Since Corinthians FC gave up the good fight football has largely been a brutish game. Even those supporters, who are unable to raise a limb with anything approaching athletic guile, often talk a brutish game. Now, in Scotland, the accountancy geeks are having their day.
The mere mention of the word ‘taxation’ has ears pricking up while the entire corporate accountancy system is now as much of the daily lexicon of football fans as the Laws of the Game. I reckon the law geeks will have their day soon.
I’d never heard of the crime ‘uttering’ until yesterday, now it’s all I hear from my Edinburgh sources. Uttering can broadly be defined as using a document you know to be forged. Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with Our Hero, just an observation for you.
On other matters, still no word from the SFA on the scope of their investigation into Rangers, or the position of their president relating to this matter. When respected mainstream journalists are making unchallenged assertions about improper registration of players, the SFA cannot choose to ignore these events. We know they are aware of the allegations, we know the allegations relate to the period when the SFA president was involved with Rangers. We just don’t know if the SFA are doing anything about them. A statement confirming that no one is immune from investigation would be a start.
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.
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15 mill?
Surely Salmond will now keep his mouth shut.
goldstar10 says:
23 February, 2012 at 17:13
I did my “Don’t do walking away bit” and pledged a Grand! I wanted it to look like a realistic pledge. Someone else on here pledged 10M, brilliant but I think even they will twig that one. Glad to hear its being reported on Clyde :D
JD
Ali Russel and wiggy to leave now. SSN
The Legend Johnny Doyle
I think my 500k wouldn’t have been counted then, not to worry the wife has just pledged a grand, and the kids a grand a piece as well, the young fella will get all his mates to pledge as well, should fill the coffers up a bit….
taxi from ayebrokes to the sfa offices booked for smith after he checcks on his parents.
HH
John Doyle
I pledged £1000 under a few different AKA’s to the tune of about £20K
MWD
checks
HH
I Binged the legal word of the day uterring and was amazed to find this entry
uttering legal definition of uttering. uttering synonyms by the …
How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster’s page for free fun content.
legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/uttering
How to thank TFD for its existence? Wierd or what?
Gordon Smith and Ally Russel obviously do do walking away!
Ali Baba and Wiggy gone..
Kojo
I have to admit although i was desperate for him to sign his new deal i did say to you at xmas maybe it was time to give the captaincy to someone else. How i regret that statement! He has shown to be a true leader this season.
For me this is our strongest side for a long long time and that’s something Broonie said recently. On our day we can be incredible.
You just have to look at the bench and see the quality of player who cant even get into the side at the moment. HH
Palacio67 says:
23 February, 2012 at 17:44
taxi from ayebrokes to the sfa offices booked for smith after he checcks on his parents
———————
in another day of manic laughing out lout in the office, sniggering and grunting away to myself, that wee one is a cracker.
Anyone else been having endless amounts of fun on savethehuns.com? must of pledged about 100 grand under various suspicious names, William Mcbilly to name but one. Surely the huns cant think that website is a good idea.
“Walter snubs Wolves”
Aye…
Mick-What about Colin O Neill mate?
Gordon will no doubt be devoting some quality time to mater and pater….
again.
I posted this last night before the game….
Vmhan Supporting Lenny! says:
22 February, 2012 at 19:29
You know the save the rangers campaign where you can pledge an amount, it appears the minimum amount is £500, however you can double click it and type in £0.01 if you’re inclined, I almost did but after some dark soul searching I decided it wasn’t worth a penny, others may want to roll up and spend they’re last dime. :¬)
V
Smudger will go back to the Shortbread Loyal
Just had another grilling from the wife for using the George Foreman.
Vmhan Supporting Lenny! says:
23 February, 2012 at 17:51
I posted this last night before the game….
————————
the GB were magnificent last night bud.
i was in the posh seats all paid for.
but know what was the better experience.
seeing us beat the huns in the GB at the last ever game against thems.
hahahahhaha
Ghuys
Brilliant, they should have one of those money clock pledge boards like they have on Children in Need. Like the poster (sorry forgot who) said earlier, he can’t wait for the begging emails to start…. lol
Kojo Pal, that will be the full 180 degree turn complete then on Skoosh? you only had turned 100 degree the last time and that was just a couple of weeks ago. Well done Matey.
JD
Surely wiggy is now beyond employable – even in corrupt wee Scotland?
I was standing in front of the tv doing my flmaingo impression when the wife came in and said “see if you dont stop that i am leaving”
so i had to put my foot down.
bournesouprecipe says:
23 February, 2012 at 17:55
Just had another grilling from the wife for using the George Foreman.
______________________________________________________________
:D LOL LOL LOL
Hail hail
My dear,dear,dear,friend.. Serge
Ah remember.. .You Saying That.. fur Ah in Lock-Step wit You…in Making that obervation.
Ah never, did take tae Broonie..oan his Showing in the Captaincy ..
Howevahhhhh…
Ah thought that…and so did You…
o’
Of A Broonie..as he wiz behavin’…
PRE-INJURY.
