If Gary Mackay-Steven moves from Celtic to Aberdeen he will be the third creative midfield player to transfer between the clubs this window. Ryan Christie’s loan to Aberdeen was extended for this season. Jonny Hayes move to Celtic created a vacancy on Aberdeen’s right, and in doing so moved Mackay-Steven down the Celtic pecking order. On paper the move north would be great for the Celtic winger.
This is not quite the top two clubs collaborating on squad management, but it’s as close as you are likely to get. Aberdeen would have preferred to keep Hayes, but with money on the table for a player running down his contract he was sold to the highest bidder: Celtic.
Christie was brought to Celtic by Ronny Deila as a development project. Openings for the creative mid slots at Celtic are incredibly competitive. The risk to Christie is that his development, which was purring along nicely at Inverness, stalls in the Celtic stands. It is in Celtic’s and his best interests that the he plays regularly in an attacking team.
Mackay-Steven has a glorious first few weeks at Celtic but has been hampered by the perennial burden of wingers: consistency. His confidence appears shot. If he moved to Pittodrie, Derek McInnes may be able to get the best out of him.
There’s an empirically established economic fact: migration is economically beneficial for both the gaining and losing nations. This summer’s proposed migration between Celtic and Aberdeen is likely to fall into this category.
Here is the new CQN Podcast…
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SCANIEL 10-18 pm
Do you live in Newton Stewart ?
CQN does it again,
question answered within 30 minutes of advice being sought.
Cheers BT
Efe Ambrose has gone AWOL from Hibs.
Neil Lennon says he has failed to report back for pre season training and, Lennyenny has been unable to get in touch with him.
Lenny says he was given a wee bit of time off but I think he’s pushing the boundaries at the minute. The sooner he’s back the better, for his sake. I expected him back a lot sooner than this and it will be getting discussed behind closed doors.
Jimmynotpaul, that’s not good to hear.
Paddy Roberts is a Porsche. Johnny Hayes is a decent BMW.
Johnny will be more reliable and less maintenance…certainly than James Forrest who is an Alpha Romeo..classy but unreliable.
I’ve probably seen more of JH than most Celtic fans as I’m much more often at Pityodrie than Celtic Park. He’s a fantastic week in week out player and has pace to burn. Not the most natural technique but he has a direct style and can finish at pace.
He can also play right/ left wing back..right / left wing or even through middle.
He’s got fantastic utility and by all accounts a clever and decent guy.
Expect him to feature regularly.
Neganon2
Why Celtic were reluctant to go to UEFA always puzzled me but I gave you one possible explanation the other day but I don’t know if you read.
If you read the Timeline ( and it really provides information that is important in making judgements) around Sept 2011 and read the linked e mail from SFA to Rangers you will see that SFA and UEFA spoke to each other about RFC’S submission under Art66 monitoring rules.
The status of the overdue payable that was stated as potential to SFA in March had not moved from potential to postponed as is shown in the 30 June Timeline link.
HMRC were by 30 June pursuing payment and by Sept everyone knew they had sent in Sherriff Officers to collect including UEFA.
So how were UEFA able to verbally accept the Art66 submission?
Either the SFA told them it was not postponed or concocted some story to explain.
If the former UEFA should have refused the submission and if SFA lied then they are complicit.
However what if the SFA told UEFA they now knew the licence should not have been granted, that RFC were heading for the grubber and in any case were out of Europe?
What if UEFA and the SFA just agreed not to query RFC and not ask for future financial forecasts to in effect bury the basis on which the SFA granted the licence, a basis which blew a hole in UEFA’S shiny new FFP?
So since we know SFA and UEFA had discussed the issue, Regan has said so, it is possible that when Res 12 raised its head, Celtic sounded out UEFA who said yes we know what went on and we would rather not investigate.
That puts Celtic in a difficult position given UEFA could make life unpleasant for Celtic if they pursued the matter.
Now I’m not saying this to excuse Celtic because they should have pursued Res12 from the off and not took an official position it was unecessary (that still needs revisiting as an adjourned AGM item) but what I am saying is it is a plausible alternative explanation for their reluctance given what took place in Sept 2011 that a review would confirm or clarify.
