English football fans are dealing with a similar scenario to the one you and I considered extensively in 2011 and 2012, but substantial differences exist. Manchester City have been found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules on 114 occasions. It is the most egregious subversion of the game in England and is different to other high-profile cases across Europe, including here in Scotland.
Some caveats, the formal verdict is not out and an appeal process is available to the club, however, that specifically excludes The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which found in City’s favour when Uefa challenged them. It appears unlikely an appeal would do anything more than delay the matter.
While considering a response, football must answer the fundamental question: Why did Manchester City act in this way, and did they receive a sporting advantage from doing so? I suggest that receiving a sporting advantage was the only reason for their actions, so the most onerous sanctions should be sporting. There should be a financial penalty – appropriate for the cost of the legal process and the monies missed out by other teams – but for such a wealthy club, that is no hardship.
Rangers failed to register player contracts for over a decade, in breach of Scottish Football Association (SFA) and Scottish Premier League (SPL) player registration rules. They also failed to pay or withhold employment taxes , ultimately leading to a successful claim against the club (in administration) by HMRC, although little of the money was recovered.
These two things happened in parallel, and although they were related to the same player contracts, they had completely different consequences. The SFA issued a paltry fine against the club (in administration) and, in 2017, refused to participate in a review into the handling of the events surrounding the matter. They also gave evidence to an SPL investigation that they were satisfied with the non-registration of player contracts, which inhibited options available to the SPL. In refusing to participate in an indepedent investigation, the SFA avoided addressing the issuing of a Uefa licence to Rangers in 2011, when they qualified for the Champions League, despite having outstanding social taxes, which was a material breach of that licence.
This was a dereliction of duty. Football in Scotland refused to wash its hands and it remains tainted. At the very least, Rangers directors should have been called out for their behaviour and banned for life from the game. There were no significant football consequences, and if it happens again, a poor precedent has been set.
Not to be confused with the SFA’s behaviour, the club were unable to pay their debts and went into administration. In what could only be described as an extraordinary period, the administrators tried to sign a football player (Daniel Cousin) but failed to agree a way forward with creditors. Rangers subsequently went into liquidations. A ‘basket of assets’ was sold to Sevco Scotland, which applied for membership to the SFA, the SPL and ultimately, the Scottish Football League (SFL).
Sevco were awarded associate membership of the SFA, but only Rangers supported their application to join the SPL. Kilmarnock abstained and all other clubs voted against accepting their application. The SFL voted to accept their application to join the Third Division, despite lobbying from their own chief exec to allow Sevco direct access to The Championship.
Rangers fans were faced with the liquidation of their club, which they preferred to overlook. I understand. If the boot was on the other foot, I would tell myself whatever it took to believe Celtic were still with me. Pretty much everyone else prefers the facts as they are. If the boot was still on the other foot, Rangers fans would do exactly the same.
The leagues, the SFA and the media were all incentivised to overlook the facts. On one occasion, I was invited onto the radio to discuss the matter, but only on condition I agreed to the ‘same club myth’ – I declined. Others lost their jobs over this issue.
So what to do with Manchester City? A points penalty which effectively relegates them seems likely, but I struggle to see how it would extend to relegation through multiple layers. Newco Rangers started in the fourth tier of Scottish football, but there was no relegation (and no relegation mechanism). This is not an equivalent scenario.
It is important that, unlike in Scotland, the Football Association and Premier League are open to independent audit on the matter. Sporting advantage clearly happened, say so clearly and embrace the consequences. Your game will be better for it.
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A lot of the talk down south (reaching Oz) suggests some clubs could sue Man Citeh.
Was there no legal option open to Scotch clubs over the losses (or opportunities they missed out on) as a result of the Huns’ pochling ?
Paul, you would have us believe that as a business cheated out of prize funding that there were no legal avenues open to Celtic.
There was. We under the then leadership of Peter Lawwell, took the decision not to pursue compensation through the courts.
