It is 13 days since Celtic Quick News first raised a concern that the SFA were not investigating the alleged improper registration of football players by Rangers FC for a period of over a decade. Our central concern was:
Allegations of players having two contracts had been repeated in the media but it was not known if both alleged contracts were submitted to the SFA in accordance with Player Registration Rules. As fans, we had no authority to check, but with an SFA inquiry into Rangers convened, this seemed like an excellent opportunity to demand answers.
We had two secondary concerns:
The scope of the inquiry led by Lord Nimmo Smith was not made public, nor was there any commitment to make the findings public.
SFA president, Campbell Ogilvie, as a SFA board member, was due to receive the report and could have been in a position to influence the scope of the inquiry. Ogilvie was general secretary and director of Rangers from 1978 until 2005, presenting a clear conflict of interest, which the SFA had not acknowledged.
Subsequent events have moved beyond the association:
The SFA have confirmed Nimmo Smith’s report will not investigate the alleged improper registration of players at Rangers but they have left the door open to a future inquiry into the matter.
The Scottish Premier League have not been so lax and will now investigate the alleged improper registration of players. We can perhaps imply that only one contract per player has been lodged with them.
The Sun and Daily Mail have produced a redacted (second) contract and evidence from a former Rangers director respectively.
Despite the issue being reported throughout all media channels, no one from Rangers, past or present, has denied the existence of the second contracts, or claimed player registrations were valid.
What next:
We await the SPL inquiry.
If found guilty, some punishments are clear. Playing an improperly registered player in any match invalidates the result of the game. A 3-0 win is retrospectively awarded to the opponent. Always. Just as your history books do not record Ben Johnson as Olympic 100m champion for 1988, Scottish football records would be changed.
An offense such as this would be “literally off the scale” to borrow a phrase. The SPL and SFA would need to decide on an appropriate penalty. Sport does not provide many good reference points for behaviour on this scale (Johnson was banned for three years).
The HMRC v Rangers tax tribunal and current financial plight of the club remain huge issues but, if found to be valid, the improper registration of footballers over such a long period has the potential to be the biggest story in the history of Scottish football. The SFA must initiate an immediate inquiry.
Everyone else must simply wonder, what next?
I would like to be the first to congratulate Dundee United on their 2008 League Cup win.
Issue six of CQN Magazine, the Fit and Proper edition, is set to become a landmark collectors item. You can browse the magazine online here but you can buy your own hard copy by clicking on the link below. Read with 20-20 vision…..
You can support the online edition by making a discretionary donation here.
686 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- »
Had a Aiberdeen friend who was, around 1989, thrown out of the Ibrox corporate restaurant for asking the waiter if the fat he’d removed from his steak was Ian Durrant’s ligament.
Not nice, but…
Agent Craig ‘green and Whyte’
It pretty much ended Simpson’s career due to the Salem witch hunt which ensued.
hail hail
danso_1888 on 6 March, 2012 at 16:10 said:
what possible reasons could the duff&duff be dragging this out
These are the administrator that Whyte wanted. It is in Whyte’s best interests that Rangers IA go into liquidation. Keeping the players on as long as possible uses up the cash and delivers what their appointer wanted.
Alasdair MacLean on 6 March, 2012 at 16:23 said:
slightly funny, durrant wis a disgusting hun of the highest order.
went to high school who looked uncannily like him, being a big tim he wis not happy about it.
Ex-Rangers players to star alongside Todd Carty in BBC Scotland remake of “Tucker’s Luck”. (thumbsup)
54 and counting…….
Backwards.
*with a guy who….
Why are hunnites boycotting tannadice- i thought it was them who owed united money?
Some redneck yahoo said on Hun Meeja this morning (all deliverence like) that he was praying for Thompson to end up in wheelchair…they truly are the charming peepul…what kind of god do these genetic accidents pray to?
Having been made reduntant on a couple of occasions and having worked for probably the world’s largest professional services company that offers administration services (PwC) this stinks to high heavens. We are talking in business terms of an SME (Small to medium sized enterprise) with relatively few employees. The FD would have been told to draw up a list of people to be made redundant right at the start of this process. Fairly standard practice is to offer voluntary redundancies first to see if you can shift a sizeable cost out of the equation quickly then the carve-up begins. Everyone that is non-essential is released (support staff normally such as secretaries, PR, Marketing etc.) along with those that are cheapest to let go (part-timers etc.) and then the core until the exercise is completed. If the cash flow cannot sustain a core staff big enough to keep the business running then the games a bogey.