Experience is telling me that nothing is as it seems in this matter and only an honest review will see the jigsaw completed and that given the linkage between what SFA knew in 2011 and what LNS was given in 2012, Celtic are right to ask the football authorities to review.
I hope they get support of other clubs but if not they have to explore other avenues to get at the truth.
I’d much rather Celtic had taken ownership in 2014 when it was clear the SFA story had holes in and was on the verge of chucking it when BRTH said “I’ve an idea”
Saw some one mentioning Liverpool fans being clued up on the tax case. Yeah, they should be as they maybe hearing a lot more about EBT’s very soon…….
The Creetown CSC, yeah, know Eddie very well. The man is a gem of a bloke.
DALLAS DALLAS WHERE THE HECK IS DALLAS
Now that the Affiliation and CST both of whom are well informed on what took place the awareness base should grow but word of mouth with passion is the best persuader.
Wire in.
Toor a lop from earlier (7:23).
Thanks, Bud
I hope to make the pilgrimage tomorrow morning.
Your info could be very helpful …
VIP
Warning — Apologies for the long post.
Good Evening.
Many of you by this time will have had the chance to read the update on Res 12 by way of Auldheid’s timeline published via CQN Magazine. It makes for a detailed read and a forensic analysis of what happened when in relation to the Rangers FC policy of operating the EBT scheme.
Yet for the average fan, or indeed the partly informed pundit, the timeline and much of the recent press coverage does not fully explain what actually happened here or provide a simple explanation of what the ordinary football fan should know, or provide any real inkling as to the extent that rules were broken — not just the football rules, but the business rules to which every business is subject.
So, let’s start at the beginning with what is normal day to day business practice.
If you have a business, whether it is a LTD company, a partnership or if you are a sole trader, which has an employee, then on the 19th of every month you are meant to submit a return to HMRC which details the names of your employees, what you have paid them and the amount you have deducted for NIC and PAYE.
Millions of businesses, including football clubs do this every month.
If an employer does not timeously pay the money deducted from the employee for PAYE and NIC to HMRC, then HMRC will chase for payment and if the money is repeatedly or significantly late then they will charge interest and penalties, because a business is not allowed to use PAYE and NIC monies to fund its business activities or boost its cash flow.
All very logical eh?
Well, on 20th May 2011, HMRC wrote to Rangers Football Club, addressing their correspondence to the then Company Secretary, Donald McIntyre, and effectively told Rangers PLC that they were totally fed up with the company and alleged that the company had deliberately and fraudulently understated the PAYE and NIC monthly returns between the years 2000/2001 and 2002/2003 in respect of Ronald De Boer and Torre Andre Flo.
The chargeable sums for just these two players alone amounted to £2.8 Million plus and the debt had started to accrue over a decade before. HMRC had discussed this with MIH and Rangers PLC officials at length, had written to them repeatedly, and by this time they were scunnered!
This sum formed the basis of what is known as The Wee Tax Case and was based upon Rangers operation of what were known as DOS based EBT’s.
When you go to a large firm of accountants or a tax planning firm such as Baxendale-Walker (whether they are eventually struck off or not) and discuss or enter into such a scheme, you are told – warned – at the outset that there is a considerable risk with every such scheme.
No firm will ever tell you that the scheme is wholly 100% legal. Every firm will tell you that if you do not administer the scheme the right way and follow their advice to the letter then the scheme will be deemed illegal and you will be liable for tax, huge penalties plus interest.
Further, the fee you pay for the scheme will include a large sum to cover advance legal fees in anticipation that HMRC will attempt to have the scheme declared illegal through the courts and that these fees will cover legal costs at the FTT, the second tier and even the Court of Session.
The fees will not cover an appeal to the Supreme Court and you will have to pay that in addition.
Further, the professional advisers will also advise you that even if the scheme is legal, there is no guarantee that Parliament will not pass legislation that will make your EBT scheme illegal retrospectively, with the result that you will still be clobbered for the tax you have tried to avoid plus huge interest and penalties.
So, it is against that background that every fan, every radio and television pundit and former player, every official of the football authorities and every journalist and social blogger should consider the Rangers EBT schemes.
They were high-risk schemes from the outset, and Rangers/MIH will have been warned at the outset that there would be no guarantees that the schemes would work and the penalties in the event of them not working would be huge.
