Following RangersTaxCase’s information that Rangers-HMRC First Tier Tribunal report was in the hands of both parties’ solicitors on Friday, I subsequently heard the report runs to in excess of 300 pages. It will be published by the court authorities in due course but I don’t expect anything this week. Any attempt to spin or release excerpts from the report could be considered contempt so it is likely that we will hear nothing formally until then.
Once the report goes live you can expect an already-prepared summary with plenty of focus on what the FTT denied HMRC. HMRC will not achieve a clean sweep, some matters were dealt with correctly, but there will be no surprises on these pages for the thrust of the findings.
I’m looking forward to an entertaining and final dose of bombast from one of the parties, hopefully in keeping with some of the all-time favourites from March 2000, “Rangers are moving on to another level from the rest of Scottish football”, “the Glasgow giants are setting an agenda that no other Scottish club can match”.
That famous article in The Herald asserts “The Ibrox chairman [Sir David Murray] has spent several months and many sleepless nights piecing together the plans which will eliminate Rangers”.
It does, of course, insert the word “debt” into the end of that sentence but sometimes fewer words paint a more accurate picture. While we’re on a related subject, well done to Sports Direct FC for reaching the summit of the Third Division on goal difference. That manager’s definitely worth keeping. Ashley’s money is being wisely spent.
Click here to read the fabulous CQN Magazine for free, or strain your eyes squinting below. You can also buy a hard copy of the magazine here from Magcloud.
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Hail hail
Podium. But where’s Philvis?
Podium!
so much for the msm
We have waited 140 years … We can wait a while longer to see them get theirs
Will the fine be a world record for a football club?
kitalba
11:22 on 22 October, 2012
GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL FAMINE MEMORIAL……….
”we hope that the memorial will serve not only as a reminder of the migration caused by the famine -and the welcome shown to those who settled in Scotland as a result ”
Welcome?
“Wheresoever knives and razors are used, wheresoever sneak thefts and petty pilfering are easy and safe, wheresoever dirty acts of sexual baseness are committed, there you will find the Irishman in Scotland with all but a monopoly.”
Salmond and co met in Perth. Disagreements over NATO dominated.
What Did We Learn From The SNP Conference?
The first question to be asked about the FTT tribunal is why it sat in private.
The second question is why the Scottish media failed to challenge the decision to hold the tribunal in private.
As if today couldn’t get any better for Dick Byrne, the BBC is reporting that bodices and leather trousers are making a come back.
His seminal EP “I know where the Bodices are buried” is sure to see a bounce in sales.
Would Lance Armstrong change his name to Stretch if he got banged up ?
The end is nigh!!!
Unconfirmed reports that Jack Irvine has already written 3 exclusives for next week for Keith “copy and paste” Jackson.
The PR goons will know fine well they may have as much as 2 days grace to push their agenda as the sports hacks are incapable / unwilling to actually go through a 300 page court document and give the actual contents in a credible and critical manner.
ernie lynch, wherre is the quote from? Presumably not Salmond’s conference speech….
Ole Dick has got a tattoo of Boudicca wearin’ a bodice under his ole leather trousers.
It is a work of art.
Soal
It depends which way he is pulled and who he is banged up with :)
Dirty deeds done dirt cheap.
Camdenhoop
12:31 on 22 October, 2012
‘ernie lynch, wherre is the quote from? Presumably not Salmond’s conference speech….’
No. It’s from one of his predecessors as leader of the SNP.
Lance Armstrong stripped of 7 TDF titles this is a new world record but how long will it stand ? step up to the oche Sevco !
From Scottish Football Monitor Site.
Humble Pie says:
Sunday, October 21, 2012 at 16:46
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Apocalypse – The End of History
As the inevitable death of the once mighty Rangers Football Club, founded in 1872, draws ever closer with the announcement of the end of the administration process, their impending liquidation and the imminent verdict of the FTTT (more commonly referred to as the Big Tax Case), what are the likely consequences and impacts of these events on the history of Rangers, the key ‘players’ and of Scottish football as a whole?