Have there been any further disturbances in the Force yet?
It is amazing the amount of time it is taking to make these Rangers players redundant there must be more to it than we know about ? I have been made redundant twice and it only took minutes to tell me and other workers to collect our personal belongings and leave the building.H.H.
Bartley returns to Murray Park – forget yer P45 pal?
Aplogies if this has already been posted, but it’s a fine piece on their troubles. Here’s the link and just scroll down to find it.
http://www.leftfootforward.org/
From the “Left Foot Forward” online Union journal (NOT Unionist though)
By Stephen Henderson
What will happen to Rangers?
Share4845retweet
Nearly a fortnight ago on Left Foot Forward I wrote about Rangers Football Club (RFC) in administration and how this came to pass. Now after two weeks under the management of administrators their situation is a little clearer but their likely fate is hotly contested.
Between now and the end of season, and excluding other unpaid debts, RFC have a £4.5 million shortfall in running costs. After a curious delay, Duff and Phelps have finally presented RFC players with a fait accompli: agree amongst yourselves to a 75% wage reduction or we will sack the players of our own choosing (or similar permutations).
At the moment it looks like no such agreement can be made and the axe will fall later on Monday.
Short of all players walking away, RFC should be able to limp on for the moment, albeit with a much-weakened squad. For other Scottish teams who badly need the match-day revenue this will be welcome; for RFC itself this looks like a stay of execution.
Rangers troubles
Let me briefly re-iterate the RFC position as far as we know it. Craig Whyte bought an 85% share of RFC from Sir David Murray (after six months of due diligence) for £1. He also paid off Lloyd’s bank’s £18m of secured debt – the so-called “floating charge”.
This debt is special as in the event of liquidation Craig Whyte, the new owner of the “floating charge”, can appoint his own receiver and will be at the front of the queue of RFC creditors and may be able to claim equivalent assets e.g. Ibrox Stadium or the training facility Murray Park outside Milngavie, a posh suburb of Glasgow.
Moreover in order to pay off Lloyds and get his hands on the “floating charge”, Craig Whyte reached an agreement with a Venture Capital Trust called Ticketus who gave him £24m, in exchange for ~£40m of future RFC season tickets.
Ticketus apparently have a claim against Craig Whyte should this deal go awry, but it is not clear – and opinions vary greatly – whether they have any claim over his “floating charge” on RFC in that case. Much of this was known or surmised many months ago; Rangers fans were warned but chose not to listen. Regardless, whilst the current RFC continues trading they will be financially hobbled by this deal for several seasons.
Then there is the matter of their other debts not least £9m PAYE and NIC owed to HMRC – plus “the big tax case”- a potential liability of £49m that looms large over everything else.
Share4845retweet
Nearly a fortnight ago on Left Foot Forward I wrote about Rangers Football Club (RFC) in administration and how this came to pass. Now after two weeks under the management of administrators their situation is a little clearer but their likely fate is hotly contested.
Between now and the end of season, and excluding other unpaid debts, RFC have a £4.5 million shortfall in running costs. After a curious delay, Duff and Phelps have finally presented RFC players with a fait accompli: agree amongst yourselves to a 75% wage reduction or we will sack the players of our own choosing (or similar permutations).
At the moment it looks like no such agreement can be made and the axe will fall later on Monday.
Short of all players walking away, RFC should be able to limp on for the moment, albeit with a much-weakened squad. For other Scottish teams who badly need the match-day revenue this will be welcome; for RFC itself this looks like a stay of execution.
Rangers troubles
Let me briefly re-iterate the RFC position as far as we know it. Craig Whyte bought an 85% share of RFC from Sir David Murray (after six months of due diligence) for £1. He also paid off Lloyd’s bank’s £18m of secured debt – the so-called “floating charge”.
This debt is special as in the event of liquidation Craig Whyte, the new owner of the “floating charge”, can appoint his own receiver and will be at the front of the queue of RFC creditors and may be able to claim equivalent assets e.g. Ibrox Stadium or the training facility Murray Park outside Milngavie, a posh suburb of Glasgow.
Moreover in order to pay off Lloyds and get his hands on the “floating charge”, Craig Whyte reached an agreement with a Venture Capital Trust called Ticketus who gave him £24m, in exchange for ~£40m of future RFC season tickets.