However, EBT’s do not work on their own like some mysterious third party stand alone action operated by a firm of accountants or employees.
No, they require those who are at the very heart of the business to adjust their records, alter what they would normally submit by way of business records and to deliberately conceal all and any existence of payments made under the EBT scheme.
So, when you think about the Wee Tax Case AND the Big Tax Case put together, the position is that each and every month since the year 2000, Rangers Football Club stand accused, and indeed convicted, of submitting wholly factually inaccurate PAYE and NIC returns month after month for something like 11 years.
Not only that, but when HMRC started asking questions and asked Rangers/MIH to supply them with all the necessary documentation to assist with a proper investigation into these matters, the officials of Rangers/MIH denied that side letters and key documents ever existed. This was later shown to be a series of deliberate and calculated lies that went to the very top of the organisation.
However, the matter does not stop there because while all of this was going on, Rangers FC operated in a business sector which required the annual granting of a domestic licence to trade at all.
Each and every year, all football clubs have to submit a thick, lengthy and detailed application to the SFA as the primary football licensing authority in Scotland. A similar application has to be made to the SPFL or the SPL as it used to be.
Within these applications, all football clubs have to list their players for the coming season, and they have to state what they will pay these players and provide copies of their contracts of employment. The clubs also have to submit financial information which shows the overall level of wages they will pay, and nowadays they have to show that wage bill as a percentage of their turnover in an attempt to ensure what has become known as financial fair play.
Throughout the period of the EBT scheme being in operation, Rangers PLC failed in their duty to provide the SFA/SPFL with all the necessary financial information each and every year since 2000/2001 at least. In fact, they provided the SFA/ SPFL/UEFA (and so every football club in Europe) with wholly false financial information each and every year – just as in the same way they provided wholly false information to HMRC throughout the same period by way of the false monthly PAYE/NIC returns.
Every business, every football club, can make a mistake or their circumstances can change. Accordingly, the football rules allow for a process whereby a club can report a change in circumstances which differs from the position that they put forward in their licensing application.
Not only that, The football rules require any club to promptly report any material change in circumstances that have arisen between the date of the licensing application and the change in circumstances concerned. This is an ongoing obligation which applies each and every month, each and every year.
Accordingly, in this way and through these rules, Rangers FC had any number of opportunities during every year to declare their previous under declaration of wages, their previous under declaration of PAYE and NIC and their differing circumstances to those presented to the SFA and SPFL in prior years or months.
On every single occasion, they failed to take those opportunities and failed the footballing rules.
One of the questions that RES 12 has asked the SFA is just when did the SFA, as licensing authority, become aware that Rangers FC had started to file inaccurate wage and PAYE/NIC returns and specifically were the SFA aware of the date and terms of the letter of 20th May 2011 which alleges that this went back as far as the turn of the century.
Despite solicitors letters, The SFA have never answered that question citing that they, as a licensing body, have a duty of confidentiality to football clubs not to disclose the clubs’ private information (which is understandable to an extent) and by making it plain that the SFA are not, and never will be, accountable to the ordinary football fan who holds no legal sway or status with them whatsoever.
Although it has to be pointed out that in correspondence the SFA have said they want to be as full and frank with fans as possible – however, what is possible and what is properly full and frank is open to interpretation.
Legally, the duty of confidentiality is at least questionable where there has been “fraudulent practice”, and the non-accountability to football fans (especially in these circumstances) is regrettable and open to debate, to say the least.
What is certain, is that both the SFA and the SPFL now know for certain that their officials and the officials of HMRC were deliberately lied to for over a decade by the officials of Rangers PLC and that those lies and untruths were told in furtherance of a dangerous and risky tax scheme which was, by admission, designed to save them money and so boost the club’s cash flow and make trading easier for them in comparison to their competitors.
It should be noted that the SFA have never undertaken any investigation or instructed a commission to look into any aspect of this affair, and that the SPFL Commission, under Lord Nimmo Smith, was deliberately precluded from looking at any aspect of the Wee Tax Case, proceeded on the basis that all EBT activity on the part of Rangers FC was lawful (it has since been declared not to be so) , did not consider all the documentation or available evidence, and only considered whether or not the relevant players were in fact properly registered. It considered no other aspect and in many respects never heard any counter arguments to those proffered by the SFA and its officials.
