You and I have been in some dark places. While we remember winning nine-in-a-row by brilliant scouting, tactics and athletic endeavour, we also remember when that proud achievement was violated in 1997 by a considerably less wholesome achievement.
At the end of season 1995-96 Celtic finished second but lost only one game. I convinced myself that our world was about to be put right. Tommy Burns’ team would go one step further and win the league in 1997; it had to happen.
It didn’t.
Today I don’t want to talk about the reasons why we didn’t win the league in 1997, we will discuss that in the weeks ahead, but that season taught us the lesson that simply wanting something to happen doesn’t make it likely.
I thought of those dark days yesterday when I hear Ally McCoist’s rallying call:
“We’re going to march right through it
“I’m as positive today as I have been in a long time.
“This institution has been around for 140 years and I want it to be here for another 140 years.
“You’ll see what Rangers mean to so many people. We are really looking forward to the game.
“We have the best fans in the world.
McCoist loves his club the same way his good friend Tommy Burns loved his, but irrespective of the challenge he faces in the league from Neil Lennon’s awesome team, there is nothing McCoist can do to ensure his club survives until the end of the season.
When you’re on the wrong end of history there is nothing you can do about it.
Fancy writing something for CQN Magazine? Drop me an email and let me know what you would like to write about before you get started, just in case someone else has the same angle covered: celticquicknews@gmail.com.
I think we have all been blown away by the bidding on eBay action for the signed Celtic top in aid of the Vanessa Riddle Appeal. The auction ends today and currently sits at an incredible £5000. That’s three zeros, count them! I am very proud of you and your club.
Check out the events on eBay yourself by clicking here.
If you would like to read CQN Magazine online (for free), click here. You can download a pdf of the magazine using the button at the top of the page, second from the right. Click on the link below to order a hard copy of the magazine.
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Hmmmmmmm.Got the blog to myself now.
One for the hun,from the beautiful city of Belfast,and the wild West in particular – the Celtic heartland.Take it outta this…
HEAVEN KNOWS,HEAVEN KNOWS….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icFlvBxGGd4
YER LIKE ICE ON A DESERT PLAIN…
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
leaning together
headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
we whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar.
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper!
For TB: You won that title Tomas,ya know mo chara…fair and square TB,fair and square:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MX7so7Ir74
Sixteen roads to Golgotha says:
19 February, 2012 at 03:53
Excellent!
Appreciated that.
It pains me to think of Tommy Burns in light of these scandals. These huns
These trough snorting pigs.
If only Tommy were around to see how these animals cheated him. Its really painful.
I apologize if this has been posted before,however, let me suggest in the most erudite, sophisticatedand meaningful way, to the tune of Mary Hopkins “Those were the days my friends” my feelings tonight:
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die ya huns
Die Die Die Die
Die Die Die die die Die ya huns
..or words to that effect
Margaret McGill says:
19 February, 2012 at 04:07
Good ghirl yerself Margaret,good ghirl yerself.
Now i am not trying to pick an argument,but would i be correct in sayin’ – that West Belfast has the highest concentration of Celtic supporters on planet earth?
Some folk might say Coatbridge,but i know where my money is on.
Thoughts/opinions please.
.
Rangers: The Worst of Times..
Courtesy The Herald
The defiance developed a hollow ring by the end.
A rendition of God Save The Queen became half-hearted as the game was played out, but the objective of reviving the spirit of Rangers, of expressing defiance, had been lost by then. The occasion had an edge, but at times it delivered only a self-inflicted harm.
Perhaps the home fans, in the circumstances of their adversity, fell back on instinct. They certainly abandoned their restraint. What arose was the kind of sentiment that the club have been working hard to eradicate. There was a rendition of Super Rangers in the first half, with a clear chant of “F***** bastards”. Then the Billy Boys, a song banned by Uefa for the line, “we’re up to our knees in F***** blood”, was sung. After the interval, and some decisions by Iain Brines that riled the home fans, the vast majority of the stadium chanted, “Who’s the F***** in the black”.
The return of the old anti-Catholic intolerance was a depressing occurrence. The day was an opportunity for the Rangers fans to show their spirit, to express the devotion that would be the strongest defence against the threat of club’s perilous financial state. Around kick-off, the songs had been rousing and it was possible to acknowledge that the support of the club, in its vastness and its commitment, could be a positive influence in the coming difficult weeks.