History teaches us that, as with the collapse of every previous endeavour towards imperialism, Rangers, in their ruinous and misconceived desire for absolute supremacy over their rivals, simply overreached themselves while simultaneously failing to tend to their essential resources closer to home. Much like the primeval serpent ‘Ouroboros’ they all, each and every one, bit off more than they could comfortably chew until eventually they wound up by eating themselves. In the end, in the manner of all the preceding empire builders, Rangers went out, not with a bang but with a whimper ,like Attila the Hun on his wedding night.
During the lead up to the SFL vote on whether Sevco’s new team (yet to be called The Rangers FC Ltd) should be allowed to join the Scottish Football League and in which division, Stewart Regan (SFA) and Neil Doncaster (SPL) were accused of ‘focusing on and exaggerating the possibility of Armageddon’ (a term first mooted by our old friends Jabba and his jabworths) if the new club was not granted a place in the top tier of the SFL. Many took this to be no more than a metaphorical idiom pertaining to purely financial considerations, however Mr Regan’s prophesies of potential ‘public disorder’ and ‘civil unrest’ soon put that notion to bed. Perhaps ‘Apocalypse’ would have been a better word to use.
Apocalypse is one of those words which is almost always universally misinterpreted. One would be forgiven for thinking that the word meant something akin to ‘disaster’ or ‘catastrophe’ or, in the extreme ‘ the end of the world’. ‘Judgment Day’ would probably be a more accurate definition though perhaps not for the reasons imagined. Apocalypse, literally translated from the Greek actually means ‘a lifting of the veil’ and refers to an uncovering or revelation of something hidden.
The term ‘lifting the veil’ has also entered modern parlance specifically in relation to companies otherwise known as corporations. One of the main purposes of incorporation is to separate an individual from the legal liability of a company. This ‘veil of incorporation’ ensures that a company remains a separate legal entity from its directors and shareholders, thus protecting the personal assets of owners and investors from potential lawsuits should it all go horribly wrong.
Lifting the corporate veil is a legal decision to treat the rights or duties of a corporation as the rights or liabilities of its directors and shareholders. Ordinarily a corporation is treated as a separate legal ‘person’, which is solely responsible for the debts it incurs and the sole beneficiary of the credit it is owed. However, in very few cases, a court may decide to look beyond this legal fiction to the reality of the situation. In practice, the only true “veil lifting” may take place when a company is believed to have been set up for fraudulent purposes, or established in order to avoid any existing obligations.
It is no accident that HMRC’s (the largest of the former Rangers’ unsecured creditors, potentially owed a colossal £95M) preferred liquidator in this case is BDO. Malcolm Cohen of BDO, who has been appointed to head up the Liquidation Team, is an man of renown, a specialist in what is known as ‘contentious insolvency’. Contentious Insolvency experts specialise in dealing with high profile, criminal and controversial insolvencies involving fraud, litigation and international asset tracing.
These cases can typically involve obtaining initial freezing injunctions in the case of suspected fraud, investigation of contractual claims and negligence and, by using the extensive powers provided by the insolvency legislation, to pursue misfeasance, preference and undervalued transaction claims.
In the context of history, BDO will play the role of the Scottish equivalent of the Ancient Egyptian jackal-headed god Anubis who, according to the Book of the Dead, was responsible for weighing the, as yet, undead’s heart against the feather of Ma’at (truth, order and justice). If it was heavy with the weight of wrongdoings, the scales would sink and the heart would be grabbed and devoured by a terrifying beast that sat ready and waiting by the scales. That beast was named Ammut, “the gobbler”, a composite animal with the head of a crocodile, the front legs and body of lion or leopard, and the back legs of a hippopotamus (a sort of reverse Jabba, if you will).
