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…..
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Snake Plissken
One by one?
This is the best day ever!
deal or no deal.
Walk in and there is a Big Red phone that rings and administrator picks it up saying “the dealer offers you £50.00 a week and a broxi burger.”
I’d go for young Rys McCabe.
neveralone on 6 March, 2012 at 12:46 said:
Given the period of time now under investigation is it for sure we are only investigating EBTs?
Not sure to my knowledge (which is minimal in terms of the “behind the scenes” stuff). Perhaps there’s other things going on, perhaps not.
Are ‘two contracts’ inevitably a combination standard contract & EBT or could other hidden devices have been used?
Ha, hidden devices makes this sound very 007. Again, no idea, but technically speaking there’s no reason that there couldn’t be something else – an EBT in existence wouldn’t exclude such a thing.
If only EBTs is it viable for SPL/SFA to reach a conclusion prior to the TTT?
The contract as published in the Sun clearly states footballing activities and the contracted benefits to said employee for those activities. In that case, I find it difficult to see how a. The FTT could find in Rangers favour, and b. The SFA could not construe that to be a contracted footballing wage. Both a and b follow on from each other, but if the SFA have the evidence in front of them independently from the FTT, then I see no reason why they couldn’t judge based on said evidence. I can’t see a happening without b and vice versa, but also don’t think a has to happen before b.
Could the football authorities define a 2nd contract based on their own rules despite a finding of the Tribunal against HMRC?
Hadn’t thought of the SFA/SPL rules that in depth to be honest – but Chairbhoy’s post at 13:17 would seem to suggest that by the SPL ruling no payments can be made unless that payment is detailed in a contract that is lodged with them.
In that instance, I’m not sure how the ruling goes – particularly taking into account the Evening Times article that has been copied here. I understand the points that the experts are making, but their argument is blown out of the water if the tax case is lost on this instance. If it’s proven that those payments were contractual, then they weren’t by definition, discretionary, so they have to be disclosed.
RaRaRasputin on 6 March, 2012 at 13:27 said:
True, but the trust has to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries (in this instance, the players). The trust will not horde any money, as it isn’t in the beneficiaries’ best interest, and thus, the money will be ‘loaned’ by the trust (which must be independent from RFC, and cannot be told what to do by them – so RFC could not have given assurances that the money would have gone with such precision as was detailed in the Sun’s contract if the trust was to be considered independent).
I’ll go Bocanegra for next out.
Wouldn’t it be fun if the players walked in to learn their fate and the administrator just held up a red or yellow card?
Not funny I know but then again it is.
All monies players earn regards football has to be registered,to start trying to say ‘why should we tell anybody if its not a proper contract’ is akin to not even needing an ebt and being paid cash in hand at training.
Still,they have to be seen to be putting up a defence.
Aministrator 1: “Next.”
I’ll bet Kirk Broadfoot canny be given away in a lucky bag.
Admins now ‘inundated’ with requests to leave.
So are we going for 14 in a row? I wont be able to fit 14 stars on my cheb.
Broxi Bear sold to Russian circus. (thumbsup)
Administrator 2: “Right. You ‘orrible little boy. Wot makes you fink you’re a footballer?”
This reminds me of the Chilean miners…who is next oot?
mulgrew player of the month and brown back for utd game. some celtic news.
KLV
Its got to room no 101 they’re going to
garcia lorca on 6 March, 2012 at 13:18 said:
I beg to differ.
There are the RFC non executive directors to consider in all of this on top of Sir DM ( the architect of the dark arts ).
The role of certain well known banking executives who helped fund this corporate hubris.
—
I agree I was merely pointing out another level of corruption not exposed yet. This is probably the last and potentially the biggest story football wise in relation to RFC’s ever growing list of infamy. Of course the spiders web covering the EBT’s is wide and covers all types of creepy crawlies from RFC staff to bank officials
Hail Hail
Roll Up, Roll Up!
Get your Ex-Gers!
Roll Up! Roll Up!
Two furra pound! Two furra pound!
Administrator 1.
And what’s your name young man ?
Fat Sally.
Don’t tell him Naisy !!
dadsarmyCsC
I wish i wasn’t facing redundancy just now so i could enjoy this day.; ( now i will have more competition for work.
KLV
Hopefully McCulloch will get the elbow.
