Graeme Souness was in town to promote a book yesterday with some incredible statements for those of you who “rejoiced at Rangers’ problems”, saying:
“Scottish football needs a strong Rangers and a strong Celtic to create interest outside of Scotland.
“If that’s not the case, Scottish football would die.
“As much as Celtic supporters and other supporters of clubs in Scotland have enjoyed the moment, [Rangers’ liquidation] has damaged football in Scotland beyond belief.
“My luck was that, at the time, the English clubs were having to rebuild their stadiums post-Hillsborough.”
Set aside for a moment the fact that the 97 fans of Souness’ former club, Liverpool, died at Hillsborough three years after he took over at Ibrox.
Ignore, for a moment that we, according to Souness’ former Scotland team-mate Willie Miller, are as good a Celtic team as he has seen, that our income has reached new heights and will go higher still this season, that we are packing stadiums wherever we go, and that all of this is the product of a long-term, sustainable strategy.
Disregard that Hearts are nearing completion of their stadium expansion, or that Aberdeen are set to build an impressive new stadium, or that Hibs are packing out Easter Road at a rate not seen since the 60s.
Pay no attention to the fact that Motherwell have found an ownership model, a manger and players to have them sitting third in the table and in the League Cup final.
Instead, remind yourself why Rangers got into trouble. They introduced an aggressive tax avoidance scheme which they knew would be challenged by HMRC, and they made no provisions for this challenge.
The paid over 55 football players through this tax scheme, ‘loans’ which were never to be repaid and which were eventually ruled as disguised remuneration.
Most strikingly, while manager of Blackburn Rovers, Graeme Souness received such a loan from Rangers. When asked to explain by the Daily Record, Souness even claimed the loan was remuneration – for scouting services. More flagrant remuneration than disguised.
Souness went on to say, “I live in England and there was always an interest in Scottish football from football fans in England. That’s no longer the case.” Maybe if he spent more time with BT Sport, than Sky his impression of interest in the Scottish game would be different.
If Graeme Souness wants to offer advice on Scottish football, perhaps he should be magnanimous and write a cheque for repayment of that loan. Hillsborough matters way more than any book promotion. If you are a former Liverpool captain and want to reference Hillsborough as an aid, get it right.
Souness and the other ‘loan’ recipients should be chased out of town for the carnage they caused at Rangers. Instead, he gets a platform to spout nonsense about Hillsborough and Scottish football, despite appearing to know little about either.
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WHAT IS THE STARS on 26TH OCTOBER 2017 3:08 PM
Anyone else beginning to think that maybe we should sack Rodgers as show of solidarity with our long suffering neighbours
A kind of peace offering,hands across the water,we are all in this together type of thing.
????
Just me……………
###########
I knew it you, You want Ronnie back dont ye.:-) :-) .
TONTINE TIM
The huns were not a genuine third placed team last season either.
Based on talent they were a borderline top six outfit.
Never underestimate the ability of the cheats with whistles and compliant media’s ability to elevate dross way above actual ability.
Despite the hun’s bleating about refs they are still the favoured team even though their outrageous behaviour is scunnering many.
TJ- Phil said a couple of weeks ago, he would get 3 months money if bagged
Aberdeen V Celtic last night’s game coming up on BT Sport now I’ll watch it again.. Best game for years.
TimJim
3 years but there may have been a termination clause which might limit payment to 3 / 6 months severance
Barry Ferguson: ‘Next Rangers manager must know club inside out’ – surely you mean company barry
Car on the railtracks at Bowling.
Will be disruption for those heading to Balloch/ Helensburgh etc…
As Pedro hits the rails at Sevco ….
Noooooooooo
Jophes
Hope they have not got a termination clause
Nooooooooooo Pedro say it isn’t so.
But I’ve just had the caravan painted blue, inside and out just like you, and taught the dogs to bark the sash in four part harmony.
Nooooooooooo.
Art
Is it towing a caravan????
Poor Pedro, but that’s what happens when you sign for a club with a Board and a fan base that have an unrealistic sense of entitlement.
As for Souness, just another hurting hun fantasist.
Art
With a dog in it
So Pedro has hooked the caravan onto the mondeo and is off to pastures new and the sevconions have been duped again .
