“Crash and burn”. That was the outcome I expected to await Murray International Holding’s (MIH) debt-fuelled expansion in the early part of the last decade. This wasn’t entrepreneurship. Borrowing money to invest in a market which was on a long-term growth spurt, without consideration that your asset values could fall, was corporate vandalism. It was a safe enough bet as long as the commercial property market continued its incessant upwards trend, but the bubble had to burst eventually.
There were other voices out there saying the same thing. In the pre-blog era I remember printed copies of the Dogs Bollox passed around like the potentially-subversive underground insights they were. It was financial madness, writ large, all you needed to do was step back a little to see what was happening.
Celtic Quick News started because the underlying story of the biggest issue in Scottish football – the ability of the two largest clubs to pay their bills – was not being told. Without Murray’s debt splurge, this blog would never have happened.
I gave running commentaries of what to expect of Rangers and MIH accounts when they were released in 2005, the evidence will be there, I told you. I didn’t expect a convenient, and remarkable, property revaluation. It was smoke and mirrors, though Murray inspired such confidence, even among Celtic fans, I remember “Why can’t we just revalue Celtic Park and borrow more?”
Millions were taken in executive pay and bonuses each year, despite borrowings galloping away, while the Bank of Scotland continued to open the vault. MIH wasn’t the only bad bet Bank of Scotland made, but it was the worst.
Rangers were the ultimate vanity project. Tens of thousands of people literally fawned before Murray, he wallowed in decades of deference, controlling oceans of the media. The best parts of history are never written, and what happened at Rangers, and with the Bank of Scotland is no different. While Murray is alive you’re only going to read the parts of this story with documented evidence.
The illegal EBT scandal was typical of how the business operated. Through this, and the also-illegal Discounted Options Scheme, Murray drove a horse and cart through the SFA rulebook. Lord Nimmo Smith found as much. In Craig Whyte, Rangers appointed a person who was not fit and proper to run a football club. Whyte was sine died from the game and Rangers were disciplined, but it was Murray who sold the business to Whyte, despite his personal history. For all the rule breaking, and subsequent havoc he inflicted on his club, Murray has not been brought to account by the SFA, his allies still hold the balance of power, but not for ever.
The knighthood for services to Scottish business will sound hollow to those who invested in MIH pensions, and who were recently told their funds are in trouble. Yesterday’s news that Murray is putting a squad of his businesses into liquidation, or from BBC’s Douglas Fraser that Murray’s family are buying “fire-sale assets” from MIH, which, he explains, “received what’s called “an unsolicited approach from the Murray family”, tells you what you need to know about the man.
If only there was the political will to ask for an inquiry into hundreds of millions of pounds of public money lost to the exchequer, as publicly-owned Lloyds, now owners of the Bank of Scotland, slowly come to terms with how deep the Charlotte Square money pit is. Murray’s acolytes, those who partied hard with him during the good times, remain scattered through Scotland, from Holyrood, to Hampden. It will take years before they slowly lose grip on their own fiefdoms.
Strip him of his title, discipline him for the rule-breaking in Scottish football, and have an inquiry into how his coalescence with the financial, political and media sectors rendered him immune from responsibility.
More later on Gary Mackay-Steven.
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nan
16:59 on 14 January, 2015
Spot on re “shitstorm” …….. I was wondering why they were both speaking out simultaneously, but thought it was just due to the money running out ……. agent Whyte could end up with a knighthood here ….!!!! ….Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
SFTB-Thanks for your reply,but respectfully disagree,Lawwell’s play on words ‘could/would’,are for the more gullible amongst us,usually kept for Transfer Windows.As you can tell i stopped reading The Gospel According to Big Peter,a while ago.
HH
The average transfer fee for GMS on FIFA 15 is £5,000,000.
BSR
Why don’t players on FIFA 15 wait until the end of the season? :)
Hail hail
Estadio
dessybhoy
17:12 on 14 January, 2015
It’s all very confusing, except the fact that they are deed …….. Wouldn’t it be ironic if this £250k turned out to be ‘the straw that broke the camels back’
Just for a sense of balance, SDM was the first non mason in charge of rangers and ended ranger’s sectarian signing policy, and tried to clean up the sectarian elements of the rangers support.
Except FOR the fact….hehe
I am pleased the Maloney for Celtic was just more MSM nonsense we are in no rush to sign anyone it is more important we dont lose any players during this window. Rony has clearly stated thus and that worries me as it appears from that statement he is under big Peters thumb I was hoping he was his own man and build the team the way he wanted but looks like that aint going to be the case.H.H.
Bada
He is worth £250k
bournesouprecipe
It may just help us secure the title. Course it is worth it.
