“I brought Charles Green in to buy Rangers” screams the BBC headline ahead of this evening’s interview by Chris McLaughlin of the Last King of Rangers, Our Hero, Craig Whyte. Whyte has retained private contact with a couple of journalists but he has previously declined earnest requests to go on the record given the level of investigation he is under. The wrong word could be costly.
But here it is, “I brought Charles Green in to buy Rangers”. An unequivocal assertion.
The interview will be broadcast on Reporting Scotland and Newsnight Scotland this evening and has been trailed by every outlet in the land (first trailed by Phil Mac Giolla Bhain last night). There appears to be genuine surprise in many news outlets. CQN’ers will be busy checking this this is, in fact, news, not a rehash of an earlier established fact (it is genuine news).
It has been a few months since Our Hero was The Only Show in Town but he can still put on a captivating performance.
Charles Green has yet to respond but he will. He has no choice. He could categorically deny the claim, citing Whyte’s court-established reliability, but to do that he’ll have to calculate that corroborating material will not emerge. The wrong word now could torpedo hopes of a successful share issue next month
A bombastic statement from well-polished PR people is what’s needed. I hope we’re not disappointed.
“I brought Charles Green in to buy Rangers”. Kaboom!
Remember, Ballymote to Glasgow Cycle, details here.
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Having said that CMc lets him off with the ‘demotion’ concept several times without challenge.
He also doesn’t question the CW statement that ‘no-one lost their jobs’, which is of course true…but how does that work?
Administrators that try to sign Daniel Cousin as their first meaningful act…hmmm.
Some soft soap there fuh shizzle.
Nytoil.
lookin’ forward to Barca in Barna…
LaSagradaFamiliaCSC
rfc …dead.
trfc …comatose.
huns….stupid.
huns giving money to chuckles….certifiably insane.
“You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig.”
Hog roast season. Yumyum.
I still believe “Crutches” Murray will be the chief culprit behind the ebt’s. As for Ogulvie ? There’s more guts in a wee mouse… Typical of the liars that they are don’t you think?
LEATHALBOOT
Johnny Smyth
Auld Douglas Bader is still behind the scenes playing puppeteer – hence Traynors appearance tonight and the soon to return comedy act of the Cardigan.
Ogilvie has been kept in place to sing – when the big guns start shootin’ the big fish in the auld proverbial barrel.
GG – Many thanks for posting the utube link, couldn’t access anything earlier from the links posted back home. Hail Hail
operator
Thanks for the news about Tommy – never had it easy over the last 25 or so – when I was home in August I bumped into him. I knew he didn’t recognise me so I told him who I was…..Aye that will be right he said, unbelievingly………He used tae be a skinny guy. Another thing I love about comin’ hame :)……………….. Tommy Finnegan RIP.
Goodnight all
Teuchter ár lá
Redetin 9 hrs, 11 mins ago
HMRC will not discuss tax affairs of anyone with a 3rd party unless a specific authorisation (68-4 Authority) has been submitted. Did Craig Whyte complete a 68-4 for RFC?
Above taken from Phils blog who must have enjoyed his last blog entry
HH
Disgraced ex-Rangers owner Craig Whyte breaks cover to blame anyone but himself for club’s collapse
By James Traynor | 18 Oct 2012 07:06
LIKE a bad penny – or should that be 100, given what he forked out for Rangers – Craig Whyte turned up last night claiming he didn’t kill off the Ibrox club.
In a scattergun interview, the disgraced former owner desperately tried to pin the blame for Rangers’ downfall on everybody but himself.
Sadly, Whyte is so delusional that he probably really does believe the crisis was caused by the others whose names he tried to blacken.
As he said: “I was, if you like, driving the train when it crashed but I wasn’t the one who set it on this path.”
Of course not, and you were forced to stop handing over PAYE to the taxman.
“What was the alternative?” he asked. “What people are forgetting is that the club didn’t have any money to pay tax.”
Well, that’s all right then. That explains it perfectly and must surely absolve Whyte of blame.