You really do have to hand it to TGSL he just seems able to string the Ibrokes goldfish along time and time again .
IMO the truth is a stranger to the man and all the gullibles get told is what glib dave wants them to believe .
Ah well ,wonder who will roll up next to the sevco circus
HH
No way Pedro
They will wait till after Hearts game, 2 home games after that, wouldn’t want new guy getting pumped on his first game…..
Oh before I forget, Happy Birthday Minx.
Neil McCann must be raging that he took on the Dundee job.
A sugar ZOMBIE needed to get that lot out of this JAM
L57
HAPPY HOOOOOOPY BIRTHDAY to
MINX1888!!!!!
Hope you have a cracking day-it’s started well(!)
In just under three years,the huns have had seven managers/caretakers.
McMoist,McDowall,McCall,Warburton,McMurty,Cashinyerchips,and the latest one.
Going for 55!!!
Such a pity, they were rapidly becoming one of my favourite bands :-(
Paddy Casino and the Caravans
“We compiled a shortlist of high-quality candidates for the position but we knew after our initial meeting with Pedro that he was the right man to take this club forward,”
“He is a man of great experience and authority and the board has no doubt he will help us achieve our long-term goals. I would like to thank the Rangers supporters for their patience throughout the process but we were determined to appoint the best candidate possible.”
https://twitter.com/gregosprey/status/923579932088860673
Happy Hoopy Birthday Minx1888…
Thanks to you we will always remember the date Pedro drove away in his Caravan…:)
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
TIMJIM on 26TH OCTOBER 2017 5:01 PM
What length of contracts were Pedro and his team on and the players he signed.
not sure about pedro but most of the players he signed until june 2020.
According to Phil PC has a 90 day notice period, don’t know about the players.
This last 24 hours only got better when Phil the Thrill revealed that shifty eyes thickson was one of interviewers of opus dei pedro – karma ya cheatin lyin bassa
first things first hoopy birthday minx.second fed up talking bout them. listen my old mans fav team kennoway hogg and morrison geatons lyon patterson then blank cant remember he would kill me if he was here.
Happy birthday Mrs HT ☘️☘️
Good Evening.
Imagine for a moment, if you will, that you are one of those people who describe themselves as a players, or managers, agent.
You receive a call from Ibrox to tell you that Mr X, one of your clients, is being considered for the now vacant manager’s seat at Ibrox and that this will be this man’s chance to manage one of the really big clubs of Europe — or at least Scotland — well Glasgow — or at least in Govan after St Anthony’s.
Your client, the potential manager, falls into one of the following four categories:
1. He is an up and coming manager who built a reputation in a previous lower level job but who has shown tremendous potential. Someone who may well be a longstanding client and fee earner for you.
2. He is an old hand who has been out of work for some time and who may just have one more big gig in him before hanging up his tracksuit for good.
3. He is a Real Rangers man — Historic Rangers through and through — who believes in the history of Rangers (as was), can communicate with the fans, has a Rangers legacy and has previous managerial experience of a decent pedigree.
4. He is a plain and simple football manager with no baggage one way or another but is simply out of work looking for a football job which will give him and his family a wage and which will last a few years and not damage his chances of another job in future at a decent level.
You, the agent, are a professional man or woman, and your client would look to you to make enquiries of what is on offer, what budget is available and to advise the client on the benefits of the move having assessed the status and condition of the club concerned.
From my seat, I look at this opportunity, and trying not to be wholly negative, I see the following.
1. The “Club” bears the Rangers brand, is a famous (or infamous) footballing name with an undoubtedly large support.
2. That large support, and indeed the Scottish media at least, will expect the new manager to produce significant results in line with the board’s, and the fans, expectations. These expectations will be of the highest order and they will expect league titles and other trophies as a matter of course. Improvement without trophies will not suffice.
3. The last three managers of the club have been sacked within a short period of time. One was a former Rangers legend who, despite being a real Rangers man, could not sustain the required progress, could not survive by his Rangers reputation alone, and had an outrageous compensation package written into his contract which will never be repeated.