Yet what the supporters emphasised was a confusion of intent. They came to display how they might save their club, but then betrayed it. It is a time when Rangers’ identity, and their own influence, can be redefined. The club is in a vulnerable state, but can still be redeemed. Religious bigotry had become a relic, but its sudden resurgence, as an emotional, almost spontaneous reaction, suggests that it still lies too close to the surface.
It jarred, because the fans had previously been so uplifting. They congregated outside the main stand ahead of the game, waiting for a chance to express their commitment. A bed sheet hung from the railings carrying the message: “Sold To A Spiv. Give Us Our Club”. There was no concerted protest, but it would have been futile since matters still lie outwith the fans’ reach. Only if they muster the financial clout, and so empower the Supporters Trust, can they take control of Rangers’ future. Presence was obligatory, though, because it was a symbolic gesture.
Before kick-off, then as the teams came out, the noise was stirring. It felt like an outpouring, and this was the supporters’ first opportunity to express themselves together since the club fell into administration. It was supposed to be a celebration, of their devotion to the team and their great expectations that a positive outcome might be reached. It was possible to cling on to that optimism, even as the game and three separate chants, undermined it.
The players looked galvanised, too, but reality has become a blatant presence in recent weeks. For all that emotion was a powerful impetus, it could not make up for the deficiencies of the team. It took only 12 minutes for Kilmarnock to breach the home side’s defence, when Paul Heffernan scampered clear and crossed for Dean Shiels to convert. Suddenly, Rangers’ adversity seemed entrenched.
A response was inevitable, but it did not have the means to affect Kilmarnock. Ally McCoist has diminished resources, and even the motivation of events was not enough to raise them above mediocrity. The visitors were sharp and confident in their play, which must have galled Rangers. On the verge of half-time, Sasa Papac slid into a tackle with his studs showing, prompting Brines to reach for a red card.
By then, David Healy had been flagged offside before scoring, and Lee McCulloch suffered a similar fate when his headed goal was ruled out in the second half after Mervan Celik was judged to have held on to his marker in the penalty area as the corner kick was delivered. Rangers’ lack of imagination was cruelly exposed, and Kilmarnock supporters revelled in the discomfort in front of them. “There’s only one Craig Whyte,” they chanted.
Apart from a banner blaming Sir David Murray for Rangers’ predicament, there was no such castigation from the home fans. Whyte, to them, is a figure to be scolded, but it seemed a waste of energy in his absence. He was advised not to attend, and the strength of feeling would have been a cause of distress to him. It was, still, a cathartic occasion for Rangers.
There is talk of the players taking a collective pay cut so staff do not lose their jobs. Stories abounded, too, of fans living abroad buying tickets and passing them on to relatives or former neighbours so that the ground wouldn’t be empty. This resourcefulness is priceless to Rangers, and it does not deserve to be tainted by songs that should remain cast aside by a support that is better aware of its Respinsoblities
Summa
TB:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRiAQNz1E4g
Anton Rogan too,still one of my all time idols.
Love Celtic,only Celtic,.
Sixteen roads to Golgotha says:
19 February, 2012 at 04:13
Is this a competition? If so your Gerry Mandering works all right for me but Lanarkshire and Benbecula may have West belfast beat ratio wise!!! ha ha
Margaret McGill says:
19 February, 2012 at 04:23
PMSL – You win,no contest!! :)
Whyte set up Rangers takeover firm while banned
Paul Hutcheon The Herald
Investigations Editor
CRAIG Whyte is at the centre of another row after it appeared that the company which ultimately owns Rangers was created when he was banned from starting a new firm in the UK.
call for inquiry to focus on tycoon’s tax-haven based company liberty capital investigation by Paul Hutcheon
The embattled Rangers chairman was blocked from acting as a director or forming a company for seven years from 2000 onwards.
However, the Sunday Herald has established that Whyte’s Liberty Capital Limited, incorporated in the British Virgin Isles (BVI) tax haven, had major stakes in UK firms before the expiry of the tycoon’s ban. The firm offered liquidation and insolvency services from a Glasgow telephone number when Whyte’s disqualification was live.
A spokeswoman for the Insolvency Service said a banned individual could start a firm in the BVI as it was outside the jurisdiction of UK company law. A business created in these circumstances can operate legally in the UK.
Former Ibrox director Paul Murray said he wanted an inquiry into Whyte’s takeover to include a focus on Liberty Capital.
Rangers FC was this week put into administration less than a year after Whyte’s takeover.
Although Whyte reportedly suggested a potential £75 million HMRC liability was the driver behind the seismic move, at a court hearing on Tuesday, counsel for HMRC stated the club had not passed on up to £9m in tax deducted from staff wages.