We could have initiated legal action against the SFA and SPFL but did not.
I suspect the clubs in England won’t be as restrained in getting compensation.
An interesting article ,Paul.
This ending was particularly interesting for those who believe w have a free press !!
” On one occasion, I was invited onto the radio to discuss the matter, but only on condition I agreed to the ‘same club myth’ – I declined. Others lost their jobs over this issue.”
Crikey – is it really 14 years since they were last seen or heard of? Really weird but sometimes it feels like they are still here!
By the way, Paul, who are “Newco Rangers”?
We could have initiated legal action against the SFA and SPFL but did not.
I suspect the clubs in England won’t be as restrained in getting compensation.
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The spl/sfa would have been bankrupted had celtic moved forward with such a challenge. That bankruptcy would jave happened long before any decision was reached. In english football there is a lot of finance to accomadate sny such legal challenge & comoensation package
We could have initiated legal action against the SFA and SPFL but did not.
I suspect the clubs in England won’t be as restrained in getting compensation.
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The spl/sfa would have been bankrupted had celtic moved forward with such a challenge. That bankruptcy would jave happened long before any decision was reached. In english football there is a lot of finance to accomadate sny such legal challenge & comoensation package
We could have initiated legal action against the SFA and SPFL but did not.
I suspect the clubs in England won’t be as restrained in getting compensation.
—–
The spl/sfa would have been bankrupted had celtic moved forward with such a challenge. That bankruptcy would jave happened long before any decision was reached. In english football there is a lot of finance to accomadate sny such legal challenge & comoensation package
Triple post – that is new. The advert interfernce is getting worse on here
AURORABOREALIS79
We don’t know that.
But let’s suppose the level of compensation following a successful claim was at the level of bankrupting the league.
We could have agreed a payment structure or indeed waived some or all of the compensation.
But we decided not to take this to the courts. We decided to allow the SFA and SPFL to sweep things under the carpet.
I think Celtic have a good chance of winning the league this season.
https://share.google/iXyvL0UsynxYLwJGj
We could have taking action against the liquidators of Rangers too and got full disclosure of the old club’s cheating in Court.
Again, we chose not to.
I have no doubt on the wee tax case as a minimum that UEFA told us don’t dare take this to court ,they could have blocked any licenses for Scottish teams and access to the Euros for the National Team , I would have called UEfA bluff 100%
Fascinating stuff, as it was the first few dozen times I read it.
As pointed out our club run by PL and Co chose to stand off during this time rather than really go for them. We all know about scottish society and the SFA.
Meanwhile in 2026 rangers/sevco/newco/whatever beat us twice in a week.
Our manager surprisingly revealed he may leave but needs some time to think about it. 8 days later I am assuming he is staying?
So, the basket case of football that it has become has to be shrugged off otherwise you will grow to hate the game you love.
The PL has great players and a great competition but it has lost its soul and meaning. Very sad.
We as a club are sadly ever changing but not on the pitch. We remain a secondary consideration in European football. I’d rather you blogged about ideas of what we could do about that Paul.
Let’s have a reminder of what “ the owner “ said in the October review 2012
Celtic majority shareholder Dermot Desmond admits he misses the city rivalry with Rangers in the Scottish Premier League.
Rangers are playing in Division Three following a summer financial meltdown, leaving Celtic to dominate the SPL.
“For us, it’s disappointing that they’re not there,” Desmond told BBC Sport.
“But that was a decision by the various clubs, a decision by the various leagues and we accept those decisions.”
The only chance of an Old Firm derby this season will come in knock-out competitions, with the next possibility coming in Thursday’s draw for the quarter-finals of the Scottish Communities League Cup.
Desmond was talking the day after Celtic ended their long wait for an away win in the group stages of the Champions League with a 3-2 victory over Spartak Moscow.
And he would have relished the continued domestic competition with Rangers at a time when he believes manager Neil Lennon has created a particularly strong squad.
