Yesterday the Scottish Football Association announced an independent inquiry into Rangers FC which will report to the SFA board within two weeks.
While it is welcome that the enquiry is independent, it is gravely concerning that the SFA refused to state the scope of the inquiry or indicate if the final report will be made public. An inquiry into the Fit and Proper status of Craig Whyte is moot. An inquiry into last year’s takeover of the club, or how it has conducted its tax business before and after the takeover surely cannot report within three weeks of Rangers going into administration and before the outcome of the tax tribunal is known. So what are the objectives of the report?
The important question the SFA must address is whether Rangers FC improperly registered football players. Rules on the legal registration of football players are clear and well established. All financial compensation offered to players must be part of their contracts, copies of which must be lodged with the club’s national association.
This audio file contains information from Player’s Union representative, Fraser Wishart, who correctly tells Radio Clyde listeners that “in football you’re only allowed one contract, all your earnings from football have to be on that contract”.
The same audio file has excerpts of football journalist, Darrell King, repeatedly telling Radio Clyde listeners that Rangers players involved with EBTs “had two contracts”. This assertion has not been subject to challenge by Rangers.
The major question for the SFA is whether, as alleged by Mr King, Rangers FC played improperly registered players from around 2000 until the expiry of those contracts, some of which are likely to still be active. While they are doing so, it would be useful to extend the inquiry to examine recent contracts.
My primary concern regarding the inquiry is the role of the SFA president, Campbell Ogilvie, in framing the scope of the inquiry. As we reported yesterday, Ogilvie was general secretary and director of Rangers until 2005. He will be able to answer many of the key questions and, as president, will not only have been able to influence the scope of the inquiry, but will be one of the few who receives the report.
Any SFA inquiry into Rangers FC must report on the key matter in this whole business, the proper registration of football players. Any attempt to exclude matters which could involve Mr Ogilvie must be resisted and would show the entire activity up as nothing more than a sham.
The sporting penalty for playing improperly registered players is a 3-0 defeat in each game. Sion have already tested national and international authorities on this matter and are paying a heavy price for trying to gain an unfair advantage.
The stakes are high for Scottish football. The SFA must demonstrate transparency and the highest possible ethical standards when an inquiry into a member club involves past activities of its president. It also has a responsibility to fans and member clubs to establish and report any improper conduct at the earliest opportunity.
My Ogilvie should step aside as a matter of urgency in order to provide evidence to the inquiry.
In a gesture which tests the boundaries of the word magnificent, the Celtic fan who paid £5000 towards the Vanessa Riddle Appeal for the signed Celtic jersey we auctioned last week asked us to put it back up for auction again.
Auctions are a magnificent way to help get Vanessa the lifesaving treatment she needs but the cost of participating at the business end soon gets out of the reach of many fans. With this in mind, we have started an eBay raffle; you can win the jersey for the cost of a £1, or the entire purchase price of Rangers FC PLC.
There are no excuses to sit this one out, Vanessa needs your help, you would like to own a signed Celtic jersey, and you too can afford the kind of money Craig Whyte used to buy Rangers. Click here to participate.
Thank you for the dozens of response to the request for writers for CQN Magazine. I’m still working through them, will be in touch soon. Issue six, our 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. Fill your boots…..
You can support the online edition by making a discretionary donation here.
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brucecassavetes,
You must be mistaken. They don’t do walking away*
Unless they’re 1-0 losing or in MBBCWGEFs case then you’re staying away which isn’t the same thing.
Can you just imagine the dread that the dammed are feeling …. Knowing that our support will be heading to iPox party hats,jelly and ice cream and congas in all!
To have a title party under our leader Neil Lennon?
Brilliant eh?
Cognitive Dissonance time -way down south ——
Being an atheist and regretting that there isn’t a Hell for that mob of corrupt, lying , cheating degenerates to go to.
Nice wee comment on a Napoli Radio station after last night’s CL game –
Serie A [ ” absolutely not what it was ” ] 7 — EPL [ ” best league in the world”] 1
Craig Whyte didn’t/couldn’t do it all on his own —- he would have needed help ,advice and guidance from someone who already knew all there was to know about the smoke and mirrors guff at Toerag Towers.. ——Utterly !
Cold and very ,very wet -way down south
Goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska is ready to sign a new three-year deal with SPL leaders Celtic this week.
The 29-year-old Pole has actually featured only five times this season and been left as regular understudy to on loan Fraser Forster.
He originally joined the club from Dundee United just under three years ago and was previously with Korona Kielce.
“There’s a three-year contract and it has been agreed,” manager Neil Lennon confirmed to BBC Scotland. “We just need Lukasz to pop in and sign it now, so that should be done this week.”