Ticketus apparently have a claim against Craig Whyte should this deal go awry, but it is not clear – and opinions vary greatly – whether they have any claim over his “floating charge” on RFC in that case. Much of this was known or surmised many months ago; Rangers fans were warned but chose not to listen. Regardless, whilst the current RFC continues trading they will be financially hobbled by this deal for several seasons.
Then there is the matter of their other debts not least £9m PAYE and NIC owed to HMRC – plus “the big tax case”- a potential liability of £49m that looms large over everything else.
Now that it is too late and seemingly surprised by what they now know, Rangers fans are angry – they don’t understand why RFC should owe both Ticketus and Craig Whyte – indeed it doesn’t seem logical.
If you step back though isn’t his cunning plan almost exactly what Malcolm Glazer did to Manchester United? The Glazers borrowed money to buy 75% of Manchester United on the understanding that the borrowings would be secured and paid off by Manchester United. Spot the difference?
Well it was debt not tickets, plus Manchester United is obviously a successful club despite this drain on its finances. Yet fundamentally neither Craig Whyte nor Malcolm Glazer invested anything – they got it all for free (or a pound). Actually aren’t these both perfect examples of leveraged buyout? It’s your coin, heads I win (Glazer), tails you lose (Whyte).
If things work out well for Craig Whyte then the loser may be RFC fans and certainly the taxpayer.
The administrators Duff and Phelps are trying to claim for RFC some of the excess money from the Ticketus deal (£3.6m) that was not given to pay off Lloyds. Yet the core of the deal – unless Craig Whyte has made some mistake in the paperwork – and despite the fact he lied through his teeth, seems perfectly legal.
Where are we now?
A fortnight ago Duff and Phelps were optimistic they could reach a so-called ‘company voluntary arrangement’ (CVA) for pennies in the pound of RFC debts, restructure RFC costs and be out of administration in time to register for European competition on March 31st. For this they would need the agreement with 75% of RFC creditors including the 1,000 lb gorilla in the room: HMRC.
Their silence on the matter since suggests HMRC do not look favourably on this option. In any case this would not extricate RFC from the ruinous Ticketus deal or Craig Whyte’s ownership. The prospect of an early exit from administration and European football with its precious revenue has all but receded.
The favoured option pursued by Duff and Phelps is now a buyout of the unpopular Whyte and they set a date of March 16th for ‘expressions of interest’. They would have to meet Craig Whyte’s asking price.
Over the last fortnight a number of potential buyers have come and gone but a group christened the ‘Blue Knights’ under the leadership of former RFC director Paul Murray remain interested.
There is a lot that could be said about the Blue Knights, but suffice it to say it is curious that someone like Murray, who oversaw RFC’s financial collapse in recent years, would, after all the fuss about the character of Craig Whyte, be deemed a ‘fit and proper person’ by the SFA – or another “saviour” by RFC fans.
Regardless of this the question that I asked in my previous article remains:
‘Why would someone buy a club with an impending £49m debt hanging over it?’
The L word
I have no privileged knowledge of the RFC situation but I suspect no one will buy RFC before the outcome of the “big tax case” is known. Further I expect that if RFC lose the “big tax case” (or even partly lose), and regardless of any redundancies or wage cuts in the meantime, then RFC will be liquidated.
Seemingly neither Craig Whyte nor Duff and Phelps want to be held responsible for liquidation but the ‘big tax case’ would certainly give them an airtight excuse.
There are more optimistic opinions as to the outcome.
But if it is to be liquidation: what then? Most RFC fans naturally see this as a disastrous outcome, a break with their cultural history, an end to their club.
Some RFC fans, however, have come to grudgingly think this might be their only way out – an escape from their creditors, their taxes, their liability to Ticketus, and an opportunity for the ‘Blue Knights’ (or others) to step in buy the assets and start a phoenix club – or ‘newco’. Sadly, this may not be as easy as it sounds.
Firstly it would be at least three years and possibly five before UEFA would allow re-entry for ‘newco’ to European competition. If such a ‘newco’ club wanted to play at Ibrox, then they would have to buy or rent it from Craig Whyte, Ticketus, HMRC or whoever controlled the liquidated RFC assets. Indeed in the likely event of protracted litigation over the control of Ibrox and other assets this maybe untenable.
Setting this problem aside the ‘newco’ could reach some mutually beneficial arrangement with all parties or perhaps decide to rent Hampden for a while – as Celtic did for a season in 1994-95.
