Martin O’Neill, alongside several other Celtic managers, worked against an Oldco Rangers who had a finger on the scales. Between 1999 and 2011 over 50 players had second contracts which were hidden from HMRC, and in breach of football regulations, not submitted to the Scottish Football Association or Scottish Premier League.
Rangers did not pay Income Tax or National Insurance on these hidden contracts. The contracts were found when Ibrox was raided by City of London Police, and after a lengthy legal process, the Supreme Court ruled that Rangers were due back tax to HMRC which they could not pay. As a consequence, the club went into liquidation in 2012.
Newco Rangers were formed (as Sevco Scotland, they received permission to change their name to Rangers later that year) by football entrepreneur Charles Green, who saw the potential in harvesting revenue from thousands of fans without a club. He bought what was referred to in court as a ‘basket of assets’, including Ibrox Stadium, then applied for and received SFA associate membership.
Sevco Scotland’s application to join the SPL was rejected by 10 votes to one (Rangers supported their application, Kilmarnock abstained, all others voted against). They were subsequently accepted into the Scottish Football League, in the fourth tier of the professional pyramid.
I have spoken to several players who lost trophies to Oldco during that period and who are very aware their medal haul and win bonuses are lighter then they should be. Martin lost two league titles during his tenure as permanent manager, one on goal difference and one by a single point, both won by Rangers teams full of players with hidden contracts.
Celtic former players and managers are not alone. The fans endured difficult times. For you and me, that might feel like a long time ago, but the consequences of those times cannot be overstated. Nothing has been the same since, even Sunday’s game will bristle with the echo of that era. For Martin O’Neill, this is the first time he is up against Newco Rangers. I would not bet against him.
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2 more sleeps until we destroy thems.
Happy Friday and HH!
Ps MON on Sky Sports at 1330 Celtic Park time.
Take your revenge on them Martin
xbar
Here`s hoping Martin can put it to them on Sunday.
COYBIG
HH
Gerry
It’s going to be a fascinating game of football.
We have toiled against them for nearly a year because of our predictable style of play.
On this occasion I have no idea how we will line up and play. Nor will they.
Similarly, with their manager only 3 games in to his tenure I doubt many will know how the huns will line up and play.
FWIW, I doubt both teams will cancel each other out and there will be goals aplenty.
Martin’s debut verse Sevco 🍀
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Just had some good medical results back but really sure my heart could take another 3-3 and pens.
My ticket is almost identical to where I was stood when we beat them 4-0 in a semi a few years back. Same again would be beautiful.
So would 1-0 too mind you.
If Brendan had still been in charge on Sunday , I’d be a lot less optimistic. I don’t see us underperforming this time . I’m usually shiting masel before these games. Is it possible to be optimistic but still shiting yersel ?-)))
…….Please, Lhads……………….FGS, can we all stop with the opTimism!?
I’ve never ever been confident going into this “game” and I doubt I ever will
That awful feeling in the pit of my stomach is already there and it wont subside till we’re 5 up…and even then………..
I hope Martin or someone makes the point that he’s playing this mob for te first time….that’d be nice.
Perhaps Paddy Power might oblige?
HHH
Today’s article reminds me that ultimately it was the Supreme Court which brought Rangers down. I doubt that the Scottish legal establishment would have had the integrity or the will to see justice done.
Probably just me being a bit thick, but what has the upcoming game got to do with Rangers?
https://cdn.celticfc.com/assets/downloads/Celtic_FC_Fan_Survey_2024-25.pdf
Fan survey…..it’s all about the timing….
GlassTwoThirdsFull
They’re related through in breeding.
I look forward to seeing our record against them in the pre match email as with the other clubs.
Won’t hold my breath.
What was it Dermott said at the departed clubs funeral again……
Fritzsong
Totally agree – earlier this week I posted a quote from the main barrister for HMRC who said he was astonished it took until the Supreme Court for this very obvious tax dodge to be ruled unlawful, but that his bigger surprise was the vehemence with which the decision was denounced in Scotland. That the old Huns could do no wrong and were above the law, ran deep in our culture.
It took a shrewd wee Canadian guy to stand up to them, and with supermen like MON we fought our way to dominance. But we should never forget the years of cheating and, as Paul says, the financial cost to players and clubs throughout Scotland.
Nice to see that all written down Paul, might keep the trolls at bay for a while
A New Company set up a New Football Team who were given preferential treatment 👍🏻.
I see now.
Nothing like old firmery to attract the elite managers. Champions League is of absolutely no interest to them…..
BADA
Saving it for a rainy day ?
Sorry, players like Lennon and Lambert said they should have beat the hun teams they faced at that time. Even after they knew the huns cheated.
Fitba players are mostly stupid.
Fritzsong
The Supreme Court decision was dramatic and memorable, being the last stop on the journey, but folk forget that it was the Inner House of the Court of Session in Edinburgh that ruled against Rangers, stating that “income derived from an employee’s work was assessable to income tax, even if the employee agreed that it be redirected to a third party.”
It was that decision that Rangers (admins) appealed at the Supreme Court, which of course they lost, the SC upholding the earlier decision of the CoS.
While the tax tribunals held in Rangers favour, the Court of Session held them bang to rights. Scotland isn’t all* disgrace and favours.
I suspect the Hun will go 3-5-2 against us and play Danillo and Miovski upfront to pressure our centre halves. Nothing to lose strategy.
MON may decide to sort of match up with a 3-4-3
I’d go for :
KS
AT. LS. KT
AE Cal. BN MS
DM. JK. ST
Safety first option would be same team as midweek with KT for MS , KT better defensively.