As previous owner (with a reported 92% stake) and chairman of the club/company for all of 23 years, the ‘revelations’ (from Mark Daly’s BBC documentary ‘The Men Who Sold The Jerseys’) that Sir David Murray appears to have taken more money out of Rangers than he ever invested, that he acquired knowingly unsustainable levels of debt in the club’s name (albeit with the likely connivance of Gavin Masterson and his minions at BoS) and that he was responsible for implementing those devastating offshore tax avoidance vehicles known as the Murray Group Management Ltd Remuneration Trust and the Rangers Employee Benefit Trust before subsequently selling the club for a solitary ‘knicker’, should, one would expect, make him the first port of call for the team.
However, those insatiable devourers of the undead will certainly not stop there.
The Companies Act 2006 codifies the duties of company directors into a statutory statement of seven general duties, as follows:
1) Duty to act within your powers as a company director
2) Duty to promote the success of your company
3) Duty to exercise independent judgement
4) Duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence
5) Duty to avoid conflicts of interest
6. Duty not to accept benefits from third parties
7) Duty to declare interest in proposed transaction or arrangement with the company
By allowing an acknowledged covetous egomaniac with, in my humble opinion, borderline Narcissistic Personality Disorder (or a control freak, if you like) free reign to make these calamitous decisions without the requisite due diligence nor recourse to any rules or conventions, ALL former directors of Rangers FC will be held eminently culpable of abrogating their responsibilities, not only to the club and its shareholders but, more significantly, to their tax-paying fans. Unfortunately, for some of the directors less well-versed in company law, the infantile defence of “never knowing nothing about nothing” or ‘a big boy done it then ran away’ will not be deemed legitimate justification nor mitigation for their actions (or inaction, as the case may be).
And yet, the voracious hounds of hell won’t stop there either.
Craig ‘Casey Jones’ Whyte, whilst certainly being guilty of being an out and out chancer (and, evidently, a googly-eyed fud) was right in one respect at least. He was, after all, only the driver of the Rangers train wreck, parachuted in at the last minute as the wayward carriages sped towards the Duat with no means of applying the brakes. Within months of his takeover, the journey of the irresistible force of history toward the immoveable object of liquidation, which had, until that point, been merely unavoidable, became unstoppable. Due, in no small part, to Ally McCoist’s apparent inexperience or ineptitude as a football manager, the steam train accelerated exponentially towards the terminus .
Mr Whyte’s disastrous decision to stop paying statutory PAYE and NI contributions in favour of inflated wages and operating costs added yet another large shovelful of coke into the locomotive’s infernal engine before the vehicle inevitably reached its final destination. The BDO ‘Crash Investigation Team’ will, no doubt, undertake a deep forensic examination of this ‘accident’ working out the initial trajectory, final speed on impact etc. before turning their investigative might towards uncovering the Cassius maxim ‘Cui Bono ?’ or ‘To whose benefit ?’. Motive, in other words, or perhaps more appropriately ‘loco’ motive, given the insanity involved in setting the train on its perilous path to oblivion.
With the unrelenting scrutiny of Thoth, the ibis-headed god and great scribe of Kemet, BDO will meticulously record their judgment before heeding the command of Anubis to ‘dig yet deeper’.
The administrators of Rangers, representatives of the world renowned Duff and Phelps Corporation, were recommended for the job by Mr Whyte himself, although finally appointed by the Court of Session. By appearing not to know the difference between a club/company and a business these high-priced agents of fiscal rectitude managed to orchestrate the utter unattainability of any CVA which, as a consequence, disenfranchised Rangers’ many creditors to the tune of tens of millions of pounds. (Gratuitous Alienation anyone ?)
Many hundreds of thousands of quid later, as appears to have been planned, they eventually sold the mangled assets of the old Rangers tank engine for a mere pittance. That these same assets now appear to have risen in value by over 1000% in little more than 5 months. Against a backdrop of economic stagnation and falling property values, this defies both logic and belief. The well publicised potential conflict of interest of these agents and one of their colleagues, in their previous incarnation as MCR (specifically one Mr David Grier) was deemed so serious that they were invited by a High Court judge to provide documentation to prove their lack of complicity. This aspect of this sorry chronicle will, no doubt, also warrant further reasoned analysis and weighing of hearts.