Many thanks, Mort. Great stuff.
Something interesting from Stewart Regan.
He believes a salary cap should be introduced to stop more clubs falling into financial problems.
On the face of it, it seems like a reasonable suggestion but the only team who will suffer because of this is Celtic.
A wage cap is not the way to go if we want to push on and become successful in Europe again.
Mort
Does anyone know Paul 67’s e. mail address please
Mort
Tae see ou’rsels as ou’rs see us.
“Forster was beset by bouts of homesickness and it showed in some of his performances on the park; he did not impress all of the notoriously-hard-to-please Celtic fans with his performances”.
They jus cannae help themsel’s
TAL
Has it stopped raining in Glasgow yet?
Teuchter ár lá at 15:41
They can’t but they aren’t wrong unfortunately.
During the summer, there were many supporters not keen on Forster and would have prefered Pletikosa or the Polish fella.
Mort
@Mort
A total wage cap as a percentage of turnover would be similar to Platini proposals I think and might not necessarily be a bad thing for Celtic.
Are you sure he didn’t mean that?
Mort
I was one of them!
I still think the big man should come of his line with a bit more courage, especially for cross balls.
Agree now that he is a very good goalkeeper.
Two positions I always felt you should never have an someone “learning their trade”
Celtic goalkeeper and Celtic coach!
What the hell do I know!
I think we should listen to amadeus, I presume he is referring to David Murray, who is the right bajin (sp?) in all these nefarious goings-pn.
Not that I don’ think C Ogilvie should not be held to account. Did he not introduce similiar dodgy accountancy practices when he moved to Tynecastle?
“Kin ye explain tae me, Whit an “Atheist” is?” Virginia.. Fae.. Virginia.
“Sure, Ah Kin.. Pet..
An Atheist, is a Paid Up Member o’ a Non-Prophet Orginization”
” Ah jist KNEW that thur wiz Money tae be made ,by
being Wan o’ Those… Thanks, Mister.” Virginia..fae.. Virginia.
Kojo
Still, Laughin’
dessybhoy says:
celticquicknews@gmail.com
garcia lorca, thank you.
leftclicktic, thanks.
Kojo, good call.
Greenwells Glory, that’s a huge amount of public money.
Gerry_Down_Under, welcome.
Philbhoy, cheers.
dessybhoy, celticquicknews@gmail.com
Mort says:
22 February, 2012 at 15:43
Teuchter ár lá at 15:41
They can’t but they aren’t wrong unfortunately.
During the summer, there were many supporters not keen on Forster and would have prefered Pletikosa or the Polish fella.
——————-
Most will admit that FF did not impress at first and the fans were not wrong to question if he should be 1st choice keeper. However he has done more than enough to prove that he has the makings of a great keeper. I for one hope he stays, and yes i was one of those who doubted he was good enough.
Classic World Cup’s on ESPN right now….Argies v Dutch 78 final….great stuff!
The Coen Brothers couldnae write this stuff,same excitement and great humour as the lead up to Seville,but this is better and funnier.
Is it still raining in Glasgow?
Philbhoy – It’s just the beginning! says:
22 February, 2012 at 15:53
Rain is off but its been off & on all day
HH
Philbhoy at 15:46
Ordinarily you’re probably not wrong but in this instance, I’m delighted that you were. :-)
Malarkey at 15:46
If that’s what he means then I would have no problem with that, but due to the nature of our turnover (big increases in CL seasons) it could be very difficult to implement or enforce.
e.g. 2010/11 – Wage bill circa £33m from turnover of £53m so 62.3% of turnover.
2009/10 – Wage bill £36.5m from £61.7m turnover so 59%
If limit was set at 60%, despite our club being well run, we could fall foul of regulations.
I’m not sure if Platini has specifically mentioned a wage bill but his plan involves a 3 year rolling plan where over that period, expenditure cannot exceed income.
Mort
I am delighted at Fraser Foster’s progress. I have been a fan since we walked down the street together, heading for the Johnny Thompson Story. A polite giant of a mhan. My only fear is that he will get offers from England, which he’ll not be able to turn down. We should have signed him the summer.
He could well be one of our finest goalkeepers.
I would like the manager to consider giving as many players as possible the chance to get a spl winners medal in this historic season.
Howmany games does it take, I read here last season it was 10 games, so no many left, Lukas IMO deserves a winners medal, so another 5 games, who else
Philbhoy- I posted similar last night mate,who is picking up the tab for enquiry in to the huns shambles? I hope Stephen Thompson of DU asking the same question.
Re FF
I wasn’t impressed by him last season in the slightest – too slow getting down, lacking in confidence.
What a difference this season – well done to Woods for helping the big man develop and well done FF for working hard to get to where he is.