Big boys – people like Duff & Phelps, who Whyte insists knew about the Ticketus deal, Sir David Murray and Scottish football’s authorities – did it. Only it was Whyte who ran away.
Last night, one of the joint administrators, Paul Clark, said: “The allegations against the administrators, who are officers of the court, are false, malicious and without foundation. They shouldn’t be given any credibility, given the source.”
Clark continued: “It should be remembered that Mr Whyte’s takeover of Rangers is now the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation and we have provided evidence to that inquiry.
“In addition, we instigated legal proceedings against Mr Whyte’s solicitors in the High Court in London and those proceedings are centred round the very serious allegation that he was involved in a conspiracy which deprived Rangers of many millions of pounds.”
Whyte is correct when he insists the Employee Benefit Trusts scheme operated by Rangers over a 10-year period made it practically impossible to find a willing buyer, because of the potentially massive tax liability attached to the club.
That’s down to Murray and his financial advisers. But no matter how much Whyte, and others, want it to be true, the Big Tax case didn’t close Rangers.
Whyte’s non-payment of tax forced HMRC to act.
But, of course, they should have tried to agree repayment systems with him first.
And the shamed former owner, who broke cover in an extensive interview with BBC Scotland, revealed “prominent politicians”, including Scotland’s First Minister, became involved.
He said: “At one stage, Alex Salmond spoke to the head guy at HMRC but they weren’t prepared to come to any arrangement.”
But, according to Duff & Phelps, there was dialogue with HMRC about non-payment and possible repayment plans.
Whyte, who was speaking out to set the record straight, refused point-blank to accept that he had lied at any point, or duped anyone, including former owner Murray.
He did, however, admit that he had been misleading when questioned about where he had found the £20million to buy the beleaguered Ibrox club.
However, despite having been asked on more than one occasion about a deal to hand over future season tickets to London firm Ticketus, Whyte would not accept that he had lied.
He said: “Maybe I should have been more open but I didn’t lie. I should have been more open about the funding. I perhaps misled people about that and that was a mistake.”
Come on, Craig, not even a little white lie? No?
And what about the claim that it was he, and not Zeus Capital, who searched out Charles Green and introduced him to Duff & Phelps.
“Nonsense,” Green said last night. “Yet again Craig Whyte’s version of events paints a misleading picture of what actually happened.”
To be fair to Whyte, he did introduce Green to one of the administrators – but it was in a Chinese restaurant in London days after Zeus had brought in the Yorkshireman to mastermind the takeaway, sorry, takeover.
But Green said: “The facts are that direct contact was made by our consortium with Craig Whyte in the first instance as it appeared at that time that his shares would have to be secured in order for any purchase of the club to progress.
“I wasn’t present when contact was initially made but later met Craig Whyte, who introduced me to the administrator.
“I was brought in by Imran Ahmad after Duff & Phelps contacted Zeus in February.”
Green didn’t stay. He didn’t even sit down. He had work to do if something could be salvaged from the wreckage of that train Whyte was driving.
But, of course, Whyte always knew Rangers were heading for the buffers and so, he insists, did everyone else around him.
He said: “There was a 75 per cent chance it would go into administration. Everyone involved in the deal was aware of that.”
Whyte also repeated his belief that he is not the man to blame for the almost catastrophic events which plunged Rangers into liquidation – and pointed to the administrators, claiming they knew about the Ticketus deal.
He also said it was only AFTER administration that Rangers went into meltdown, adding: “If the administrators had stuck to what they said they were going to do, then it wouldn’t have gone wrong. Either we’d have got a quick CVA (company voluntary arrangement) through or a quick restructuring.
“Staying in administration for five months was where it went wrong.”
He said given the dire straits Rangers were in, the Ticketus deal was “considered the best way to fund the club” and added: “Duff & Phelps knew, 100 per cent they knew.
“They attended meetings and were copied in on emails. They were there on the day of completion.”
In January, when the Record broke the news that future season tickets had been sold to Ticketus, Whyte denied it point-blank.
Even now, he still denies lying to fans about how his takeover was funded.