There is much to suggest that the decision is wrongly decided and failed to consider all the aspects of the case. It is without question that the judge’s terms of reference were incomplete by design.
Further, the logic and legal interpretation applied in the case flies in the face of arguments presented by UEFA themselves in considering very similar circumstances in the case of FC Giannina. There, UEFA argued that where a football club fails to properly declare social taxes which it has tried to avoid, where it fails to disclose side letters with players and where those players have received undeclared payments (undeclared to the football authorities and to the tax authorities), then the applications for a football licence should be deemed so incomplete, so lacking in accuracy and so artificial and against the spirit of the licensing process, that the licence applications should be deemed null and void and to have simply been never properly completed and so never received.
In short, the licensing system and what it is designed to achieve is sacrosanct even if the proper administration of that system leads to a draconian and, on the face of it, harsh summary conclusion.
EBT’s are, in themselves, legal instruments but it is the actions of the people utilising the EBT’s which takes them into the area of unlawful activity. No EBT ever set itself up or administered itself. Nor is it the case that an EBT is a stand-alone business tool. Operating an EBT comes with commercial risks and requires the operator to take a calculated risk by concealing what would otherwise be the true business position.
When a licensing system is vital to your business and that licensing system calls for the utmost good faith, the full declaration of all payments and contracts, and the utmost accountability to your fellow clubs, then to pursue an EBT scheme which, by necessity, requires you to break the licensing rules and to act in bad faith by concealing the truth to gain the benefit of the EBT, then that is a strategy and an ethos which that licensing system must crush for the sake of its own survival and future.
There is much talk of the “stripping of titles” and that will be at the forefront of the minds of many football fans.
However, of far greater importance is the fact that, if some are to be believed, The Scottish Football Association operates on the basis of a domestic and European licensing system that is so hopeless, so not fit for purpose, so wholly incompetent, that it does not even have the ability to investigate this debacle retrospectively and arrive at a sensible and legally appropriate set of conclusions which benefit the game of football as a whole.
Then again, no licensing system and no commission operating under a properly regulated licensing system, which is designed to be for the benefit of all football clubs operates and administers itself.
Such a system relies on people of integrity and intelligence who can apply proper analytical reasoning in each and every situation – no matter how difficult those situations may be to acknowledge and accept.
Where you fail to address the issues and jettison a proper system in favour of expediency, the licensing system is not worth a damn and you would be better shutting up shop and simply ceasing to be because you lose all respect in the eyes of your members ——– and their customers.
Those customers are worth many millions of pounds each year to the Scottish economy, they create jobs, support all sorts of businesses and the reason they should be considered, consulted and respected is not to be found written down in any constitution or set of articles of association.
I sent my youngest bhoy over to Brunei to keep my wife company, in my absence, for a 10 week visit. He got bored so is having a couple of weeks in Australia, Perth to be precise, before going back to Brunei and then onto Finland for an Erasmus year at university.
He is staying with my cousin whom I haven’t seen in over 50 years, thanks David. Most of my relatives now live in Australia and my family name is probably more common there than it is in Scotland.
They all have the same genetic root that I can only trace back as far as my great, great grandfather who arrived from Ireland and settled in Renfrew in the mid 19th century. There used to be quite a few of us in Renfrew but I don’t think there are any left now. I could be wrong. I left permanently in 2002 and may have been the last one. My great uncle William was killed as a young man in WW1 in 1915 and his name is on the war memorial at St Andrew’s cross in Renfrew.
You may wonder what point I am trying to make? Well it is this, my great, great grandfather arrived in Scotland as a poor immigrant Irish Catholic. He arrived in a country where he wasn’t welcome because of his religion and he was extremely poor and uneducated like every other Irish person who was trying to escape poverty and starvation, but here we are a few generations later educated and travelling the world far removed from the Ireland in the 19th century.
The flip side of that coin is what is going on in NI over the next few days. People who still live in the 17th century in a culture fuelled by hate whose zenith in life is to light a big fire, march around in crimplene suits, get shitfaced and fight with one another.
No wonder they hate us Taigs. We’ve become educated, financially better off and live in a time zone that is ahead in centuries instead of hours.