“Rangers is a great football club, it has a great history and it’s unfortunate that they have been relegated,” said the Irish businessman.
“We would certainly like to contest with them every week – we believe we’ve got a better team and a better management structure.
“Rangers is a fantastic football club, it is one of the greatest football clubs in Great Britain, we’ve got to acknowledge that. But we can only look after ourselves.”
Desmond is sure that the Ibrox club will eventually return to Scotland’s top flight and believes they are needed there for the size of their support alone.
However, in the meantime, he believes that Celtic, following a summer of turmoil and division in Scottish football, can help lift the spirits of the nation by their exploits in the Champions League.
“There’s been some controversial issues, but the performance in the Champions League certainly boosts everybody who takes a pride in Scottish football, pride in the club itself, but also it creates an appetite to support Scottish football in its entirety,” he added.
Do you think he considers them R2ngers, Sevco, Newco,
DESSYBHOY
We could have went to the CAS in the first instance and remained fully compliant with UEFA rules.
“Rangers is a fantastic football club, it is one of the greatest football clubs in Great Britain, we’ve got to acknowledge that.”
Why have we ‘got to acknowledge that’?
I don’t. They’re a blight.
We as a Club took the decision not pursue justice because we prioritised the blue pound.
As did every other club in Scotland.
We can debate the rights and wrongs of that but we should acknowledge that what we did.
P67 would have us believe we had no avenues to the cover ups of the SFA and SPFL but we were complicit. We should be honest about that.
Yes but having read that from DD what chance of that.
You’d have thought he would have at least had the decency to use past tense.
Gedinte on 27th September 2026 11:49 pm
AULDHEID – only just now had time for a proper read back.
It was designed to bring more serious matters to the table that at question time where the less serous issues drown out the more serious.
It was primarily for individuals but the issue of refreeing was an attempt to get 100 shareholders to use the facility to put a Resolution on refereeing to Celtic rather than leave it to the CST who wait until AGM is announced as they have sufficient shareholders on tap.
If used by a group it lets Celtic know of any issue causing disatisfaction in time to resolve it before waiting for an AGM response which sometimes happens with CST regulations.
It is all based on experience lodging and pursuing Resolution 12 for 9 years.
The only Resolution not to be voted down by the Board after they took on responsibility to engage with football authorities.
As I said if 100 shareholders got together then this facilty could be used to bring serious issues to Celtic at any time to either resolve in advance or justify not resolving at an AGM.
As regards the 5% I have seen figures to be published this week that confirm my view it is a waste of time.
When they are published I will provide a link.
“Rory Bremner can pretend to be Tony Blair.”
Pistol Pete 🔫
BSR 1.32
I
It matters not what DD thought then or still thinks .
The Huns , Orcs , Rangers, or whatever we call them
ceased to exist in 2012.
Liquidated , dead , finito , gone .
Anyone who says different will believe in Santa & toothfaries . HH .
Paul 67
Whilst you cover the events that took place in 2012 that only scratches the surface of the extent of the cover up for commercial reasons that is well documented in this article by Andy Burnham at
https://www.andymuirhead.com/p/rangers-ebts-and-the-unanswered-question
and I urge every supporter anywhere who wish to lance the poison that the 5 WA created when the integrity of Scottish football was sacrificed on the altar of commerce to read it.
It looks into the no sporting advantage ruling by LNS because information that would have prevented that ruling was never presented to him at the time by Duff and Phelps who had a very good reason to be secretive – they had a club to sell.
It is all touched on in the article and whilst it is long it it is educational and not surprisingly has brought out the vileness of Rangers supporters on X who cannot handle the truth.
We might never see football justice but we can have the LNS Decision removed from the record because evidence to challenge it was not provided.
In respect of opposing the vile and dim I have reproduced the reason why UEFA treated the post 2011 Rangers as a new club and new company and if anyone wishes to refute their same club claims then the article at this link is essential reading.