Fans want to know the whereabouts of £24.4 million paid by finance company Ticketus for season tickets.
Strathclyde Police detectives are now probing aspects of Whyte’s takeover, while the Scottish Football Association (SFA) is also investigating aspects of Whyte’s stewardship of the club.
The Sunday Herald can reveal that Whyte is now facing questions about the BVI firm at the centre of his business empire.
Last May, Whyte assumed control of Rangers after his Wavetower company acquired an 85.3% shareholding in the club. Wavetower then changed its name to The Rangers FC Group Ltd, which is owned by Whyte’s Liberty Capital Ltd.
LCL is based at a PO box in the BVI. The tax haven guarantees privacy and has long been at the centre of global anger over tax avoidance.
However, it is the genesis of the company that is now under scrutiny.
In a circular from the Rangers FC Group to the club’s shareholders, the firm stated Whyte was the “founder and chief executive of Liberty Capital Limited”. No further details of the firm, other than it having investments across the world, were supplied.
A BBC investigation revealed Whyte was banned as a director in the UK for seven years over the conduct of his firm, Vital Holdings.
The ban blocked him being an insolvency practitioner and stopped him taking part in the promotion, “formation” or management of a firm.
The Insolvency Service says the disqualification ended on June 13, 2007. But documents obtained by this newspaper show Whyte’s Liberty Capital Ltd was commercially active before the end of his ban.
An annual return shows LCL held 700 shares in related firm Liberty Corporate in May 2007, and disposed of 300 shares seven months earlier.
The incorporation documents for Tixway UK, dated January 2007, reveal this firm’s sole subscriber was LCL, which gave its UK postal address as Castle Grant, Whyte’s home in Grantown-on-Spey.
In August 2006, nine months before Whyte’s disqualification ended, similarly-named Tix Ltd named LCL as its sole subscriber.
All these company filings demonstrate that LCL, which Whyte is said to have founded, was created before the businessman’s ban on starting a new company expired.
LCL also has a digital footprint which shows it was active prior to the end of Whyte’s disqualification.
The domain name for the firm’s website was registered in October 2005. The registrant’s address was given as “Liberty Capital” at 65 Bath Street in Glasgow.
Archived versions of the firm’s web pages show LCL was offering its services while Whyte’s sanction was in place.
A screen-grab of the website from December 5 2006, months before the ban ended, revealed LCL offering advice on “insolvency”, “receivership” and “liquidation”.
The firm’s website also flagged up a service for “CVA”, otherwise known as Company Voluntary Arrangements.
Coincidentally, CVA has been cited by Rangers as the preferred route out of the Glasgow club’s difficulties.
The web-grab also shows a news feed containing summaries of stories from 2006, with headlines such as “Scottish corporate failures rise by 17%”.
LCL offered expertise on debt renegotiation and creditors, adding: “We buy distressed companies.”
A telephone number for the Bath Street office is provided, next to a sales pitch: “Contact us now – for a confidential chat to discuss your specific situation.”
Acting as a director of a UK firm while banned is criminal offence. However, Whyte’s ban applied only in the UK and no law was broken.
A person banned from being a director or forming a company in the UK can start a firm overseas. It can then promote financial services in the UK.
Murray, who believes the club should be rescued from Whyte, said: “There has to be a full inquiry by the Insolvency Service into all aspects of the takeover, including Liberty Capital, the funding structure, and the takeover document to shareholders.”
He said the former Independent Board Committee, set up to scrutinise the deal, had concerns about the Whyte takeover: “In the end, there were a number on concerns about the takeover. One was about the lack of visibility of Liberty Capital. The question was asked of Craig Whyte about Liberty Capital, and he said that everything was properly funded and that he had 100% ownership.”
Stephen Smith, the former chairman of the Rangers Supporters Trust, said previous owner Sir David Murray must take responsibility for the club’s difficulties, but said: “If Craig Whyte is serious about Rangers, he will answer questions about the club’s ownership. If it is legal and legitimate, the fans will understand why this sort of company is used, but the conclusion to be drawn is that there is something to hide.
“He should agree to speak privately to fans, who could sign non-disclosure agreements if he has concerns about commercial confidentiality. This could reassure fans that ultimately the club is not owned by a parasitic shark.”
Richard Murphy, founder of the Tax Justice Network, said: “The BVI is one of the most notorious tax havens. It is incredibly secretive: there’s no tax, and no accountability. If you don’t want tax or regulation, and you don’t want the world to know – about your company, go to the BVI.