Now Broonie is a Changed Player.. in Every way…
and is Proving in Every Game… POST INJURY.. tae be a Very Worthy Captain.
Ah am going oan Too Much aboot the Pre and Post Injury Business..
Doncha Think?
Ah bettah shut up . aboot it.. as
Izzy, is NO LOOKING tae be the Same Player.. as he Wiz…
PRE-INJURY!!
Right?
Reluctantly.. that is Right!!
So this Changeling Thing.. seeme tae Woid Baith Weys…
Ach.. Ah hiv said this afore and A wul say it again
Wance ye bring these cotton-picking Gypsies.. intae the Scenario…
Ye canny Trust whit is Gonna Happen!
They ur a Shifty Bunch..
Heck ..Ah hope thur nae Gypsies reading this…
They might decide tae Cast wanna they.. Thingmies..oan Me..
Right…?
Right.
Kojo
yer pal…who likes ye aloater
Stephen Henderson delves into the story of how Glasgow Rangers FC went bust
Just the facts
On last Tuesday Rangers Football Club (RFC), under the control of owner Craig Whyte, entered administration and were docked 10 league points by the SPL. The proximate cause was £9 million of unpaid PAYE and NI remittances subtracted as normal from players and other employee’s wages but withheld from HMRC.
They leave behind a trail of unpaid creditors, including millions in player fees to other clubs, ticket money owed to several SPL clubs, fees to police and stewards for match day security, and a potential liability of £49 million for a controversial tax avoidance vehicle (the EBT, or “the big tax bill”) to be decided by a tribunal very soon.
All this follows an earlier court ordered seizure of around £3 million (the “wee tax bill”) earlier in the season. Then there is the controversial £25 million or so they have taken from a finance company called Ticketus to purchase a share of 3 or possibly 4 years future season tickets, and secured upon… well, who knows? This is a key question hanging over RFC future.
And what exactly was this Ticketus money used for if all these taxes and bills have gone unpaid? The administrators have confirmed that this money did not pass through RFC accounts. When Craig Whyte bought the club for a symbolic £1 last season he also had to pay off the bank debt to HBOS of £20 million.
Craig Whyte
He denies that he used the Ticketus money – effectively RFC own revenues to pay off their existing bank debt – but as of last night this looks increasingly likely to be exactly what happened.
Craig Whyte has previously been disqualified from being a director for 7 years after cheating the HMRC and other creditors when his company Vital UK was liquidated. He has been a director of many other companies but few still exist.
All in all the minutiae of RFC finances are very opaque, as Craig Whyte has avoided publishing audited accounts since he took charge and the administrators Duff and Phelps are not very forthcoming (yet).
The wider picture is crystal clear though. Even if RFC somehow win their ‘big tax case’ and can engineer a quite incredible deal with HMRC and other creditors they (or rather their parent company) have still signed away most of their season ticket sales for the next few years, effectively they have spent tomorrows revenues already. That is the highly optimistic outcome.
How did it come to this?
In truth though, whilst the reputation of Craig Whyte has been sullied, he is not the real cause of Rangers’ problems.
They have been brought low by the hubris of their previous owner Sir David Murray in pursuing a vainglorious Champions League dream, his banker friends that let them run up unsustainable debts, a supine board that approved a suicidal tax dodge, and a docile Scottish media that denied, ignored, or perhaps just didn’t understand RFC financial and legal problems.
Yesterday a number of irate RFC fans gathered outside Ibrox to protest their plight to the gathered media, but when one was heard to bewail to a reporter, “No-one warned us!,” there was an audible crash of jaws dropping all over Glasgow. For years Celtic fans with a business background had been poring over RFC accounts and predicting certain doom. Wishful thinking?
Close to a hundred million of debts run-up during RFCs earlier futile 90s assault on the Champions League were absorbed into Sir David Murrays parent company (MIH), but a persistent deficit of tens of millions was being run and the club was only deemed sustainable by auditors due to the remarkable valuation of club assets – and in particular their stadium Ibrox.
Then came the credit crunch and Rangers previous lenders Bank of Scotland were replaced by the new merged Lloyds-HBOS (or rather Uberior Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary) – and they didn’t like what they saw. HBOS were owed close to £1 billion by MIH (including the absorbed £100 million or so RFC losses) and around a further £20 million by RFC itself.
Then RFC had some monumentally bad luck. During an investigation over player transfer payments, Ibrox was raided by investigators and documents seized.
Nothing is believed to have come of this particular investigation. Coincidentally or not, shortly after this rumours started circulating of a potentially very large liability to the HMRC (the £49m “big tax case”).
RFC at this time actually went through a successful period on the field winning SPL titles, but when the board continued to spend lavishly on players, the bank appointed a controlling director and effectively demanded the club be sold. The RFC debts were small change compared to the parent company MIH but pressurizing or even downsizing RFC was deemed politically toxic.
The media
All of this was little reported by the Scottish Press.
The best that can be said of them is that they did not understand what was happening, but some would say that the sports reporters in particular were fans with keyboards, or that their readers and listeners didn’t want stories like that.