If Darwin had travelled to Belfast instead of the Galápagos Islands he would never have formulated the theory of evolution.
#stripthetitles.
Ntcham deal seems to be done and dusted but no announcement. Tomorrow is the twelfth of July, surely we’re not planning on trolling the kulture mob with some double whammy announcement…..
Auldheid
re the awareness base. after the affiliation statement I took as many phone calls tonight about RES12 than I have done in the last few years. in meetings it wasn’t an issue, it was on a few agendas but never discussed really (last meeting, it was skimmed over but i spoke to MN about it afterwards – it was a few weeks after me and WC’s meeting with the SPFL so I wanted his view on Doncasters take on matters) but that is changing.
one of the major things that has come out the comments is not about asterisks and title stripping but about bringing down the SFA as it is. my opinion is that RES12 will do that.
THETIMREAPER on 11TH JULY 2017 11:18 PM
Ntcham deal seems to be done and dusted but no announcement. Tomorrow is the twelfth of July, surely we’re not planning on trolling the kulture mob with some double whammy announcement…..
A triple whammy would be better, announcing the signings of Ntcham, Roberts and a new deal for Armstrong!
I can but hope.
HH
James Connolly’s prophetic observation from his essay
‘July the 12th’
‘In conclusion, the fundamental, historical facts to remember are that:
The Irish Catholic was despoiled by force,
The Irish Protestant toiler was despoiled by fraud,
The spoliation of both continues today
under more insidious but more effective forms.’
Hopefully tomorrow passes off peacefully.
Thanks to all concerned for continuing the pursuit of truth and justice.
Nite All
Heading for Bedfordshire………..
Huge thanks to WC, Brth and Auldheid for their cogent updates on Res 12.
Good Celtic men all.
We Keep The Faith.
HH.
Thetimreaper
What leads you to believe that the Ntcham deal is done?
TT
Jungle VIP
Enjoy your day it will be memorable
Basically you get in near the tunnel that the players came out of.
If I could do it again would have brought a few beers and just sat and savoured the moment, it’s priceless
More than likely you’ll see a few other hoops about
HH
Cork celt
The only way anything happens is if Celtic PLC forces the issue with the SFA And SPFL. I believe that that is a fight that could have and should have been fought and won.
Unfortunately, I believe that the only way the PLC does have that fight is is the fans force them. The only way they can do that is threatening to stop paying. But, if enough fans did so, I believe changes would happen.
This is all and only about money. Therefore, the threat to withhold it is the only thing that will motivate the Board.
After five years, it is pretty simple, inaction by the Board is no longer an option (in truth, it never was). The Board either does the right thing, or they are on the wrong side.
Is that megaphone diplomacy? Don’t care what people call it; the result is more important than any label put on it.
TINYTIM on 11TH JULY 2017 11:33 PM
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWXP8iChXPf/?taken-by=ntchamofficial10
Above post on his social media account, also head he was at Lennoxtown today and was signing some shirts.
Toor a Loo
Thanks again.
Very much looking forward to it.
Hail, hail; good night and God bless …
VIP
Auldheid, I certainly will.
Thanks again to you and all involved in Resolution 12 for everything you have done.
Legend is very much one of the most overused and inapproriate words when it is used to describe someone , it applies to you and others who have persevered despite the obstaces placed in front of you along with the nastiness endured by those with something to hide .
Mt terribe typing strikes again. I should have typed , the nastiness endured by you all from those with something to hide.
Pog
Well said
The bonfire banners in NI about Scott Sinclair are absolutely dispicable. Absolute racism scum. Your heart goes out to him and his family, it’s truly horrible stuff.
POGMATHONYAHUN AKA LAIRD OF THE SMILES on 11TH JULY 2017 11:16 PM
Can identify with much of your family history.
I find great similarities between the present situation of N.I. loyalists and the fate of South African supporters of apartheid and the Southern ( principally ) redneck supporters of the KKK.
These groups are now consigned to the dustbin of history.
My understanding is that about 5,000 marched in Glasgow recently , not forgetting their kerbside supporters.
This is a tiny number. An even tinier percentage.
Admittedly , the number is far greater in NI and they have far greater political support .