He added: “There are 23,000 people in the BVI and, we think, 800,000 companies. Not even the BVI really knows how many firms are there.”
Labour MP Brian Donohoe said: “I believe that at some point other parts of Craig Whyte’s business should be investigated, but now is the time to focus on how we move out of administration onto the other side. I just don’t think Craig Whyte realised the focus there would be on his background when he took over.”
A spokesman for Craig Whyte declined to give the date of Liberty Capital’s formation. He said: “Mr Whyte was not a UK resident when Liberty Capital was formed. There was no restriction on his forming and directing a company anywhere else in the world.
“Liberty Capital was a shareholder in the companies mentioned. He did not act as a director or shadow director of any UK company during the period of the ban.”
Six days that shook the city’s footballing world
The Hearald
Monday, February 13
Rangers lodge their intention to go into administration at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Craig Whyte reveals that the club’s final tax bill could be as much as £75 million.
Tuesday, February 14
HMRC moves to put Rangers into administration over “substantial” tax debts owed to them since Craig Whyte’s takeover of the club last May. At the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Lord Menzies gives Rangers until 3.30pm to appoint their own administrators or court would appoint a firm. At 2.50pm, Duff & Phelps administrators Paul Clark and David Whitehouse take over the club after court action.
The SPL confirms the club have been deducted 10 points, leaving them 14 points behind Celtic. At 9.15pm, Craig Whyte boards a flight to London.
Wednesday, February 15
Rangers’s administrators vow to ensure that the club has a future. The administrators assure fans that Rangers will “continue as a football club”. In a statement, Duff & Phelps says that players have not been asked to play without being paid. However, a review of staff will take its course and cuts could be announced next week.
The administrators also pull the plug on the Rangers Hall of Fame Dinner, which had been due to take place today. They say: “Holding the event at this time was not considered appropriate.”
Thursday, February 16
Strathclyde Police begin going through information they have been handed on behind-the-scenes dealings at Rangers.
It is understood former Ibrox chairman Alastair Johnston, who was removed by new owner Craig Whyte in May, made allegations to officers.
Johnston also reveals he had asked prosecutors to get involved in the Rangers affair.
Earlier in the day, at a press conference in Glasgow, Rangers administrators say they do not know the whereabouts of the £24m for four years of season tickets. The money was paid by Ticketus, a firm that planned to profit from future season ticket sales. Meanwhile, Rangers’ sponsors and business partners, including Tennent’s, all pledge their continued support despite the club plunging into administration.
Friday, February 17
Craig Whyte insists he has not taken a penny out of Rangers since he became chairman. The Ibrox chairman says he will take “a step back” and not attend Saturday’s match at Ibrox. In a statement, Whyte says he has “absolutely nothing to fear” from any investigation into his takeover of the club.
He also says he is “100% confident” administrators will prove all money that has come in and gone out of the club during his tenure has been properly accounted for.
London company Ticketus says that it bought the club’s season tickets for £24m – and did not lend the money.
The Scottish Football Association (SFA) announces that it will conduct a full independent inquiry into the activities of Rangers.
Saturday, February 18
Rangers fans pack out Ibrox for the club’s first match since appointing administrators. Tens of thousands of supporters turn out for the game against Kilmarnock at Ibrox to see the home team lose 1-0.
Administrators say they have new information on the takeover and running of the club which they will reveal later in the week.
“They are there,and they are always there…and God bless every one of them.” Tommy Burns.
Ya can’t make that up,ya know?
“There is no finer sight in football,than when the Celtic support show their colours.” Billy McNeill.
Who can argue with that?
Never mind der hun,it’s about time that we started to celebrate the CFC.
That’s what i think.
Murray? Where’s Wally?
By Tam Cowan on Feb 18, 12 07:30 AM
Administration? Been there, done it and paid 10p in the £1 for the T-shirt.
It was a classic JFK moment. April 2002, sitting on the train at Lancaster Station en route to Manchester when the mobile rang and my then sports editor broke the bad news.
Gut reaction? Well, gutted. But, as my mind started conjuring up gloomy images of the padlocks being put on the gates at Fir Park, I just wanted my club to survive.
And that’s why the big Rangers fan outside Ibrox on Tuesday struck a chord when he looked straight into a TV camera and roared: “The 10 points have been taken off, the league is gone… but the big hoose stays open!” Martin Luther King eat your heart out.