By using some cowboy-mechanics or some other, as yet undetermined, skullduggery, Sevco’s new club (apparently allowed to call itself The Rangers) managed to acquire the distorted and corrupted engine parts of the Rangers wreckage and hastily screwed the rusted bits together, added a lick of paint and employed a Yorkshire used-car salesman to sell this ‘half-cut’ to the brand-loyal supporters and compliant football authorities. Make no mistake about it, as Ally or Walter might say, this jalopy is not Rangers, this is a golem, an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter otherwise known as a zombie.
Whilst D&P may claim that Sevco bought the ‘history’ of the old club along with the assets, as per their report to creditors, as we all should know by now, ‘history is written by the victors over the vanquished’. The SFA and the SPL, as the governing bodies who awarded those titles, have a solemn duty to uphold the integrity of their competitions. If, as I strongly suspect, Rangers are found to have fielded a large number of ineligible players in these same competitions, these ruling bodies, as per the rules of the game (3-0 defeat applied to any games where a ‘single’ player was improperly registered) will be obligated to strike these victories from their record books. However, as we have seen, both of these organisations have so far spectacularly failed to apply their rules in relation to Rangers and it’s parasitic offspring The Rangers. That is all about to change, as the all-seeing eye of Horus fixes his gaze towards the lofty towers of Hampden.
Sure, no-one is going to or be able to turn up at any former players or managers doors and attempt to forcibly remove their ‘hard-earned’ trinkets from their cold, dead hands, nor is it possible (barring a full frontal lobotomy) to surgically extract the memories of the players and fans apparent success, but the gobbler does not hold with such earthly convention. He is Ammut – Great of Death, Eater of Hearts, The Devourer. Titles will be consumed and history will be changed forever.
At this stage, it looks likely that Charles Green’s Sevco and Ross Bryan’s Ticketus will be shown to be mere vignettes in this ‘Book of the Undead’, little more than Special Purpose Investment Vehicles (or spivs for short), corporate entities designed purely to generate profits for unscrupulous investors. Many investors in these spivs will undoubtedly have lost significant amounts of money during this fiasco yet some more now seek new profits by using their charismatic frontmen to encourage the incorrigible, the gullible and the wilfully ignorant to invest in their shiny new fiction. It may well be immoral but that’s just business, however, come their ‘day of reckoning’ they will doubtless be the subject of future investigation(s) and their heavy hearts too will be evaluated against the weightless plume of Ma’at.
The bad news is that this journey into the afterlife will not be a short one. Unpicking the tangled web of deceit is a time-consuming process. In the end though, the veil will be lifted and that which had been hidden will be uncovered. Links will be established, corruption will be unearthed and treachery will be revealed. All that will be left is an almighty indelible stain on the history and character of this once proud club and those responsible for its eventual demise. The Scottish football authorities will be exposed to the disinfectant of sunlight, heads will roll and the demons will be cast out by righteous men.
As Jim Morrison sang in Roadhouse Blues, ‘the future’s uncertain and the end is always near’. I anticipate a rough ride but I, for one am looking forward to it. After all, one man’s Armageddon is another man’s Apocalypse.
Careful you don’t overdose on schadenfreunde Paul. Its powerful stuff. ;)
Any idea when the “Wanted for Crimes Against Scottish Football posters go up?
Who are the outlaws and who aided and abetted?
In the blue corner I give you SDM.
In the other blue corner JT.
Refereeing so Blue always won, we have GP backed by GS and HD.
It might have rode on the underground swell of sectarianism but at the end it was all about the money.
yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees
22nd post
BigJoemadeUP
Or schadenfreude for that matter :)
Sevco fans claim world record for percentage of club owners who have required police protection as a result of death threats from club fans.
Bigjoe
22 was ALWAYS your lucky number ;)
I hear the Embrocation are speeding up the release of their retro album “Invasion of the Bodice Snatchers” to coincide with the inaugural Tyrollean Codpiece Festival
CW panics when he hears Chico is trying to screw him out of his Sevco share…
http://i.imgur.com/axYJG.jpg
You can just see him thinking……………..