The second last manager but one, plus all of his backroom staff, were dismissed in the most bizarre of circumstances, and have had to resort to the courts to recover the appropriate compensation. The assistant manager, another real Rangers man, was shown the door without ceremony regardless of his Rangers credentials and is said to be far from enamoured with the current board.
The recently departed manager was a virtual unknown, leaves behind a divided dressing room populated by many of his own players who, apparently don’t see eye to eye with many of their colleagues.
In other words, the client is not being asked to manage what might be described as a stable ship in terms of coaches and staff.
4. Your examination of the Rangers business model reveals a company which has no line of credit, has a series of interim accounts showing Directors Loans as the main finance available and with, apparently, a recent history of paying players and other wages late.
There is all sorts of reports in the press that the club finances are not what they should be, and that they are certainly not enough to match the buying and marketing power of the club’s traditionally viewed main rivals.
There are questions to be asked about the chairman’s business standing and the board’s ability to manage club affairs in the aftermath of current court proceedings surrounding the activity of the current chairman, board members and shareholders. If court rulings go against the chairman and hid “concert party” then future business arrangements for the club may prove difficult.
5. Many of the clubs which offer competition in the Scottish game appear to be better run and on the rise by comparison. These clubs are building new stadia or are significantly renovating existing stadia. They have a youth and scouting policy which is established and is superior to the one in situ at Ibrox, and many have increasing attendances, greater revenues and greater opportunities to improve than in years past.
While these clubs primarily concentrate on ensuring that they are solvent, football compliant and moving forward at a reasonable rate, their fans do not have the expectation that they are entitled to silverware os of right and as such the managers at the clubs concerned will not be under the same kind of pressure as your client were he or she to take the job.
6. A key part of any new appointment would be the client’s ability to handle intense press interest and to be able to establish a good working relationship with the club’s PR management.
At the moment, this is tightly controlled by a third party agency where the personnel are not deemed easy to work with and for.
7. The new manager would need reassurance that there were the appropriate funds to invest in new players and new coaching staff as required.
Any examination of the accounts would suggest that funds cannot be guaranteed at key times and that the new manager will have to work to a budget which is not always either visible, viable in the long term, or sufficient to meet the employer’s expectations.
There is considerable risk in this regard.
8. Should the client take the job and fail for whatever reason, there is a considerable risk that the damage to reputation would be such that securing alternative employment in the future could be difficult.
9. If the client is a real Rangers man (or woman) then he or she should be briefed that in the event of a future insolvency, which is very possible and outwith the control of the client, then they would have to be prepared to deal with complex legal and administrative matters which are outwith the normal remit of a football manager with there being no guarantee that they will be retained by future owners.
10. The odds against meeting the expectations of the employers are overwhelming as the expectations are not realistic and are incapable of being managed.
Against this background, and with the possibility of other jobs on offer at some point in the future, how do you advise your client?
Management of a business is far more than just hiring or firing someone from a key position.
Advising someone properly means doing your own due diligence, assessing a situation and the company making an offer, and looking after the long-term good of the client avoiding unnecessary risks where possible.
The candidate will fall into one of the four categories mentioned above.
What do you counsel, counsel? As someone used to say to me.
BIG PACKY on 26TH OCTOBER 2017 5:59 PM
first things first hoopy birthday minx.second fed up talking bout them. listen my old mans fav team kennoway hogg and morrison geatons lyon patterson then blank cant remember he would kill me if he was here
*and my da’s tae BP – Delaney, MacDonald, Crum Divers and Murphy.
Poor Pedro, gone too soon :-)
At least on the bright side, he’s left a legacy that will take years to sort out.
We can but wonder who the next patsy/fall guy/asset stripper will be.
Sevco will almost definitely serve up yet more comedy.
Happy Birthday Minx1888, hope you have had a great day so far.
HH
TONTINE TIM knew i could depend on you.knew delaney and murphy cos frank murphy is my late mothers cousin. just couldnt remember the res.t hail hail.
Hoopy Birthday Minx 1888
From RM – had to laugh
‘Definitely light at the end of the tunnel now.
You seen the length of the tunnel?
‘
‘Definitely light at the end of the tunnel now. – it’s a train coming the other way