Survival is all that counts and I’m convinced the big hoose – Ibrox – will stay open. Listen, if Motherwell, Dundee and Livingston, three clubs whose collective hardcore support couldn’t fill the Copland Road Stand, can come back from administration I don’t think for a minute that a club with 50,000 customers will perish.
While Motherwell face Hearts today in a Champions League six-pointer, the Rangers supporters will pack out Ibrox as the fight for survival begins.
I thought about urging season ticket holders to pay cash at the gate – as we did back in 2002 – but hang on, do the Rangers fans know exactly where their money would be going? What’s happened to all the Ticketus and HMRC dosh?
One thing’s for sure, Craig Whyte hasn’t spent it at Slater’s (not that he’d go near the menswear store as it sounds like a roofing firm).
What’s the script with that grey pin-striped suit? And Craig… breeks without a belt? Is it any wonder the Rangers fans are giving you dog’s abuse? According to reports, Craig doesn’t know his date of birth and, on an official document, got the spelling of his surname wrong as in White (it should, of course, start with S).
It would appear he also doesn’t know his alphabet. Administration was Plan D? Aye right!
Incredibly, the due diligence carried out on Whyte took six months! Who was in charge of that procedure – Jedward? Whyte seems to have disappeared over the past few days. Any truth in the rumour he headed south with a pound coin to try to buy Portsmouth? They say the £9million withheld from HMRC could have paid for 20 incubators and 100 nurses. Alternatively, it could have paid for a fraction of the EBT tax bill run up by Sir David Murray.
The folk in the football media who crucified John Boyle in 2002 and haven’t even pointed as much as a pinkie at Sir Dave should be ashamed and embarrassed.
And can you imagine the flak Vladimir Romanov would have copped if he’d flogged Hearts for a quid and then watched the club plunge into administration?
The papers over the past couple of weeks have been like a Scottish football version of the Where’s Wally? books – Where’s Murray?
I can’t believe the main culprit has apparently been airbrushed out of this story. Surely his time-served acolytes don’t still have their snouts in Sir Dave’s trough? Who set up the Employment Benefit Trusts? Who hired Dick Advocaat? Who signed the cheques for guys like £12.5m Tore Andre Flo? It sure as hell wasn’t Craig Whyte.
Murray ran up the debts, put the bank in charge of the club and sold it for £1 to a man who’d been disqualified as a director for seven years. Fit and proper to take the club forward? Don’t think so!
Listen, if you bought a motor that crashed into a bus seconds after leaving the forecourt due to four wonky wheels, surely the garage owner would take the rap?
So how come Murray appears blameless for the wheels coming off at Rangers? Yes, Craig Whyte’s predicament gets worse by the day but it’s the outcome of the £49-75m tax battle over EBTs that will seal Rangers fate. And there’s only one man to blame for that one.
After days of silence, Murray issued a statement to the Scottish media on Tuesday: “Thanks once again, boys, for all the Valentine cards.”
Did it fill the Rangers fans with much confidence when they heard that one half of the administrators are Duff? Craig Whyte’s original choice – according to a wee exclusive from reader Mike Baxter – were Norfolk & Good.
Spare a thought for my Bluenose pal Ron. He bought a replica Rangers jersey in Tesco yesterday – and the lassie at the till took 10 points off his club card.
At least Daniel Cousin must be smiling. Now his deal at Ibrox is ripped up, he can just accept the £20,000 a week they were offering at Birmingham. Yeah?
Quote of the Week? What about former Ibrox chairman Alastair Johnston trying to blame Lloyd’s for loaning Rangers money in the first place!
That’s like bludgeoning the wife and then blaming the bloke next door who let you borrow his claw hammer.
Respect is due to the Ned Kelly crew…
i was going through youtube and i was watching some tommy burns footage… what a guy… ynwa..
Good Morning from India. Hot and Sunny :-)
” If you go down to Ibrox today your sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to Ibrox today you’ll never believe your eyes.
Cause super Ally has no cash,
Soon no place to sing the sash
Todays the day the teddy bears have their pitch nicked. ”
kitalba says:
19 February, 2012 at 04:46
Pish,tryin’ not to be pish..but pish,none the less.
An obnoxious bigot,he is.
Sixteen roads to Golgotha
Which one?
stephenpollock says:
19 February, 2012 at 04:48
Where in India are you?
very curious. Sorry.
kitalba says:
19 February, 2012 at 04:56
Tam “Motherwell” Cowan wan/yin.
Sixteen roads to Golgotha
I thought you might have meant him and I agree, but he thinks he is funny so at least he has one dedicated fan.