He said: “I think I was asked a specific question, ‘Did you mortgage the season tickets’. I said no, because they weren’t mortgaged.”
Whyte admitted he should have been “more open about the funding” but added: “I didn’t lie but perhaps I misled people.”
However, he defended the principle of using ticket money to buy the club, saying: “There’s no difference between a bank overdraft or a bank loan to fund the club and using a funding method like Ticketus.”
Whyte also insisted the SPL knew Rangers were in trouble and that he flagged up the problems at a meeting last October.
In fact, he and Rangers’ then director of operations Ali Russell met SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster and non-executive director Ralph Topping for dinner.
The SPL were alerted to the dangers facing the club but were unable to offer Whyte any idea of what might happen in the event of liquidation and some kind of restructuring.
“It’s been a disaster,” Whyte said. “They’ve made Scottish football a laughing stock of the world.”
But surely you helped do that, Craig?
He also added: “What other country in the world would deal with one of their biggest clubs in the way they have and demote them to the Third Division.”
Wrong again, Craig. Rangers had to go there because they were a new club starting over.
How on earth did that happen?
Ralph Topping steps down from SFA board commitments
Published: 01 May 2012
By STEPHEN HALLIDAY
SPL chairman Ralph Topping has resigned his SFA board commitments due to pressure of work. The 60-year-old, who is chief executive of bookmakers William Hill, will continue in his non-executive role with the SPL which he has held since 2009.
At the start of this season, Topping was appointed to the new Professional Game Board (PGB) of the SFA which was created as part of chief executive Stewart Regan’s radical restructuring of the organisation. Topping was also elected onto the main SFA board of directors as a representative of the PGB.
Topping’s decision to step down from SFA duties leaves a vacancy on both the main SFA board and PGB. The SPL are allowed three representatives on the PGB – the others are currently SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster and Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell.
One of those two could now be in line for a place on the main SFA board, while an SPL appointed replacement for Topping will join the PGB.
Doncaster, meanwhile, has admitted that the continuing uncertainty over Rangers’ participation in the SPL next season is hampering efforts to finalise the new £80 million television contract with Sky and ESPN, as well as attempts to find a replacement for title sponsors Clydesdale Bank.
“We have agreed terms with Sky and ESPN for a new five-year deal from this summer,” said Doncaster.
“But, as is the case with many commercial contracts, long form commercial contracts follow the initial agreement.
“We still have another season with Clydesdale Bank as our main sponsor who will exit in the summer of 2013. So discussions remain ongoing. Generally, having clarity going forward would be helpful to everyone. Not merely to ourselves in the SPL centre, but to all 12 member clubs.
“To have that clarity, to understand what the league looks like next season, would be helpful to all.”
While the main business of yesterday’s SPL general meeting was adjourned, it did approve a new financial disclosure regulation which includes the requirement that clubs have no outstanding sums due to other SPL members as at 31 December any year.
“The essence of it is that it brings our rules more into line with the SFA’s on financial disclosure,” said Doncaster.
“It makes it clear that it’s important clubs don’t have any outstanding sums due to any other clubs. You can still have staggered transfer payments, as long as there are no
I see that the day after the Craig Whyte Interview, the Beeb is running with this headline:
Price of Football: Celtic most expensive in the SPL
Whyte claimed that Duff & Phelps knew he had used future season tickets revenue to finance his purchase of the club, and also claimed that he had been responsible for helping to find Charles Green’s consortium as potential saviours after the club had been plunged into administration. Both claims were immediately refuted in separate statements issued by Duff & Phelps and by Green.
Whyte bought Rangers from Sir David Murray for a token sum of £1, but his purchase came with an undertaking that he would settle the £18 million debt the club had outstanding with Lloyds Bank. It later transpired that Whyte had cleared the debt using three years of advance season ticket sales he had accrued from a £25m deal with Ticketus.
In yesterday’s BBC interview, Whyte insisted Duff & Phelps, who were appointed the club’s administrators, had been aware of the deal with Ticketus.
“Everybody who was involved in the deal team at the time knew about it,” claimed Whyte. “They [Duff & Phelps] knew everything, they attended meetings, they were copied into all the e-mails, they were there on the day of completion. They knew from the start.”