I know, get interviewed on Tv and drop subtle threats……………
Ok Craigie bhoy, what’s plan B ?
Dave on the news being tough on crime – Minty will be getting a squeeky bum!!!
BGFC
Zombies plea to the Zombie creators….. Help us
http://i.imgur.com/uZfGd.gif
Paul67
“Rangers are moving on to another level from the rest of Scottish football”,
I think he was referring to debt at the time. lol!
If the First Tier Tribrunal report runs in excess of 300 pages, that would, in essence as far as the huns are concerned constitute a ‘book’.
Given their record of ‘book burning’, i.e opposing the publication, serialisation, distribution and reporting of ‘Downfall’, can we expect a concerted bitter orc campaign to prevent the punblication, serialisation, distribution and reporting of the First Tier Tribunal report?
After all they ‘urra peepil n’ nat.’
Paul
I,ve been out of circulation for a good while and need to advise you of my new e-mail address. How do I go about it, or do I need to in any case??
Hail Hail
KINGLuBO
Larsson4me; good stuff. Lulz.
It looks like oor Jamesie Forrest’s classical analogies are fair catchin’ on in Planet Fitba.
Sack The Board!
Celtic shareholders have called on the club’s board to opt out of joint sponsorship deals with rivals Rangers.
In a resolution to be placed before the Parkhead club’s annual general meeting next month, a group of shareholders describes the sponsorship deal as “increasingly unpopular with supporters”.
The shareholders ask in the proposal for the board to end the current join sponsorship deal the two Glasgow clubs have with Tennent’s and either find an alternative, play with no sponsor or seek a suitable charity to promote on the offiical kit, in a similar move that Barcelona took with Unicef.
In response to the shareholders’ resolution, the Celtic board has stated that it would not back such a proposal as it would “seriously limit the number of potential sponsors available and hinder the company unnecessarily in any sponsorship negotiations that did take place.”
The resolution put forward by a group of unidentified Celtic plc shareholders states: “In recent years the joint shirt sponsorship with Rangers FC has become increasingly unpopular with supporters, as has the term ‘Old Firm’. This is an opportunity for Celtic FC to distance itself from this unwanted alliance and pursue its own path, which, given the financial and other difficulties, including alleged serious misconduct, currently being experienced by Rangers, is expedient and highly desirable.
“In the event of a sponsor not being willing to deal with Celtic alone, the club should still refuse joint sponsorship and play without a shirt sponsor. The club could then celebrate its charitable roots and seek the agreement of an appropriate charity, preferably locally based, and display a suitable logo on the match shirt.”
Celtic and Rangers signed a sponsorship deal with Tennent’s in 2010, which comes to an end next year.
In response to the resolution, the club’s board stated that sponsorship deals are “shaped not only by what the board considers to be in the company’s best interests but also the commercial position of the proposed sponsor, and the marketplace.”
The board added: “The terms and conditions upon which such transactions are entered into are commercially confidential. Whether a sponsor also wishes to contract with another football club is a matter for that sponsor, taking account of its own commercial interests and objectives.
“The directors consider that the approach suggested would seriously limit the number of potential sponsors available and hinder the company unnecessarily in any sponsorship negotiations that did take place. That is not considered to be in the best interests of the company and shareholders are therefore recommended to vote against the resolution.”
Bhoys/Ghirls,
Can anyone going to tomorrows game tell me where the Celtic supporters will be seated. I bought tickets directly from the Barca website and took a chance that we’d be behind the south goal??
Mission Impossible it is then.
Iniesta said: “Barcelona are superior to Celtic and we have the experience with Spartak. We saw how an error changed the game and on Tuesday we will be 100 per cent concentrated.
The Spanish star knows all about the threat posed by Greece striker Georgios Samaras, but stressed that Barcelona will have done their homework about the whole of the Celtic team.
“People speak about Samaras, but Celtic showed in Moscow they possess a lot of players who can win matches,” he said. “But we got our warning against Spartak and now it is impossible to fail against Celtic.”
How long do the parties involved get to study the report before it is made public?