Then citing their substantial fan-base and the dire finances of Scottish football they might argue that the Scottish Premier League (SPL) be reformed and ‘newco’ Rangers parachuted back in. Many anguished Scottish sports writers have been making this argument very persistently – but there are strong rumours that several SPL clubs would look unfavourably on this idea, not to mention the bottom team being unlikely to vote for their own relegation.
Perhaps then, the best option may be to apply to the SFA instead and try to reach the SPL by qualifying through three divisions of Scottish football. For this to work they would either again argue for a league restructuring to make a place, or buy another team, rebrand it, and move it to Hampden (or Ibrox).
There is a precedent for rebranding, with Airdrie United being a buyout and rebranding of Clydebank and a successor to the liquidated Airdrieonians. Nevertheless it would be a long and weary return from playing at Berwick (avgerage crowd 450) to playing at Celtic Park (average crowd 50,000). The returning RFC would be a much-reduced institution.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Rangers need help if they are to recover in any shape or form. They need very serious financial backing, they need sponsorship going forward (in whatever form), and more than anything they need the goodwill of other Scottish fans and their clubs. Now, however, yet more revelations are jeopardising their good name.
Quite simply, as illustrated by the Carlos Tevez/West Ham saga, a player’s full contract must be to his club alone and it must be declared to the parent football authority. So, early in the ‘big tax case’ story, the question was asked: was the EBT scheme declared in players’ contracts to the SFA? Evidence has now emerged from two sources that separate undeclared contracts existed.
Firstly, the Scottish Sun found a contract and published a redacted version, forcing the SFA to announce an independent inquiry to report to Campbell Ogilvie. the SFA president.
Then, in a hugely damaging revelation, Hugh Adam – a 30-year employee and director at RFC till 2002 – spoke out in the Daily Mail:
“They [EBT] weren’t included in the contracts. They definitely weren’t. That was the whole point of them. If they’d been included in the contracts, they would have had to have paid tax on them.
“All the directors heard about them but didn’t take them seriously because they didn’t appear in the books. People didn’t want to know about them. There was a lot of that (EBTs) going on at the time (I was there).
“You knew it was cheating but some of them not only hoped but believed it was above board. It was just something that crept up.
“They (EBTs) were always regarded in my time as a bit of a joke. They were getting away with it but nobody really thought they’d get away with it forever.”
It is difficult to imagine a more damaging interview. Essentially Hugh Adam is admitting that RFC, during his time working for the club, was “financially doping”, outspending their rivals through illicit offshore tax avoidance of (at least) dubious legality.
The context is worse though as it pushes back the potential illegality far earlier than previously confirmed. This period overlaps with that of fellow RFC secretary Campbell Ogilvie – yes that’s the same Campbell Ogilvie at the SFA since 2003, now president and now waiting for the EBT investigation to report to him.
The question arises: What could this inquiry possibly reveal that he doesn’t already know? Campbell Ogilvie has been removed from oversight of the inquiry – as he may be “heavily conflicted”.
To some there is strong whiff of collusion between RFC and the SFA – or at the very least a willful blindness. Campbell Ogilvie is only one of several Rangers directors of the past couple of decades who have moved between RFC and executive positions in the SFA and SPL. All have questions to answer.
And still further wild rumours abound of players not contracted to RFC itself, massive points deductions, and of even earlier EBT schemes stretching well back into the 90s. Many of the rumours may be ill-founded gossip, or “taxi-driver rubbish” as some call it. And yet as the RFC story has unwound, so many remarkable and specific allegations have turned out to be true; I find it hard to discount anything right now.
See also:
• Rangers FC: How a market leader went bust – Stephen Henderson, February 22nd 2012
• Scotland unites in wanting to save Rangers – Ed Jacobs, February 15th 2012
• Action must be taken whenever racism rears its ugly head – including in sport – Sabby Dhalu, November 12th 2011
• Sectarian Law will address “ugly element” within Scottish society – John Finnie MSP, November 3rd 2011
• Has racism returned to football? – Shamik Das, October 25th 2011
=====
Maybe some of the exiting RFCIA players should have had better union advice when they signed for that club.
HH
RWE CSC
End of shift – an hour ahead of UK – catch the news tomorrow.
Ard Macha – are you still posting the diaries mate? Not seen any the last couple of days and wanted to read them all this time.
cheers
Welll, well, well. Kyle Bartley has returned to Murray Park. If you’ve been following this text, you’ll have seen that he left for home earlier this afternoon and was planning to return tomorrow morning.