Nevertheless , their only claim to significance is that they carry a big drum and make a lot of noise .
THETIMREAPER on 11TH JULY 2017 11:58 PM
The bonfire banners in NI about Scott Sinclair are absolutely dispicable. Absolute racism scum. Your heart goes out to him and his family, it’s truly horrible stuff.
*****
A vile, cynical campaign ,aimed at getting him to leave Celtic.
Keving 11.20
That is very encouraging and Res12 was always about SFA reform for me because of my love of football.
Mind you Canalamar kept niggling me about it. He’s an awfy man.
Mike in Toronto
I’m not so sure that Board members have any less emotional attachment to Celtic than other supporters.
They have the normal business constraints plus working in what is clearly a hostile environment.
There is also a long term cost of not acting which they will appreciate with their heads but they will also value what makes Celtic different is the ethos of the club, one that seduces the most hard nosed of men.
That is an ethos of doing the right thing and I think it can never be ignored.
Etims twitter reporting the SPFL chairman from 1/8 this year will be Murdoch Maclennan , the former head honcho of the Telegraph and personal friend of disgraced News of the World editor, Andy Coulson.
Possibly another shifty person in a position of power in Scottish football.
Good night alland sleep well.
Auldheid
I wish it was as clear and as simple as that. I don’t doubt that most of the Board are supporters, but as even the small sample that is CQN shows, being a supporter can mean many things to many people, all of whom claim to be doing the right thing.
In my practice, I have seen people do some ridiculous things, and convince themselves it is in the best interest of the business. Usually, that means short-term and/or what is in the best interest of those making the decisions.
The only ethos most businessmen understand is not doing what is right, but doing what will make the most money with the least trouble/expenditure.
I’m sorry, but five years of silence by the Board is not biding it’s time; it is a strategy that was decided upon when the story broke. Dd said he wanted Rangers back, and that is what has happened.
At least, that is the most logical explanation based on what I have seen and heard.
BRTH
Was your warning not superfluous?
Pot smiling at kettle.:)
Auldheid on 12th July 2017 12:36 am
BRTH
Was your warning not superfluous?
Pot smiling at kettle.:
—————————————————————————————————————————————————-
No
Since I first happened upon RTC’s site, then Paul McConnville’s Blog, then becoming addicted to CQN – first thing in the morning to last thing at night – I have become infinitely better informed about the murky goings on at the SFA / RFC conglomerate. The BRTH / Auldheid forensic analysis and summaries are fascinating and incredibly informative.
However…I have lost so many hours/days/weeks/months of sleep – this all needs to come to a conclusion before we all die an early death.
The Freemason/SFA/RFC have certainly been willing to hunker down and wage a long-term war of attrition –
you would hope that the recent Supreme Court ruling will be the blow that will see the regime brought down, but this will not happen through internal procedures I fear.
We need further, external legal or regulatory pressure to defeat the Freemason/SFA/RFC self-interest – UEFA or some more independent body (someone suggested yesterday that the English FA could be asked to carry out the job – they would, I think, astounded at the nepotism they would find).
Anyway – thanks for another late night folks – unbelievable, determined and methodical work.
HH
BGFC
There are many powerful and concise reports from the likes of Auldheid and BRTH on here, which point to the inescapable conclusion that common sense and natural justice should see the Ibrox mob ‘banged to rights
This long-running farce & fraud will not be the subject of common sense or natural justice – it will all be dealt with in an expedient manner and we will be told in so many words, “like it or lump it”
The 40k plus fanatical support that has turned up to see a load of mince on the pitch and a bunch of crooked comedians in the boardroom and management have ensured that the name and brand of Rangers will not go away.
The Celtic support is different type of animal – this is no criticism – but had people running Celtic got up to the crap that happened at Ibrox and we had desevedly ended up in the bottom tier, there would have been only a hard-core of around 10/15k attending and even less buying season tickets – we would be dead on our feet. The majority of Celtic supporters, myself included, would have utterly sickened and ashamed and could not have stomached going back.
The Rangers cult whether in the boardroom or in the stands wants to win any all/any cost and will forgive and forget anything to make it happen – Celtic supporters couldn’t – in my opinion.
So summing up, this powerful hard-nosed constituency that supports the Rangers brand will ensure that there is always a Rangers and that they will never be subject to common sense or natural law.