However, Paul Clark, of Duff & Phelps, joint administrator of Rangers, responded: “The allegations against the administrators, who are officers of the court, in relation to Ticketus, are false, malicious and without foundation. They should not be given any credibility given the source. It should be remembered that Mr Whyte’s takeover of Rangers is now the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation and we have provided evidence to that inquiry.
“In addition, as administrators we instigated legal proceedings against Mr Whyte’s solicitors in the High Court in London and those proceedings are centred round the very serious allegation that Mr Whyte was involved in a conspiracy which deprived Rangers of many millions of pounds.
“Our conduct of the Rangers administration has been the subject of intense public scrutiny and we are wholly satisfied it was carried out the highest professional standards. We have co-operated fully with inquiries into our appointment by Lord Hodge at the Court of Session and the Insolvency Practitioners’ Association.”
In the interview, broadcast on Reporting Scotland last night, venture capitalist Whyte also claimed the fact that he had not used his own money to fund his purchase of Rangers had been clearly laid out in sale documents. He told the BBC: “It was certainly mentioned in the sale agreement that season ticket funding may well be used. There was also mention of third-party funds. So, it wasn’t me somehow pretending that I used my own money when I wasn’t. It was clearly documented.
“All the advisers on my side of the table knew about it, the takeover panel knew about it. It was not a secret. The only people who were perhaps misled were the media and the fans, which is regrettable with hindsight.”
But the 41-year-old denied lying to fans about how his takeover was funded. He said: “I think I was asked a specific question: ‘Did you mortgage the season tickets.’ I said ‘no’ because they weren’t mortgaged. To be fair, with the benefit of hindsight, what I should have done when I first bought the club was be more open about the funding. I didn’t lie, but perhaps I misled people about that and it was a mistake with hindsight.”
During the administration process, Duff & Phelps cast the net wide to find new owners, and Whyte claimed credit for helping to identify Green.
“I was the one who found a buyer – it wasn’t Duff & Phelps,” he said. “My colleagues in London – when no credible buyer was coming forward – went out and used our contacts in the city to put a suitable deal together.”
Green quickly disputed this version of events, however. The Rangers chief executive said: “Yet again Craig Whyte’s version of events paints a misleading picture of what actually happened and it’s regrettable that the BBC is providing him with such a platform. The facts are that direct contact was made by our consortium with Craig Whyte in the first instance as it appeared at that time that his shares would have to be secured in order for any purchase of the club to progress. I was not present when contact was initially made, but subsequently met Craig Whyte, who introduced me to the administrator.”
Whyte insisted his relationship with Green was a healthy one. He said: “I think given the public perception of me, people are keen to distance themselves from me publicly. But I have no problem with the current management of Rangers.”
Above from Scotsman no journoes name on it that I can find. HH
If Lex Gold is eventually implicated in this scandal which I am not implying he is then we will have our Green Whyte and Gold. I might even start believing again if that were to pass. ;-)
HH
Apologies for getting it wrong on Jim Murphy……..must have mixed him up with another nondescript politician
Traynor “Wrong again, Craig. Rangers had to go there because they were a new club starting over.”
Shurely shome mishtake?
Michael
00:34 on 18 October, 2012
‘st.john.doyle
00:02 on
18 October, 2012
Are you sure about 100% non-catholic cabinet? Do you want to reconsider?’
Salmond has never had a Catholic in his cabinet.
You might want to reconsider your understanding of the term cabinet.
setting free the bears
01:10 on 18 October, 2012
”I differ from ernie lynch in blaming the modern SNP for the genuine sins of their forefathers,”
That’s not quite my position. I refer to the anti Catholic Irish roots of the SNP because (a) no one else does, so no one knows about it, not least SNP members and supporters. It’s important and people should be aware of it (b) the SNP have never acknowledged, renounced or apologised for their history and (c) there’s a reason for that.
######
‘I find 3 strands of SNP politics carry implicit insults:-
1) You vote Labour out of habit
2) You favour other nation’s sovereignty but not your own 3) Labour have not solved Scottish poverty, so vote SNP.’