The Scotsman
By ANDREW SMITH
Published on Sunday 19 February 2012 00:00
A KEY witness at Rangers’ tax tribunal over the use of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) has told Scotland on Sunday he believes the club can still win the case that could otherwise land them a bill for more than £50 million from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
The source, who asked not to be named with a judgment still possibly two weeks away, called into question owner Craig Whyte’s implication of the so-called “big tax case” in the Ibrox club’s plunge into administration last week. HMRC insisted that the reason was a further £9m in unpaid tax accrued since Whyte took over the club last May.
“Until a fortnight ago, it was widely reported that Rangers’ chances of winning the tribunal were 50-50, now it is said they will lose,” the source said. “Yet nothing can have changed in that intervening period, with the tribunal ending last month [18 January]. It has been said Whyte must have got wind of the outcome ahead of the club being placed in administration, but he can’t have done so. The opinion of the judges must remain strictly confidential until they make public their decision. If Rangers won the EBT case, their future should have been secure. Now it won’t be and, in that scenario, serious questions must be asked of Whyte.”
The source says there are “myths” about how EBTs were administered when Sir David Murray owned Rangers, and that HMRC made “no headway” in convincing the three judges who will decide if these were operated in a manner that changed them from a legal tax avoidance loophole to a tax evasion scheme.
I’m a wee bit confused, did this ‘key witness’ give evidence at the tribunal or is he just giving a post tribunal opinion? As far as the tribunal goes, I thought the decision was already made and the judges were just writing up the papers and everything else will be determined by… Que Sera, Sera.
kitalba – never a problem chief.
It’s been a long time coming,Bhoys & Ghirls…it’s been a long time coming…
LC victory celebrations in 2009 – heaven only knows how we are gonna celebrate the SPL Title 2011/12?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYsjHxBPZGQ&feature=related
On yersel West Belfast(as they say in Glesga).
Over and out.
GBNL.
Margaret – no prob. Bangalore. A very different kind of bigotry and corruption here!
Celtic: Judicious prudence
Golf Correspondent
The monetary musings certainly sounded encouraging.
Nick Rodger . The Herald.
Away from the fiscal firestorm that was engulfing their old foes down Govan way, the scene brought to mind in Glasgow’s east end was more like an easy burning barbecue. As the bottom fell out of the Rangers empire and the Ibrox giants moved into administration, Peter Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive, was uttering such phrases as “very robust” and “very stable” in regard to the club’s finances.
The profits may have been a modest £180,000, but the policy of prudence at Parkhead seems to be paying off. Since the giddy days of the early noughties when Martin O’Neill, the former manager, could command cheques with a fair few noughts on them to lure the likes of John Hartson and Chris Sutton to the SPL for a combined £12 million, things have been slightly less lavish.
For Neil Lennon, the current incumbent of the managerial hot- seat – and himself a one-time £6m signing at the club – having to work on that dreaded ‘limited budget’ is something he has been used to from day one. “We’ve cut our cloth accordingly and it hurt,” said the Northern Irishman. “We had to bite the bullet on quite a few occasions. You can see that the foresight of the club was the right thing to do. Nobody could see the recession coming, it has bit into society in more ways than anyone could imagine, but this club has been prepared for that, better than any other club in Scotland.”
This penny pinching lark has its frustrations, however. Even before he took up the manager’s post, Lennon confessed that Celtic had been interested in a certain Nikica Jelavic, but simply couldn’t stump up the cash. Of course, the prolific Croat ended up on the other side of the city when Rangers forked out £4m to Rapid Vienna (a decent chunk of which is still owed to the Austrians) and then flogged him on to Everton in the January transfer window for £5.5m as the HMRC vultures circled above.
Once ensconced in the manager’s throne, things didn’t get easier but, in these times of austerity, Lennon has ploughed on regardless. “There have been instances when the board have said ‘no further, no more money'”, he added. “I know before my time as manager there was an interest in Jelavic certainly. We couldn’t match the fee or the club didn’t want to pay the kind of money asked for. Even in this window, we’ve looked at English players and it’s been [a case of] ‘too much money’. You understand the budget you have. It can be frustrating, because you’d always like a bit more quality, but I’m really happy with what we’ve got.”
What he got for his money were the likes of Beram Kayal, Gary Hooper, Victor Wanyama and Emilio Izaguirre. Amid the economic restrictions, Lennon managed to cast his net far and wide and has been rewarded for his adventure.
