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MIH poison, poetic history, value of good players

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

If you’ve been here for 12 years you’ll know that Celtic Quick News started because there was a great untold financial story going on in Scottish football. Celtic were castigated by many, including a large portion of their own support, as “prudent”, while Rangers, then under the majority ownership of Sir David Murray, were lauded for their willingness to ambitiously push the boat out.

But there was a problem. Celtic were losing millions every year. Rangers were losing a lot more, £35m in one season alone. David Murray’s company, Murray International Holdings (MIH), were ½ a billion in debt to Bank of Scotland, and rising.

By this stage MIH’s steel business was dwarfed in significance by its property portfolio. They borrowed from the bank and, perhaps with an eye on the fantasy Ibrox Super Casino, gambled that the market would rise inextricably.

For a few years the debt kept rising. “What’s the problem?” many said, if the Bank are prepared to lend MIH and Rangers, their strategy must be sound. These were difficult times to be preaching financial responsibility in Scottish football, but the reality was written in mile-high font for many of us. “They’re going to crash and burn”, seemed inevitable.

Today we read the news that MIH are, like Rangers before them, finally liquidated. Ignore the reported £200m that Lloyds Banking Group (now owners of Bank of Scotland) lost, that’s just the loose change. The Bank had swapped debt for shares in MIH as clouds gathered. The true financial cost to Lloyds (significantly owned by UK taxpayers) is vastly higher.

Much of the story of David Murray will never be told, not while he’s alive, anyway, as it took place well away from verifiable sources. This might change after he’s dead. The one redeeming positive he brought to football was to end the sectarian signing policy at Rangers in 1989. For that he should be lauded, many before him had the chance to do the same but chose not to.

That aside, the influence of Murray and MIH was poisonous to his club. He sold out for £1 to a liquidation expert in May 2011, against the wishes of his own board’s advisory committee, as his club claimed its last ever league title. The rest, is poetic history.

As luck would have it, tonight I’ll be with some Celtic supporter friends.  We’ll raise a glass to Sir David and his legacy.  Thanks for all you achieved, David, it could never have happened without you.

Erik Sviatchenko is a lesson in the difference good players make to a team. He’s started 11 games since joining in January, we’ve lost four goals over that period. In our previous 11 games we lost 12 goals. His impact on team performance has been phenomenal.

We’ll miss him tomorrow – so should make tactical changes to accommodate the perceived risk.

Motherwell are on fire. Less than two months ago they were in the play-off spot. Now they need just one point to guarantee a top six finish. They will battle every second for that point. If we are going to win tomorrow’s game, we will need to put in our of our best shifts of the season.

Time to get it together, Celtic.

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  4. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on 8TH APRIL 2016 8:05 PM

     

    Hearts are pure gastro enteritis.

     

    WHAT IS THE STARS on 8TH APRIL 2016 8:08 PM

     

    Thomthetim

     

     

    Would that be related to the Entryists that Macjay warns against

     

    THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on 8TH APRIL 2016 8:11 PM

     

    Wrong end of the anatomy, methinks.

     

     

    ===========================================================

     

     

    Just a point of clarification.

     

     

    One is undeniably associated with the other.

     

    Ask any proctologist.

     

    ” Good day at the orifice? “

  10. eddieinkirkmichael on

    When it becomes mathematically impossible for anyone else to get more points than us, we will have won the league. We will have done it because over the season we were the best team who also happened to be the most consistent. It will have nothing to do with Hearts doing us any favours or Aberdeen throwing it away. We will have won more games than anyone else, that’s what champions do.

  12. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    MOONBEAMSWD on 8TH APRIL 2016 1:12 PM

     

    Macjay

     

     

     

    Condolences to you and the family of your good buddy Kevin on his passing away. Thoughts and prayers.

     

    =======================================================================

     

     

    Thank you very much , my fellow Tim.

  13. Doc on

    Very happy with tonights result, not as pleased as when Albert Kidd scored of course.(do you get the point?)

     

    Hearts aren’t a bad team, neither are Aberdeen, but over a season we are better.

     

    Perhaps not by as far as we may expect, but far enough.

     

     

    C’mon Ronny, get us over the line. 10 points from 18.

     

     

    SFTB’s 8-12 points, I agree, that will be the margin.

  14. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    JIMMYNOTPAUL on 8TH APRIL 2016 1:37 PM

     

     

    Your kind wishes will be passed on to Kevin`s family.

  15. hebcelt on

    Eddieinkirkmichael a common mistake but I believe the correct term is arithmetically impossible, although I could be wrong. Pedantic CSC H H Hebcelt

  18. blantyretim is praying for the Knox family on

    Just a heads up for Celtic fans

     

    If inclined, the world Buffett restaurant at the top of airbles road doesn’t have a drinks license so only go if you like food with soft drinks ⚽️⚽️

  19. blantyretim is praying for the Knox family on

    But the Tavern has loads of beer

     

    Was there tonight and will be tomorrow

  21. Aiden Bhoy on

    Eddie

     

     

    The club needs change from top to bottom imo.

     

     

    If we win the double nobody will be happier than me , but there is something very wrong with the team for me I don’t think they are playing for the manager.

     

     

    At the end of this season Ronny should go with Peter Lawwell and if Dermot won’t take us forward he should go as well. We need a boost and something to get behind sadly that has been missing the last few years.

  23. blantyretim is praying for the Knox family on

    I’m actually quiet surprised no one has mentioned Phils blog

     

    Seems DD maybe questioning PL re res12?

  33. jeez_I_thought_blinker_was_pants on

    BLANTYRETIM IS PRAYING FOR THE KNOX FAMILY

     

     

    I would be astounded of forehead if they didn’t know EXACTLY what was going on.

     

     

    When the whole thing was first mooted by P67, he said, in one of his leaders that there were people at Celtic Park with their calculators out, working out how much Champions league revenue we were cheated out of..

  35. celtic40me on

    BLANTYRETIM IS PRAYING FOR THE KNOX FAMILY on 8TH APRIL 2016 11:56

     

     

    Phil’s guessing, he doesn’t know anymore than the rest of us

     

     

    Quite a night on the blog, I’m a bit gutted I missed the excitement

  36. eddieinkirkmichael on

    Aiden Bhoy, I have been of the opinion that if Ronny wins the league then he deserves his shot at Europe.

     

    I honestly don’t think PL will change a manager who has won the league.

     

     

    I don’t think we’ve played particularly well since around November for me though I really don’t think Ronny or the team is any worse/better than what we’ve seen from Gordon S or Lenny’s teams.

     

     

    While I don’t have any inside info on PL or DD’s plans for the future, I suspect they don’t have any plans to GTF anytime soon so I think we’ll just have to put up with them mate.

  40. Pogmathonyahun aka Laird of the Smiles on

    Aberdeen started like a whirlwind tonight and finished like a wet fart. We need a good performance tomorrow to take into next week’s game against the undead.

     

    I have a sneaky suspicion that we will win well against the mothas. Roll on 13:30 CET.

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