Coneybhoy on 6 March, 2012 at 16:23 said:
Agent Craig ‘green and Whyte’
It pretty much ended Simpson’s career due to the Salem witch hunt which ensued.
hail hail
Yes it probably finished his top level career alot quicker than kebabs.
Wiki says he played 4 times for N’castle then joined m’well for 2 seasons before retiring in ’92.
LET THE PEOPLE SING!!
This just in: Craig Whyte to be canonised.
RST still considering size of cannon. (thumbsup)
Apparently Rangers cheating has been so bad that the clubs administrators have gone back and awarded the Battle of the Boyne to King James.
ASonOfDan on 6 March, 2012 at 16:29 said:
Welll, well, well. Kyle Bartley has returned to Murray Park. If you’ve been following this text, you’ll have seen that he left for home earlier this afternoon and was planning to return tomorrow morning.
***************
Maybe returning one of his P45’s.
Somebody needs to contact the guiness book of records, this is the longest game of rock , paper, scissors ever!!
JFH 1627
It’s only normally taken my former employers seconds to tell me to GTF,and gathering my belongings wisnae an option!
Thought bartley would be a fav to stay
seeing the only pay soingme of his wages
didnt do much relax
Gregg Wylde: So when do I get my Jobseekers Allowance?
DWP officer: There’s a slight problem there Mr Wylde. From our records it looks like you’ve never paid National Insurance contributions …
some of *
@Deniabhoy
I think in a normal administration.. the admin can just say “if we don’t get x% cuts then stuff you all – we can’t run the company – we will liquidate.”
It seems to me that right now everyone is thinking “liquidation” but none of them (Whyte, DuffBeer, HMRC) want to be portrayed as the ones who pulled the trigger.
After all they have an FTT bomb that could go off any minute and save them the aggro.
wonkyradar on 6 March, 2012 at 16:25 said:
LMAO.
The “peeple” are the walking talking living breathing case to dispute the theory of evolution!
charlesdarwinrollinginhisgrave.csc
ASonOfDan on 6 March, 2012 at 16:29 said:
Welll, well, well. Kyle Bartley has returned to Murray Park. If you’ve been following this text, you’ll have seen that he left for home earlier this afternoon and was planning to return tomorrow morning.
Ally had sent him down to Greggs for the afternoon cakes and biscuits?
Chris McLaughlin@BBCchrismclaugReply
Retweet
#Rangers administrators still hopeful of media conf tonight. Progress being made on wage cut discussions I believe.
cabbageandbacon
excellent
if only………no more orangemen
tomtheleedstim on 6 March, 2012 at 16:29 said:
Yes, I wasn’t going to, so when I decided otherwise on the 3 March, I posted the first 3 days together.
I have posted daily since, but at odd times (last night about 9 and can’t remember when re 4th day).
I will post today’s early this evening when I get home from work.
Árd Macha
I think the biggest bigot at the KKK will be kept on. He’ll have his work cut out cleaning Ally’s smalls all week.
hh
AN APPEAL
Someone in the CQN community must know the location and identity of the supernatural individual or individuals who are responsible for the Plagues that are falling on the House of Rangers with ever-increasing intensity and frequency. If you do know these people (or should I say “beings”?) it is imperative that you prevail on them to desist, or at least moderate, their efforts.
Sheriff’s ofiicers at Ibrox – highly gratifying; administration – great; 10-point deduction – bring it on; liquidation – fine; Gordon Smith shown the door – excellent; expulsion from the SPL – fair enough; prosecution of past and present directors – serves them right; retrospective removal of all recent honours – more than we could have hoped for; long-term European ban and expulsion from the entire Scottish League – probably that’s enough – it’s sufficient punishment. But, I mean to say, reports of minor earth tremors, suddent venting of superheated steam, distant roaring sounds, and rumours of Edmiston Drive sliding into a glowing, bottomless void – surely excessive. I mean, my cousin Jaames lives on Paisley Road West … the whole thing is getting out of hand.
Oh!
The development squad drew with Malmo today 0-0.
Zaluska, Lustig, Cha, Loovens, Izzy, Juarez, McGeouch, F Twarzdik, McCourt, RASMUSSEN, Brozek.
Rangers players reporting they tripped and fell into the lifeboat. (thumbsup)
@RalphWaldo Ellsiion
thx – that’s my article. I though it a bit long to post here though…
Surely there will be more going from the huns,
canny believe they can only lose 2 from the squad,
i was hoping for carnage
gordybhoy64 -Administrators are still trying to talk them into working for free. (thumbsup)