“We maybe got a bit lucky because when I first came in I thought the club needed experience,” he admitted. “I went for David James, Sol Campbell and Jimmy Bullard, but never got them. Instead we signed the likes of Kayal, Izaguirre and Hooper as different options. It’s a credit to them that they’ve come in to British football and competed to a high level in Scotland and Europe as well.”
While there has been a series of red letter days for Rangers during a fraught week, Daniel Majstorovic, Celtic’s Swedish defender, was handed a significant boon when his controversial red card during last Saturday’s clash with Inverness Caley Thistle was rescinded by the SFA’s fast-track tribunal.
The 34-year-old, like everyone, has been keeping a close eye on matters at Ibrox. The uncertainty being felt by all those involved with Rangers is something Majstorovic can relate to and he extended his sympathy having experienced financial hardships during his spell at AEK Athens, the 11-time Greek champions. “I went six months (without being paid),” said the Swedish cap. “I’ve secured the money and of course I will get it but I just need to be patient. It’s terrible and it affects the football there a lot. You want to be focused on the game, but when these things affect you it’s not easy. So I know what the guys at Rangers are going through.”
In the midst of a rousing 17-match winning run, and now leading the SPL table by 14 points in the wake of Rangers’ administration punishment, Majstorovic and his Celtic team-mates travel to Easter Road today for a joust with a Hibernian side who were the last team to plunder points from them after a 0-0 draw at the end of October.
Lennon, who rather modestly suggested “we’re bobbing along nicely”, has a first title as a manager in his grasp. With Rangers set to be weakened and ravaged by the cost-cutting measures, the prospect of Celtic going on to dominate the Scottish game unhindered and replicating the nine-in-a-row of days of yore has been talked about in wild abandon . Not by Lennon though. “I’ll be f***ing happy with one in a row,” he says.
stephenpollock says:
19 February, 2012 at 05:20
Was in Kolkata for 3 weeks recently. Yes. I know what you mean.
Celtic FC – 9 in a row 65-74
How long would the Ibrox mob have got away with it if the “new media” hadn’t relentlessly uncovered how they had cheated and used their power corruptly? And what if we collectively had the determination to expose the wider abuses of power in Scottish society? You know for sure you won’t get much insight from the Record, Sun, BBC Scotland, Stv, Herald, Scotsman, etc.
See this from Gerry Hassan in Bella Caledonia:
What do Fred the Shred and Sir David Tell us About Scotland?
Posted on February 17, 2012 By Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2012/02/17/what-do-fred-the-shred-and-sir-david-tell-us-about-scotland/#more-5386
This is not another article on football. The Rangers crisis has filled the airwaves and media this week. For the second time this year Scotland has gone international and viral, spreading across the globe connecting the diaspora and other interested parties.
Many people ask how this came to pass with Rangers. All kinds of reasons and conspiracies are proposed: pro-Rangers bias, anti-Celtic opinion, Protestantism/anti-Catholicism, and the carve up of ‘the Old Firm’ duopoly.
We need to lift our heads from thinking of football on its own and see this in the context of Scotland. For what the Rangers story tells us is that Scottish society has a problem with power, its relationship to it, and how they hold it to account, scrutinise and inquire into its actions.
This can be seen across Scottish public life from football to business to politics. The Rangers saga has festered for many years. David Murray’s massive overspending and the bludgeoning of the club’s debts were very public and known to be unsustainable. Craig Whyte’s credentials were widely questioned when he took over.
What was missing from mainstream Scotland, from politicians, business experts and media, was a detailed questioning, calling to account and forensic examination of what was going on.
We have seen this before. The banking crisis and collapse of RBS saw a once powerful global institution and the leadership of Fred Goodwin go unchallenged, be feted and revered by our political classes and elites. There was an even more pervasive silence on RBS before the crash, and after, it hasn’t been much better, with little systematic analysis north of the border, beyond pillorying ‘Fred the Shred’.
Then there is how we do political scandals and corruption. In the last two years there have been a series of episodes that bubbled away in Labour North Lanarkshire and Glasgow City Council which burst into public view after the resignation of Stephen Purcell. And then silence, despite the murky lid being lifted off a world of dodgy property deals, land sales and council activities.
Some say this is the fault of the mainstream media and a lack of resources, courage and imagination in investigative reporting. In this account, with its power and status a particularly guilty culprit is BBC Scotland which hasn’t broken a major news story or challenged institutional power for years.
Some think it is cultural and all part of ‘village Scotland’, of being a small country where movers and shakers know each other.