Alternatively you might say that most sports reporting was inside gossip from RFC or other the clubs, lobby briefing, churnalism — not investigation. On the debts and “big tax case” their RFC sources were understandably silent.
However Celtic fans knew all about it. They were long disenchanted with the Scottish Press and had developed a thriving online community of podcasts, fan forums, blogs, and websites.
An Irish freelance reporter Phil McGiollabhain was the first to find a reliable source that confirmed the £49 million tax bill, and thereafter he and others in this online community dissected every new development in RFC plight with glee and unrivalled accuracy. In particular the Rangers Tax Case blog and their various contributors have become the experts on all RFC travails over the last couple of years.
Indeed in the past few weeks, as the Scottish press have finally been forced into covering this story properly, they have taken to regurgitating months old information from Rangers Tax Case as “exclusives”.
Nevertheless when Craig Whyte finally took RFC off David Murray and HBOS hands near the end of last season the Scottish Press ignored the incredulous derision of the Celtic blogosphere and hailed him as a “billionaire” savior who would invest millions into the club.
Celtic fans were momentarily taken aback having initially christened Craig Whytes bid as a #fakeover on Twitter, just more moonbeams from the Ibrox club.
Why after all would someone buy a club with an impending £49 million debt hanging over it? So when Craig Whyte paid off the bank and bough RFC from Murray for a pound their fans were jubilant. And yet despite this the question still remained unanswered – Why would someone buy a club with an impending £49m debt hanging over it?
What now?
In many ways the RFC story is Scotland’s answer to the phone-hacking scandal as it involves a nexus of powerful intertwined themes: A complicit media, financial cronyism, the credit crunch, tax evasion, politics, and of course celebrity of the best kind: Footballers.
To me however, it shines a light on a wider theme. Many are for the first time looking at RFC and particularly Craig Whyte’s recent maneuverings and asking: How do they get away with that? Shouldn’t someone go to jail? If that is not illegal, shouldn’t it be?
Craig Whyte is somewhat a figure of fun in Scotland; few believe him a billionaire these days and fewer still a ‘savior’. And yet is he really so different to the previous owner David Murray, whose MIH ran up close to £1 billion in bad debts now saddled upon the taxpayer owned HBOS?
The politics of the situation are now toxic. Politicians from the SNP and Scottish Labour initially made positive noises about a favorable settlement for RFC although it’s not clear that they can influence HMRC in any way.
In recent days most have gone quiet though. They have been taken aback by the negative response from the Scottish public, on phone-ins, on letters pages, and on Twitter. There is a very sizeable part of the Scottish public, far larger than just the Celtic fans that do not want to see an easy deal for RFC.
Some point to Donaghy of Govan the nearby construction company with 175 employees, almost the same as RFC, who always paid their taxes, went bust last week – but attracted no calls for clemency, or indeed any support from politicians.
Other Scottish football fans remember well the words of Sir David Murray himself in 2002 when one of his own companies pushed Airdrieonians FC into liquidation for a debt of around £30,000:
“I feel very sorry for Airdrie and their supporters but we’re running a business. We have given them repeated warnings and felt they were playing on our good nature.”
I’m beginning to really hero worship Craig Thomas Whyte .
Surely he is deserving of his very own CSC.
MWD
KINGLUBO says:
23 February, 2012 at 16:23
‘And, what do a lighthouse in the desert and an actuary have in common????’
That now brings my stock of jokes about actuaries to three.
I can’t imagine there’d be many more.
my wife has threatened to divorce me if i dont give up my obsession with 80’s pop music.
i thought, ok
back to life
back to reality
evening all, we are fupping amazing.
Coming up from the heart of Glasgow news from the West
It’s seriously depressed and greeting I’m John McKay.
MWD
Vmhan Supporting Lenny! says:
23 February, 2012 at 17:51
Actually I think it comes up as choices between £500 -£5000
and you get to write in what you want if it’s a different amount you feel like “pledging”…..
To think that they gave the amount “pledged” to Clyde to report is beyond funny.
They don’t have a bloody clue.
Pledge on, pledge on, with hope in your heart and………..
pigalle
Gordon Smith and Ali Russell gone – STV
wiggy & ali russell gone the cull begins
HAIL HAIL
Saint Stivs says:
23 February, 2012 at 16:57
‘Traffic Management around London Road and Gallowgate side of the ground.
Absolute shambolic last night, Totally convinced its Hun police having a little fun at our expense.’
I heard or read somewhere that plod wanted Celtic to pay more for policing around the stadium, Celtic refused, and this is the result.
Kojo
I think you are correct, for a while there injuries were happening weekly. Thankfully our players have come back stronger.
My only complaint from the season so far is the fact we did not sign FF in january. I fear we might lose the chance to sign him, I hope i’m wrong! HH
JinkyvJohnGreig-saysitall says:
23 February, 2012 at 17:14
Chinese walls.
Is Graham Spiers crying???
:-)))))))
MWD