HH
Bhoys Town – see above re HMRC etc
Iheanacho might make Sunday
GlassTwoThirdsFull
I have to say the only person who mentioned the “old firm” was you.
Paul wrote about their decades of cheating, their liquidation and the creation of a new company and club by Charles Green. Not once does he say a word about “old firm”.
It’s posts like this which have made my visits to this site more and more infrequent. Posters waiting to pounce on Paul’s article to express their outrage at his opinion and no pesky fact is going to get in their way.
Paul hosts this blog for free,ads while annoying can be navigated around, show some manners. Debate all you want but down have an attack of the vapours over something he didn’t even write.
Back to lurking again for me.
BATTERED BUNNET
True, and the HMRC lead barrister is in fact a Scot, state educated from Dundee.
And also true, the Inner House got the law right, but it was such an open and shut case why did the Outer House not do so in the first hearing? If HMRC had been devolved I suspect there would have been no case, but who knows.
Separately, let’s not also forget that the police in Scotland let loose a mad Ibrox fan to lead the witch hunt against the administrators which has now cost the country millions as well as wrecking the lives of innocent professionals, punished by the police for daring to mess with the establishment club.
Any Celtic supporter who backed the PLC, by subscribing to a season ticket, after the PLC’s 49 Quid same club lie, Sevco ARE Rangers, surrender in 2016, sugar coated by the arrival of Brendan-1, or even worse, buying a single Adidas item during the Palestine Genocide, and wearing this clothing whilst waving a Palestinian flag, then these fans should be deciding NOTHING about Celtic FC.
NOTHING!!!
Sleekit Green Huns are not the answer.
Any Celtic supporter who allowed themselves to be utterly rinsed politically, by 17 years of Snp lies, corruption, criminality, degeneracy, child abuse, Women hating, Celtic hating, killing old people then telling you all that these people died with covid which has never been proven to exist, appart from the corrupted version that you only get from inside the fake vaxxeens, or rigged covid tests, then these easily fooled version of Tims should be deciding NOTHING about Celtic FC.
NOTHING!!!
Wall to wall hypocrisy from woke Timmy idiots is not the answer. Period!
Rodgers was a lying grifter but Tims would rather shoot the messenger, Desmond, because they don’t like the message, as we saw them do through the entire covid plandemic scam.
Anybody who hangs about with Connor McGregor, should not be employed by Celtic FC.
Here endeth the lesson.
MON % Shaun YNWA.
HH
oot.
OWEN
I agree. I scrolled back on today’s and last night’s contributions and one poster after another was attacking this blog’s contributors as all being board lackeys. They clearly couldn’t see the irony in the fact that the blog is at times completely dominated by board attackers making the point that they feel marginalised…
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 31ST OCTOBER 2025 11:14 AM
BSR earlier – nice one.
I’ll go on the record – I’m not a supporter of the collective.
They’ve got some good things to say (genuine tick for me).
However, IMHO, their composition is wrong, their tactics (disrupting the players) are wrong and they’ve gone after some unrealistic targets.
Here comes the but.
I mentioned a potential impact of £3m (a guess, nothing more) of their action.
One bad corporate decision could cost a club like Celtic £3m.
An expensive signing who doesn’t cut it could cost us £3m
Maybe, just maybe (and it am not convinced myself) there needs to be a place in the overall reckoning for fan ‘strategy’ costing the club £3m.
It let’s the board know they are thinkers and doers who can tangibly impact the club if they choose.
That impact though? Should be financial and contained.
It absolutely should not impact the team doing their job.
Why not?
Because, when it comes right down to it, that relationship between the TEAM and the FANS .. is what really matters.
We (both partners) break that bond at our peril.
———————————————————
A Celtic type collective was there, but dormant before Brendan Rodgers, reformed and active whilst he was here, and still here after he’s gone.
The “ you don’t represent me Brigade “ is always present.
We don’t know the extent, reasons, or details of why Dermot intervened we know BR is one of a few no longer in the building.
We know nothing CSC
Bhoys Town
There was no Outer House hearing.
Rangers won 2-1 at the First Tier tribunal (Heidi Poon with the consolation goal), the Upper Tier (Lord Doherty) upheld that decision. The Inner House overturned it which Rangers ultimately appealed to the Supreme Court and lost.
FRITZSONG
Wrong! The High Court in Edinburgh found in favour of HMRC. The only reason it went to the Appeal Court in London was because oldco appealed.
I remain a little disappointed that we don’t have a HeidiPoonCSC
No, I see that. Memory lapse, it was straight appeal from UT.
Well no one who knows his football allegiances could accuse Lord Doherty of anti-Celtic bias! So I will rein in my paranoia. I guess that it maybe didn’t seem so clear cut to some tax lawyers at the time. Astonishing really when the scheme was so obviously a tax dodge.
The Battered Bunnet
Perhaps it’s appropriate that the ashes of the old club were bought for a poon.
https://www.celticfc.com/news/2025/october/31/celtic-release-fan-survey-results/
Bhoys Town
I agree wholeheartedly that it was an obvious dodge, but a literal reading of the law as it was written produced the outcomes at tribunal stage, underlining why these EBT schemes were marketed at all.
It was by no means a shoo-in, although I think RTC himself would admit now to a little over-confidence at the time. There are still senior lawyers who consider the final outcome to be wrong, notwithstanding what has occurred since.
In any event, like every other case, both sides were arguable, as borne out in the outcomes at each stage.
Given that it was the Supreme Court that dealt the final blow – surely it would be more appropriate to have a Diana Ross CSC?