Another view comes from academic Jean Barr who argues that Scots have an absence of understanding what she calls ‘relational space’. By this she means where people come from, who is involved in a debate or decision, and who is missing. A typical example would be Andrew Marr blithely commenting that ‘all of Edinburgh’ was involved in the salon discussions of Enlightenment time; a comment which beggars belief.
Others including writer and campaigner Andy Wightman have made the case that we have a strange lack of curiosity over who has power. This seems inexplicable in a nation with its proud tradition of radicalism and land reform and which saw Thomas Johnston’s piercing ‘Our Scots Noble Families’ published just over one hundred years ago and sell thousands. Maybe it says something about what has happened to that radical imagination.
What we have seen with the Rangers case, and didn’t with RBS and political corruption, is the power of social media, bloggers and new sites of expertise and commentary emerging which have forensically asked difficult questions and dug up inconvenient facts. We cannot argue that some of our silences are mainly due to legal constraints as is often when individual bloggers and sites have little resources and could be shut down by those with money and power.
This seems to point to the beginning of a seismic change in society; football ignites emotions and passions and creates a community as well as creating divisions, that so many people are prepared to spend their time and skills challenging those in power. Perhaps we need to get as serious about some of the great challenges facing society as we do about what is after all only a game (plus identity, history, folklore).
There are also issues of leadership and how we revere certain kinds of authority, some formal, some charismatic. David Murray and Fred Goodwin were buccaneer capitalists loved by some as the good times rolled who brooked little dissent; and who are now conveniently scapegoated after disaster.
Yet Murray and Goodwin were products of their age, of the hurricane capitalism of the last few decades, short-termism of British business, and lack of checks and balances in corporate governance. It is convenient to just pretend it is about individuals, rather than cultures, values and structures.
If we were to broaden out what has happened we would see that this is a Scottish expression of a very modern condition: what the thinker Colin Crouch has called post-democracy, namely the collusion of political, corporate and media elites to support their inter-woven mutual interests.
Examples of this would include the British political elites and Rupert Murdoch’s News International’s incestuous relationship until last summer which saw successive Labour and Conservative leaderships demean themselves at the Murdoch court. In Scotland, all four of the mainstream parties could not contain themselves declaring the nation ‘open for business’ when Donald Trump declared he wanted to build his ‘world class’ golf course in the sand dunes of Menie (until the recent fallout).
If Scotland is to have a meaningful debate over the next few years, one of the central issues we are going to have to face is how to talk about, challenge and investigate power.
That means confronting some of the cosy assumptions of the people’s version of Scotland; it means opening the doors on clubland, establishment Scotland and it means questioning the kind of corporate groupthink which laid behind the felling of two of the great institutions of public life, Rangers and RBS. It means getting rid of the ‘too big to fail’ assumptions which prevailed in banking, and which can now be seen with Rangers; that corporate orthodoxy is actually anti-business and anti-competition.
Magnus Linklater wrote twenty years ago that ‘it would be very hard to talk about a Scottish establishment’. It is that kind of assumption in its many forms that we need to not let go unquestioned. Instead, we desperately need to care about who exercises power and how it acts across our lives, and inquire, challenge and excavate in areas other than football.
This is about something fundamental: it is about making self-government real, relevant and radical, and about starting to make Scotland the modern democracy which is so frequently invoked, but not practised across wide swathes of society.
Kilmarnock 0 Celtic 6 – 1968
The European Cup Comes To Celtic
Celtic Legend Jock Stein – You are Immortal
2010 Never Again
“All sash – no cash”
Will the Establishment turn a blind eye and a deaf to the songs of hate and sectarianism we witnessed at Ibrox yesterday?
Did the police match commander make mention of these hateful songs in his match report?
These questions need to be answered
You might want to park this one for a quiet time when it is just you and a wee drink.
Celtic Legends Jinky – The Jimmy Johnstone Story
The Loudest Roar – 25th Anniversary of the Lisbon Lions
Just what Glory means…
The Loudest Roar – Frankie Miller
Kitalba
thanks for all those links. I am copy pasting and will compile some continuity myself later.
Thank you.
Good morning to one and all.
I’ve got to admit that Kilmarnock’s win yesterday just about capped a wonderful week and today’s story in the Independent ‘Rangers Subside in disgraceful style’ (posted earlier) acts as a form of vindication for my gloating.
Sixteen roads to Golgotha says: @04.13
I once lived in a UDA infested south Belfast estate called Taughmonagh where I’ve got to say Celtic supporters were a bit thin on the ground.
In the heat of Lisbon