Dermot Desmond……………….
Lang may yer lum reek
The Scotsman.
It might be no surprise that the catalyst for Celtic’s recruitment of Brendan Rodgers was Rangers. The unexpected element is how the impetus was formed. It was the Scottish Cup semi-final between the two Glasgow clubs last month that convinced Celtic’s largest shareholder, Dermot Desmond, that the upscaling – which was always planned – had to “go large”. The antics of the Rangers directors that day as they celebrated the penalty shoot-out win over Celtic is understood to have had a profound effect on Desmond. The Irish billionaire was said to be furious that the normal etiquette rules were not respected as he sat in the vicinity of his Rangers counterparts at Hampden in the section set aside for dignitaries. Warm applause and happy smiles were cast aside for behaviour that, according to one insider, “made you think they were in the Rangers end
What he considered a classless display was in contrast to the classy display from the Ibrox team which confirmed that the deficiencies in the Ronny Deila set-up demanded remedial action. Desmond’s exasperation could have been, in part, a sense of feeling betrayed. Whatever a certain section of the Celtic support may believe, his fascination with his “emotional investment” of 22 years ago extends to his poring over club forums. Within these his name is mud because of an interview he gave months after Rangers were required to start again in the fourth tier following the 2012 liquidation. In that he spoke of the Ibrox institution “as a fantastic club with a great history”, of being “disappointed” they did not share the same league set-up as Celtic, and of how he was sure it wouldn’t “be long” before they were doing so. An assessment perfectly in line with how clubs across the world that take the name and form of liquidated forbears are understood to assume the former’s lineage, it ran contrary to the Celtic supporter stance that Rangers post-2012 are a new club with no history beyond four years ago.
The respect, at reputational cost among his own supporters, then shown by the Celtic kingmaker for a great rival then suffering was, in his eyes, thrown back in his face at Hampden six weeks ago. Putting Rangers in their place became then entwined with the pursuit of “a great manager” for his own “great club”. Desmond, in consort with chief executive Peter Lawwell, crunched the numbers and recognised that a Martin O’Neill-style appointment was doable. Without a direct domestic competitor with even a fraction of their resources since 2012, the intention was that the club should build over the period, and that had been achieved. In addition, commercial deals overseen by Lawwell had helped afford a financial latitude. Along with the inevitable uptake in season ticket sales, all these elements not only made it affordable to get a “box office” draw to helm the team – and in the process repair the disconnect that had opened up with the club’s following in recent years over largely joyless domestic success and Champions League failure. With the new enthusiasm and season-ticket purchasing this would spark among the support, it would be self-sustaining – the model that Desmond prides himself on being a key strategist within.
The stars then aligned in the ability to entice Rodgers. The Irishman found the proposition intriguing from the get-go, partly owing to his background knowledge of Celtic’s reach. The concerns he had over the post were equally obvious: operating in a backwater with limited funds. Yet, with a wage package that made for a £2m-plus take home and a £15m transfer budget, Celtic could sell themselves as an English Championship style possible. Rodgers wanted to consider his options. If within those, an English Premier League team had fluttered their eyelashes then the proposition would have proved irresistible. However, this is an unusually settled summer as far as vacancies in English football’s land of lucre are concerned. The one notable exception is Everton… where, for all the Merseyside cross-ties, last year’s Liverpool manager is hardly a viable candidate. Rodgers and Celtic then were made for each other in this moment. The 43-year-old had to decide, two years on from being England’s manager of the year, if he wanted to be a Championship manager or, with a fair wind behind him he is confident he can generate, a Champions League manager, a domain into which he can take Celtic but which his Anfield successor Jurgen Klopp could not claim for his old club.
The final twist in this tale belongs to Desmond. It also comes from that much-regurgitated interview of 2012. “Rangers are one of the great clubs in Britain and we have to acknowledge that,” he said. “They are a motivation for us to go along and beat them in every Old Firm match, so we miss that opportunity.” In Rodgers, Celtic have not missed an opportunity to remind of their reach in Britain and how out of that reach they intend to remain for Rangers.
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/how-rangers-directors-antics-led-celtic-to-brendan-rodgers-1-4134642
The above article : 22 May 2016