It is not too long and the Notes in red set out why it applied in 2012 – The old Rangers ceased to be a legal entity when they could no longer pay the bills that enabled them to exist as a legal entity.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19rLhNK9r5uqTMmBUptF8VdGHSZQ60GDn/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107947982974245186134&rtpof=true&sd=true
There is enough poof that LNS was not provided with what the SPL asked for to justify his decision being set aside and doing so, even if no further action is taken, will remove LNS no sporting advantage ruling from the record as it is arrant nonsense and an insult to the intelligence of all supporters of Scottish football bar a club with supporters who do not have any.
A repeat with typos fixed. It is a disgrace that CQN has no edit facilty.
Gedinte on 27th September 2026 11:49 pm
AULDHEID – only just now had time for a proper read back.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It was designed to bring more serious matters to the table at AGM question time where the less serous issues drown out the more serious.
It was primarily for individuals but the issue of refereeing was an attempt to get 100 shareholders to use the facility to put a Resolution on refereeing to Celtic rather than leave it to the CST who wait until AGM is announced as they have sufficient shareholders on tap.
If used by a group formed to do so it lets Celtic know of any issue causing dissatisfaction in time to resolve it before waiting for an AGM response which sometimes happens with CST resolutions.
It is all based on experience lodging and pursuing Resolution 12 for 9 years.
The only Resolution not to be voted down by the Board after they took on responsibility to engage with football authorities around 2020 AGM.
As I said if 100 shareholders got together then this facility could be used to bring serious issues to Celtic at any time to either resolve in advance or justify not resolving at an AGM.
As regards the 5% I have seen figures to be published this week that confirm my view it is a waste of time or a wee bit jam tomorrow.
When they are published I will provide a link.
Afternoon all.
A post from Leggy on the other channel.
————————————————————–
Good Morning all,
There will be a gathering at The Shipbank, Glasgow on Friday 9th October and making a special appearance will be none other than,
or very own Iniquitous. 👋👋👋
He’s over here visiting family and friends and will join us from 12.00 Noon onwards,on above date.
Hopefully all regulars will be in attendance and it would be good to see new posters from here making an appearance.
So, if Bada Bing, McCaff, BSR, Voguepunter and any other posters or friends would like to join us, you will be most welcome 💚
It’s always a great day and I guarantee you will enjoy it.
HH 🍀🍀
Ps
I’ll post a reminder next week to anyone that misses this.
https://celticsupporters.net/documents/Celtic_Paradox_Strategic_Review_v8.5.pdf
Published 4 months ago (28 May 2026)
Page 44 of 65
Chapter 14: Implementation Roadmap
Phase 1: Foundation (months 1-6)
——
Phase 1 kicked off with publication.
It would be interesting to know if Phase 1 is still on track including CSL membership uptake and readiness for AGM.
No downside I can see.
If on track? Tick. Keep going
If not? A timely reminder of how hard it is to do this stuff.
On Celtic’s part in the 5WA.
They like all other clubs did not want to lose the income that came from Rangers existence.
The biggest mistake Celtic made was not insisting titles would be withheld.
However on accepting the 5WA there was a sentence that urged signing so that the SPL could get on with what became the LNS Commission.
That was totally in the hands of the SPL and there is no evidence to suggest that Celtic could know beforehand how it would turn out.
Celtic also requested LNS to be revisited after Supreme Court ruling in 2017 so Celtic have have a degree of plausible deniability.
To off set that: Eric Reilly Celtic’s representative on SPL Board with some knowledge of what was withheld from LNS, was absent when SPL decided not to appeal the LNS Decision and some members of that SPL Board had reservations about it.
They were right to have them as the LNS commission is unsound, lacking evidence that should have been provided.
Do not let justified abhorrence at the nature of the entity at Ibrox get in way of what took place as far as can be demonstrated.