Eyes down for wakk away bingo 5 numbers wins £10
2 &4 24 2&7 27
1 Allan McGregor
2 Dorin Goian
4 Kirk Broadfoot
5 Sasa Papac
6 Lee McCulloch
7 Maurice Edu
8 Steven Davis (captain)
10 John Fleck (ON LOAN – to Blackpool)
11 Kyle Lafferty
12 Lee Wallace
14 Steven Naismith
15 David Healy
16 Steven Whittaker
18 Carlos Bocanegra
20 Matt McKay
21 Alejandro Bedoya
22 Kyle Bartley (ON LOAN – From Arsenal)
24 Mervan Celik
25 Neil Alexander
26 Jamie Ness
27 Gregg Wylde
28 Salim Kerkar
30 Scott Gallacher
31 Grant Adam (ON LOAN – to Airdrie)
32 Ross Perry
34 Andrew Little
35 Kyle Hutton (ON LOAN – to Dunfermline)
36 Darren Cole
37 Christoper Hegarty
38 Kane Hemmings
39 Gordon Dick
40 Andrew Mitchell
41 Rhys McCabe – Grass
42 Kal Naismith (ON LOAN – to Partick)
HAIL HAIL
KLV – you think this is a forum for Celtic news? :)
Up over goal
I’ll advance you Naismith
lol. mervan news?
KLV
Is this the earliest ever start to the marching season … ?
Momentous times; me-thinks some jelly & ice cream would be in order.
FF
philvisreturns 13:42
lol!
Please let “Sondy” be okay………
How come 2 names were released while the others who want to be released remain, for now, secret?
i will be surprised if any first team regs go, both those players wont really effect their first 11.
KLV
jude2005 is Neil Lennon \o/ on 6 March, 2012 at 13:40 said:
I’d go for young Rys McCabe.
share
Agreed that boy looked the part.
Paul67
Fair play to you for working this angle.
If it shows that the SFA have been spineless dupes for a decade and more then it will be a result.
It will be “a result” but not “the result”.
That would be a complete understanding of the strokes that DM has pulled when in charge.
Get to the bottom of that and we will have “the result”.
He has worked the system far harder than any of the previous incumbents.
This is bigger than football.
It all leads to the Speculative Society.
The game might be a bogey after the HBOS / RBS implosion but it is a tale that needs to be told.
Very interesting article about DM in the Hootsman by AY (ex Herald)
Timings suggest that he was the special one twenty years ago – 91/92’ish.
SFA / MIB / Auld Reekie banking circle – few fish in a small pond.
Finally does anyone have details on the investment made by SMG into Hertz?
philvisreturns on 6 March, 2012 at 13:42 said:
Broxi Bear sold to Russian circus.
Excellent!
Doc is Neil Lennon on 6 March, 2012 at 13:19 said
Will this mean Tony Mowbrays tenure should be looked at in a different light, congratulations Tony, and Neil, Gordon and Martin.
—
I suppose for Tony Mowbray there will be a bitter sweet taste to all this. For me his season was the season of “honest mistakes” on a grande scale. Maybe he was too honest for the job up here
So the huns are getting their parachute after all.
Kirk Broadfoot told to go back and wait outside. Administrators dealing football playing staff first.
Aluko has just came out of meeting with Administrator crying….
Told him he was staying! :)
Bless them
Post on Twitter!!!! How sad is this?
McCoist could one day be regarded the greatest ever #Rangers manager. Even without a trophy to his name. This crisis is our European Cup.
HAIL HAIL
Re the Dodgy dodgers dodgy use of dodgy contracts and the lawyer’s statement about EBT’s.
As Emsh has already said EBT arrangements and contractual payments are not easy bedfellows (in fact they should not be in the same room).
The lawyer who was quoted in the Herald article seems to have turned logic on its head and taken as his starting point that EBT’s are not used for contractual payments so the amounts paid in Rangers were discretionary. I can do logic too
“All cats are mortal. Socrates was mortal therefore Socrates was a cat”.
As Emsh also said, the fundamental argument by HMRC is that individuals had a contractual right to these payments and that is why Rangers should have operated PAYE/NIC. The lawyer has made the schoolboy error (can that phrase be used in a non footballing way?) of accepting that contractual payments can be recharacterised to shoehorn them into arrangements to which they are not suited.
As many of us have said for a long time, this arrangement could only have ever worked if the individuals irrevocably and unconditionally gave up their right to contractual payments without having any guarantee that Rangers would put anything into the trust. It is inconceivable that players would have done that.
Should the Rangers fans sing “You’ll never walk away”?