You omit the fourth on. ‘4) If you support Irish Republicanism/Nationalism/Reunification you must support the SNP, otherwise you’re a hypocrite’. A fundamentally ignorant and illogical argument but a favourite of the SNP sock puppets on Celtic forums.
Watching Chuck Green last night, I thought, yes, another exaggeration from him when he claimed the assets are worth £80 million but do you know what it doesn’t matter a jot and why?
No matter the valuation the true price is £5M as that is what he paid for it. No one believes the valuation no bank will lend to him or sevco for a long time or at least not at less than punitive rates. The only question is can he dupe enough fans to recover his funds. Moreover. if he does will the fans realise they have bought the club twice and still don’t own it.
In conclusion sevco are gubbed.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Morning,
I see the laptop loyal have put their deflectors to full power. Good! I want them to continue stumbling towards oblivion.
‘whistle thief’
Romanians quickly sussed out Craig Thomson…
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
Lennybhoy…Supporting Neil Lennon and CFC until I die
08:37 on 18 October, 2012
‘Watching Chuck Green last night, I thought, yes, another exaggeration from him when he claimed the assets are worth £80 million but do you know what it doesn’t matter a jot and why?’
#######
Why it DOES matter.
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
S.397 Misleading statements and practices….
(3)Any person who does any act or engages in any course of conduct which creates a false or misleading impression as to the market in or the price or value of any relevant investments is guilty of an offence if he does so for the purpose of creating that impression and of thereby inducing another person to acquire, dispose of, subscribe for or underwrite those investments or to refrain from doing so or to exercise, or refrain from exercising, any rights conferred by those investments.
No matter who you vote for the politicians are in it for themselves. The days of the local MP trying to make things better for locals are long gone.
MPs now chose politics as a job the same as the rest of us.
Glad the international week is over, real football again.
Ambrose will score on Saturday.
Jim Murphy is not my pal but he was at University same time as me. I spoke to him a few times. He is a TIM.
I suspect as parliamentary representative of a large number of Huns he acted as he should have done- possibly at the request of his constituents. As a self declared Celticseason ticket holder it was probably an important political gesture.
Talk of him being a Hun is lunacy.
Snake Plissken – 00:37
“The SNP have to court votes in a different manner to Labour and for different reasons and that’s why they have to be seen to be for everybody without being overly supportive of somebody – a bloody hard task and much harder than courting the my Da voted Labour and his Da voted Labour mindset still ingrained in much of Scotland (particularly the West).”
My Da did indeed vote Labour (though not sure what his Da did) because Labour gave us the NHS and the Welfare State.
In contrast the SNP gave us 13 years of Thatcherism after all the SNP MPs voted against Jim Callaghan’s Labour Govt in 1979 Motion of No Confidence which was lost by 1 vote resulting in the Tories laying waste our industrial heartlands.
“The motion moved by Margaret Thatcher MP was “That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government”.[5]
During the debate Callaghan criticised the Scottish National Party, committed to independence for Scotland, for voting with the Conservative Party who opposed devolution. The Scottish National Party were to lose all but two of their seats in the election following the no confidence vote:” Wiki
That’s why the self serving, incredibly stupid SNP parcel of halfwit rogues will never – ever – get my vote.
Saw Jim Murphy last season getting him and his sons photo taken at the bottom of 110.
Anyone got a link to the cartoon, explaining RTC to a Hun?
I know there were a few rude words in it but it does seem somewhat appropriate this morning.
EC67
The sevconians in work getting cocky again.
Whytes a liar,greens their saviour blah blah blah.
The best bit was for last.”I n wur aw gettin behind green n buying shares”.
It was with great pleasure informing 1 of thems that i will be expecting reimbursement of 500 pounds of him when the tarnished titles are stripped increasing to a grand if Celtic are awarded them due to our long running ton a title bet:-)) hh
Murphy and about 4 boys sat next to me at Benfica game south stand rear, ES2.