I think that with the young squad we have we’ll be able to watch young, raw players develop (hopefully) into good players. What’s better: watching Victor Wanyama improve with every game or watching Thomas Gravesen be very average.
Can’t wait for the game tonight – C’mon the hoops!
Tombola
Philbhoy ——-
Just spoke with my [ resident in West Glasgow] father —
He said it was ” drizzling ” but looked as though it would start pouring soon !
Salary caps ? Wouldn’t the Huns have found a way round that ?
If these last few weeks have done anything for my personal development it has taught me that i am unable to practice the protestant work ethic…just entering the number of hours of time spent on that timternet thingymebob wotsit…Don’t think the smoke coming from the IBM machine is a good sign…the digits are turning like my old landlords fiddled electrcity meter.
Forget Platini, make Clarence Seedorf the head of UEFA!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/chrisbevan/2012/02/seedorf_predicts_the_shape_of.html
jock steins celtic at 16:01
Salary caps ? Wouldn’t the Huns have found a way round that ?
One way round it is not to pay tax on wages, oh wait…
Mort
said on here about Weirs ,dodgy people work there,Dave King for one.Step forward Jim McCool owner of weirs interested in rangers.Shady characters they pair should be investigated .on how from suppose to be from humble beginings.then wham bam they are worth millions,must be fingers in the pie somewere.hate people like them take everything of low paid workers for there own selfish means ,swines thats what they are,
Is it not the case a fee has been agreed, therefore if FF wants to stay and Celtic want him then its sorted.
From latest issue of Private Eye:
PLANET FOOTBALL: Rangers
THE key question to be addressed following last week’s decision by owner Craig Whyte to put Glasgow Rangers into administration is whether the club has been trading while insolvent.
It’s a question that even Whyte’s administrators, Duff & Phelps, are required to consider. And it’s a very serious question for Rangers directors, particularly Whyte, who was disqualified from being a director for seven years from 2000 in part because of his treatment of creditors.
A company is insolvent when it cannot meet its debts as and when they fall due. It is potentially a criminal offence because it involves obtaining credit by deception. Companies go into administration when directors are advised that the line has been reached or crossed.
The fact that Rangers owes HMRC £9m in VAT, PAYE and national insurance raises the trading when insolvent issue. PAYE and NI are supposed to be handed over on a regular monthly basis. When and why Rangers stopped handing over tax deducted from the players’ wages could be crucial – as is what happened to the money.
Then there is the not so little matter of the £24m raised from the forward sale of ticket revenue to Ticketus which the administrators say did not come into the club but went to its parent company. No doubt this has no connection with the £18m that company, controlled by Whyte’s offshore company Liberty Capital, obtained to repay Lloyds/Bank of Scotland as part of the Rangers takeover last May. As ticket revenue is an asset of the club, this transaction may come under close examination and possible challenge.
Meanwhile, the FSA is examining what has happened to £17m of clients’ funds of small stockbrokers Pritchard. The firm was closed down on 10 February for failing to protect those funds and using them for its own purposes, often the last move of a company with cash-flow problems.
Whyte is company secretary of Pritchard and a director of shareholder Cairnwell Investments, and Liberty Capital is a lender to Pritchard. But he was not required to be authorised or regulated by the FSA – a loophole that would have allowed him not to have to disclose his seven-year ban. Just as he did not when he bought Rangers, despite the rules of the PLUS market on which the shares were quoted.
One of the potential victims of the Pritchard problems is another Whyte-linked FSA regulated entity, AIM-listed Merchant House Group. It has some £9m of client funds tied up in Pritchard and has loaned money to the brokers.
It is no doubt unrelated that on 17 February Whyte resigned as a director of Merchant Corporate Recovery and Merchant Strategic Renewal, companies in which Liberty Capital and Merchant House Group are shareholders.
Given the odds against defeating the HMRC challenge to the Rangers’ tax schemes marketed by Eye favourite and porn producer Paul Baxendale-Walker and the resulting liability of at least £36.5m, administration was always on the cards. It could have been part of the Whyte plan to walk away with the club and its players debt-free for selling on at a big profit. Whether that will now happen seems less certain.
Buying Rangers without an indemnity from Sir David Murray against that tax bill – if that is what happened – made no sense, whatever Baxendale-Walker might have advised, unless administration was always the plan B. Meanwhile, if HMRC prevails before the tax tribunal it could still pursue Murray and the previous directors.
Whyte insists that he has done nothing wrong and has only ever acted in the interests of Rangers. Even before he arrived, the Eye questioned his background and qualifications as a saviour (Eye 1286). Those questions have just become even bigger.