TBB and I back then argued LNS was premature and should have waited until the big tax case was settled. Had they done so LNS could not have said of ebts in 2013 that it was ok for a club to arrange its tax affairs WITHIN THE LAW, (which was the case in 2013) and this let Rangers off the hook of dishonest behaviour and justified no sporting advantage..
Had the SPL waited 4 years then the charges against Rangers could not have been those in the 2012 ToRs for LNS around mis registration of players.
Same would apply earlier to 2017 in 2012 if full evidence had been supplied to SPL by Duff and Phelps as requested by SPL lawyers Harper McLeod.
The more appropriate charge would be under Article 5 of SFA Memorandum which required clubs to act in the utmost good faith to fellow member clubs. That Rangers did not could have been demonstrated in 2012 had LNS Commission not been sabotaged by Duff and Phelps.
Sorry about giving more to read but that aspect and more some factual, some assumptions based on the facts (and it is long) can be read at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LgNu5ECIDhTzbJcHzlBJNpLnBt7_2CY8/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107947982974245186134&rtpof=true&sd=true
My view is that Scottish football started going downhill after it lost its integrity in 2012 and with it the joy of watching a game we thought was fairly governed (I know, I know but we had no proof) until then.
Sir David Murray should have been charged with crimes against Scottish football.
BelmontBrian on 28th September 2026 2:47 pm
Although I have a flu jag after 5pm I intend to meet IQIV again on the 9th.
“On one occasion, I was invited onto the radio to discuss the matter, but only on condition I agreed to the ‘same club myth’ – I declined”.
I wonder what radio station was that 🤔
Surely not the one funded by the taxpayer.
The Blogger,
Now, wouldn’t that be a surprise?!?
tangbhoy on 28th September 2026 1:18 pm
We as a club are sadly ever changing but not on the pitch. We remain a secondary consideration in European football. I’d rather you blogged about ideas of what we could do about that Paul…
____
Absolutely. No doubt the great masterplan will be unveiled at the AGM.
17 October 2024
A date which will live in in infamy……
BREAKING NEWS The 5 men arrested for being IRANIAN terrorists intent on blowing up AMERICAN bomber aircraft that can target a childrens school without even trying have now been released on bail.
It turns out they are british nationals who claim to have been searching for golf balls.Trump the peado and OOR NIGEL have refused to be interviewed re their earlier statements accusing them of trying to pick poison mushrooms .
the latest war crime supporting UK prime minister has thanked the public and security services for preventing some sort of thing the other night.
can i also add my thanks to him, and all our previous prime ministers in the last 40 years, for making us targets of such things in the first place.
i have no idea whether the other night was anything to do with a real iranian or russian attempt to attack that airbase.
but if it was, you would have to do a lot of heavy lifting to argue it wasnt expected our deserved.
*or
As I said earlier the rabbit hole just gets bigger and bigger, take this so called war for instance, if as has been reported Iran have fired 1000’s of missiles into Israel it would look like Gaza, it’s not, they can fly and bomb with total impunity, also Iran is holding a 15 min city exhibition in October, and it just so happens that the areas that have been flattened were zoned for said 15 min cities, you do not have to believe me, the info is there if you are willing to look for it instead of believing the western propaganda.
They are ALL in it together, every single one of them.
Netanyahu’s pre-October 7 warnings
Emirati warning: First reported by Haaretz and later confirmed by The New York Times, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed warned Netanyahu about 10 days before October 7 that Hamas was planning a major attack and urged him to take it seriously.
First Egyptian warning: First reported by The Atlantic, Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel secretly visited Israel on September 26, 2023, and warned that Hamas appeared to be preparing a major assault.
Additional Egyptian warnings: Reported by Yedioth Ahronoth and The Wall Street Journal, Kamel called Netanyahu days before October 7 to warn of signs of an imminent attack from Gaza.
A transcript of a meeting Netanyahu convened with senior security officials in early October 2023, obtained by the media, indicates that he told them an Israeli military operation in Gaza could jeopardize what he believed were imminent prospects for Saudi Arabia to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.