So do we believe Mr Salmond when he says his intervention was purely to ask HMRC to conclude their investigations in a timely manner?
On a different note, the Record seems to have firmly cemented itself as the mouthpiece of whoever is in charge of Rangers at any given time, this morning. If the description of their ‘Whyte is a liar’ story given by Shortbread this morning is anything to go by.
So the SPL is the best supportered league per head of the population in Europe.
Armageddon indeed…
ernie @8.53
Your knowledge in so many areas amazes me (seriously).
JJ
The ernielynchappreciationsocietyCSC
ernie lynch 08:53 :
Thanks for that, I should have qualified last post.
He may be guilty of an offence by misleading the market, potential investors, including fans to invest in something that is no worth what he claims it to be.
My point was that those that are switched on or not happy with the oldco’s track record and I accept that overtly at least there are no links between old and new will not invest. I mean banks and other financial institutions and not the fans. The latter, well some of them anyway will continue to be duped.
I believe he is struggling to raise the kind of capital he had hoped to; this why I make my assertion that sevco are gubbed.
I f he is contravening the FSA Act, then he could be the next one to end up in handcuffs.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo at 08:10 on 18 October, 2012
Apart from the green/whyte thing, I’ve always thought it appropriate that the last player ever to sign for RFC was called Celik.
;o)
Interesting that Huns are outraged by being in Div 3.
Interesting that Charie is declaring they will never return to SPL.
Strikes me they are so financially wounded ( dead) that they can’t afford to play in the 3 rd division. Is it possible they could afford to play at a higher level.
Post Xmas will be a good time to judge how their support are standing up/ walking away ..
Doomed IMO…!
Eurochamps67 09:03:
As you post, there are a lot of expletives in the cartoon, hence my reluctance to post. However, if you type “explaining debt to a hun” into Google you’ll find the youtube link, third one down for me.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Our hero must have hit a raw nerve or two with his interview given that Media House have written the front page for the Daily Retard today.
ASonOfDan
09:10
Excuse me?
£80 Million in assets!
Sevco a couple of weeks ago, evaluated the property at about £30 Million. Is Green therefore claiming he has a squad of players worth £50 Million! lol!
Thanks Lennybhoy
ernie lynch
08:24 on 18 October, 2012
Michael
00:34 on 18 October, 2012
‘st.john.doyle
00:02 on
18 October, 2012
Are you sure about 100% non-catholic cabinet? Do you want to reconsider?’
Salmond has never had a Catholic in his cabinet.
You might want to reconsider your understanding of the term cabinet.
**************************************************************************************
Thanks again Ernie
Alex Salmond has never appointed a Catholic to his CABINET (not junior ministers) his CABINET and they hate being reminded of it trust me.
The SNP like the BNP were set up to discriminate against a certain group in the SNP’s case it was Irish Catholics and not black people.
Can you imagine someone in an ethnic community voting for thr BNP in 50 years I dont think so, why are Catholics in Scotland voting for their very nationalists that wanted to send them home or stop them coming in bigots then and bigots now
Lennybhoy
Gratuitous Alienation
I also like this one from Scots Law
Catholic Creditor – I do hope there is a Catholic Creditor or 2 out there waiting in the sidelines. Sure does add to the ‘Unseen Fenian Hand’ theory.
:-)))
MWD
Charles Green bought the assets of RFC for £5.5 million.
He did not buy the football club, he reckons he bought the history included in the price but he never bought the club.
At this time the club had no license and no league to play in, and indeed were in administration, awaiting liquidation.
Part of the £5.5 million also, according to Charlie and D &P, included all of the players, management team and backroom staff.
Charlie has managed to get The Rangers a license and access to play in a league structure once again.
The assets he purchased have depreciated as it turns out he did not own the players such as, Davis, The Beast, Naismith, Whittaker, Ness, Edu, Fleck, Lafferty.
This means that entry to the SFL3 was worth more than £75 million pounds!!!!
Why would Gala and Spartans not want a slice of that money for not applying for SFL3 entry??
I wonder what guarantees the SFL have asked for that allowed this entry, if it was worth that amount of money, virtual money or not.