’s influence reach. We know the names of many of the main players with “conflicts” but my guess is that there are many more.
The major restructuring of the sfa within the last couple of years with many comings and goings at high levels tie in with knowledge that the brown stuff was in the post.
I think the sequel to “downfall” might be even more interesting.
BRTH
An excellent piece as usual.
The msm could do with more people like yourself!
Well done to Roger Mitchell as well.
How on earth did it get past the censor ‘though?! Heads will roll at the ‘Herald’!
HH!!
Tallybhoy
09:21 on 12 September
How on earth did it get past the censor ‘though?! Heads will roll at the ‘Herald’!
HH!!
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I hope wee Daryl’s head is 1st to roll :o)
Hail Hail
Random question…
Who scored first for Russia last night?
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon..!!.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors
09:14 on 12 September, 2012
For Scottish football, the days of enlightenment around the Tommy Burns funeral are long gone, and I fear the worst.
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Do you mean in a – wearing of the green kind of way ?
Hail hail
Kerzhakov
Thanks. Did Dzagoev or Shirokov get any of the other of the goals?
Son of Gabriel 0-4
Kerzhakov 6 64
Kokorin 18
Fayzulin 77
Just listening to Big EBT McLeish spouting off about the Scotland situation on Talksport. Anyone would think he was unemployed and looking for a new job.
Astounded of forehead as MWD put its after reading Roger Mitchells article in the Herald this from the man who was one of the SPL’sChief Executive will enrage the sevconians with there own brand of righteous fury I expect more threats & intimidation and love kissed explosive letters
Apparently, The Herald has stuffed its trumpet and spiked the Mitchell piece.
Must be the masonic censor who rules Scotland at work.
When I was a wee bhoy, my Da telt me not to go to Scotland games as – I would stick out like a sore thumb.
As I got older…curiosity got the better of me and I decided to go to a Scotland game unbeknown to my Da.
England were the visitors at Hunden that day and Paul Mariner scored the winner.
Celtic’s Davie Provan was playing and – all the stuff my Da telt me aboot Scotland games was laid bare.
EVERY time DP touched the ball – 90% of the stadium started to chant for hun Wullie Johnston(Junky) to be brought on.
From that moment on – I’ve hoped that Scotland got humped in EVERY game they played.
Always listen to yer Auld Da _ CSC
Every time Danny McGrain touched the ball the groans were from 90% of the stadium were embarrassing to say the least.
Daniel Fergus McGrain = The only WORLD CLASS football player to grace this masonic cabal since the Lion’s – being booed by the same scum who, in their other guises – wrecked almost every city in Europe.
I’ve been misinformed. The article is still there….but you have to search for it.
Grrrrrr…..I hate being given false info.
But given the fiasco we’re witnessing, I should be used to that by now.
Has Roger Mitchell received any death threats yet?
Are people who are spotted reading the ‘Herald’ being battered in the street?
HH!!
South of Tunis, jc2
Thanks
yip – its gone already
These nationalistic internationals are utterly useless and meaningless exercises….propagandistic in nature, and dire in execution. Anachronistic vanity.
Internationals over and our players head back. Are there any more injuries for us to worry about?
I apologise for – incoherent post @ 09:49
Typo
sorry
Hail Hail
Just checked – the Mitchell piece is still there.
For how much longer ‘though?
HH!!
Still there. Now you see it. Now you don’t. The three card monte merchants must be drunk.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/search
Incoherency is a talent not to be dimssed….
: > }
KEVJUNGLE 0949
Not tring to fall out-honstly-and I agree with the gist of your point.
Howevah….
Willie Johnson was banned after the drugs fiaco in the 78 World Cup,and Davie provan was still a Kilmarnock player then.
His first game was early in season 78/79,about September. Partick Thistle or St Mirren,IIRC.
But as I say,your point is absolutely correct otherwise. I chucked it about ’85,fed up wi the abuse Brian McClair and The Maestro suffered.
They usually weren’t brave enough to hammer Big Roy,mind……
miki67
10:00 on 12 September, 2012
Incoherency is a talent not to be dimssed….
: > }
_____________________________________
Agreed m8 :o)
Hail hail
Is Mitchell’s article only available on the online version of The Herald and not the actual paper version?
One Celtic player I remember who received horrendous abuse while playing for Scotland was Davie Hay.
Can’t remember exactly but I think when he made his international debut -coming on as a sub (?) – he was welcomed by a resounding chorus of boos from you know who.
HH!!
If you type Roger Mitchell into the search box on The Herald Page, the article will come up.
Why am I bothering with this? Have I developed OCD to add to my insanity?
The Mitchell article is still on the Herald’s site
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/does-green-actually-buy-this-stuff-lets-take-a-look-does-green-actually-buy-this-stuff-lets-take-a-look.18857922
Will it get censored?
Is this Nazi Germany? Stalinist Russia?
We are about to find out.