‘Slicker’
“Wull this Ibrox Schmozzle,turn intae,jist anither case of, “Whyte Flight?” Virginia.. fae. . Virginia
“Looks, that way, Pet..wull know mair…in a Few weeks.. but,
It sure looks like the Whytes, are getting edgy.”
“Thanks, Mister” Virgina..fae Virgina.
Kojo
Still, Laughin’…
Hi All from sunny Swissyland,
From the bwin betting site by some guy called Chris Bryant. Look for the bit near the end, I have not Awe Nawed this.
—————————————————————————————————————————————–
Why Celtic won’t go goal crazy against the Pars
Dunfermline tend to offer more resistance on the road and could frustrate a Hoops team who have not been prolific at Celtic Park of late.
Latest odds Celtic to beat Dunfermline 1-0, 2-0 or 3-0 31/20
The date is October 15th, 2011, the venue is Rugby Park and Celtic boss Neil Lennon has just watched his side go into half-time 3-0 down against Kilmarnock.
He must have delivered one hell of a team-talk, because the Bhoys staged a late rally to snatch a 3-3 draw thanks to Charlie Mulgrew and a brace from Anthony Stokes.
Still, the comeback merely papered over the cracks as the result saw Celtic slip ten points behind a Rangers team hitting their stride under new manager Ally McCoist.
That gap was extended to 12 points before the end of the month as Hibernian picked up a 0-0 draw at Celtic Park and suddenly the calls for Lennon’s head started to grow louder.
The former Northern Ireland star has admitted that he gave serious consideration to resigning while watching his team capitulate against Killie in that fateful opening period.
Suffice to say, Lennon will be glad he thought better of the idea as since the stalemate against Hibs, the Hoops have reeled off 15 straight SPL wins and 18 in all competitions.
And as if that wasn’t enough to cheer Celtic fans, Rangers, who had already been reeled in and overtaken by their bitter rivals in recent weeks, have now been plunged into a financial crisis.
With administrators called in over an unpaid £9 million tax bill accrued since chairman Craig Whyte’s controversial takeover of the club last May, the Gers have been handed an automatic ten-point penalty.
This means, remarkably, that Celtic find themselves 17 points clear at the top of the table ahead of tonight’s visit of rock-bottom Dunfermline Athletic.
In fact, they could even win the title when they take on McCoist’s men at Ibrox on March 25th if they keep winning and the Gers drop two points in their three games between now and the next Old Firm showdown.
Despite being rooted to the foot of the table and without a home league win all season, Jim McIntyre’s men have the sixth-best away record in the division, having notched four wins on the road already.
It really is an astonishing story and one which proves the adage that football is indeed a funny old game.
So what of that clash with the Pars this evening? Well, it is no surprise to see Celtic as short as 11/100 in bwin’s 3Way football betting market, with the draw at 27/4 and an away win rated as a huge 19/1 shot.
In fairness, despite being rooted to the foot of the table and without a home league win all season, Jim McIntyre’s men have the sixth-best away record in the division, having notched four wins on the road already.
They managed to score on their last trip to Celtic Park – they are at 6/5 to repeat the trick on this occasion – and have actually only lost by a one-goal margin on each of their previous four visits.
Celtic have also failed to score more than twice in any of their last five home matches, so perhaps backing them to win a game featuring less than three goals could provide some value at odds of 31/10.
Admittedly, the current Celtic team are unrecognisable from the one which laboured to a 2-1 success in that meeting with the Pars in November and their 3-0 success at East End Park last month is perhaps a more reliable barometer of the gulf in class between the sides.
And considering the way the Hoops destroyed Hibs 5-0 at Easter Road at the weekend, you could argue that it is simply a question of how many they will score against the worst defence in the SPL by some distance.
Celtic have won their last four league games without so much as conceding a goal and they are available at 67/100 to rack up another maximum haul with a clean sheet here.
But the best option looks to be backing Lennon’s men to win 1-0, 2-0 or 3-0, which factors in a determined display by the visitors, while also giving a nod to the potential for a touch of Celtic complacency creeping in and their (relative) impotence on home soil in recent weeks.
This selection is available at odds of 31/20, which means punters using their free £25 bet for joining bwin.com to successfully back it could pocket a cool £63.75.
Come to think of it, perhaps I should give Whyte a call and get him on the tip – he could probably do with a little pick-me-up….
New customers can register here to claim a free £25 bet or click here to see all our SPL odds.
Follow us on Twitter @bwinbetting
Swiss
!!Bada Bing!! Kano 1000 says:
22 February, 2012 at 15:52
The Coen Brothers couldnae write this stuff,same excitement and great humour as the lead up to Seville,but this is better and funnier.
Bada
it often reminds me of “the Producers”
with the Nazi’s
but without the happy ending.
play;-)
Thanks for the weather reports!