LB
67Heaven .. CHALLENGING THE LIE ..I am wee Oscar / Neil Lennon.. Ipox belongs to the creditors
agent Whyte could end up with a Knighthood here
———————————————————————
Maybe a second haun one goin soon?
Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee
coolmore mafia
17:18 on 14 January, 2015
Any idea why he never ever entered the Celtic Director’s section ….?
JonnyRambo67
16:40 on
14 January, 2015
This Alfie Noakes character must be a parody account surely? It’s too hard to someone seriously when their posting such inane drivel.
Alfie -> Labour are finished in Scotland pal. They’ve shown their true colours, and those colours are Tory blue. If all Jim Murphy has is ‘We’re no the Tories’ then their in a worse position than I thought they were.
Anyway… back to the fitba
LOL – You also thought that YES would win – no parody, just straight-talking, hard-hitting, presentation of the facts on the SNP Tartan Tories and Sevco – tar both with the same liars brush!
do you think that mob a Hampden would do that, I dont its all well and good sending bills I’m more interested in who signs and stamp the receipt as paid.
glendalystonsils
17:20 on 14 January, 2015
Hahahahahahaha
LB-A wee bit of brinksmanship,DU will take 100k before Window closes,and maybe a couple of our youngsters.HH
67Heaven .. CHALLENGING THE LIE ..I am wee Oscar / Neil Lennon.. Ipox belongs to the creditors
17:21 on
14 January, 2015
coolmore mafia
17:18 on 14 January, 2015
Any idea why he never ever entered the Celtic Director’s section ….?
>>>>
No idea at all….have you?
Wish people would stop talking about “GMS”.
In the 19 canteens I designed and built a system for the TSB called the Generalised Marketing System…GMS….
This seriously was the precursor to loyalty cards etc as it could correlate buying patterns with personal characteristics and ACORN codes ( A Classification Of Residential Neighborhoods).
Red headed people defaulted on loans more than bald people, unless they were women and came from Barnet (so much for your Barnet fair then)!!
It’s all my fault….and GMS.
Hail hail
Estadio
Bada Bing
“Lawwell’s play on words ‘could/would’,are for the more gullible amongst us”
I don’t believe it was Peter who played fast and loose with those words. You were the one who changed them. This was debated at the time. The “gullible”, if they are that, are those who chose to interpret it as a promise and who now berate him for failing to deliver. There were many more than me, at the time he said this, who said then what we are saying now i.e. It was always an assurance that we could spend £6m but we were unlikely to find anyone who would justify that expenditure that were available at that price.
If you can find me a single happy clapper who responded to his words by stating, ” See youz mineshafters, that’s you telt, we are getting a £6m signing and you said we wurny”.
To my memory, it was only mineshafters who interpreted it as a promise and it is only mineshafters who are now berating him on a failure to deliver what he (never) promised.
Just as it is with Neg Anon’s twisted quote on the other matter.
Estadio
Ha – Money grabbing gits.
tallybhoy,
A happy 20th birthday to your princess Erica.HH
Estadio
What about now balding previously red heading men?
Head very red in the summer
coolmore mafia
17:24 on 14 January, 2015
I’m sure you can work that out for yourself, since you’re not a bhun
67 Heaven – I’m not painting SDM as a bold fenian revolutionary – obviously sectarianism was bad for business in SDM’s eyes – just it;s good to see more of the picture.
LiviBhoy
This would not be a Celtic type transaction and would break with policy.
If you say a quarter of a million pounds it sounds a lot more, or two hundred and fifty thousand pounds.
Wouldn’t imagine we’ll pay it even when you say it quickly and as 250K.
Hoopy Birthday Miss Erica!
HH jamesgang
My guess though would be he didn’t enter the celtic directors box because he was surrounded by insane bigots.
Jimmy Bell their long serving kit man perhaps summed up the worst of them when he refused to applaud Jimmy Johnstone’s tribute after his passing. Apparently Alex McLeish laid into him in the dressing room afterwards.
Jimmy Bell – will there be a heaven for you…….?
I would rather pay no money and no’ get GMS.
EC67
setting free the bears for res. 12 & oscar knox
17:27 on 14 January, 2015
…………………………
Aw for God’s sake. It’s one thing you and Bada going head to head on here but did you really have to issue a ‘starter for 1000’ to Neganon. I’ll have to give the blog a miss until February.
:-))
BT
The biggest risks of all!!
Strangely enough the correlation of apparently unrelated characteristics to, for instance, granting credit….became known as red-lining and was made lillegal.
I’m also obviously to blame for pay day loans sharks like Wonga and they stupid adverts was the surprisingly sexy pensioner lady puppets.
Anyway….where was I…..that’s it….Craig Whyte….Ramsden’s pawnbrokers…..
Hail hail
Estadio
coolmore mafia
17:29 on 14 January, 2015
I never asked him why, but I would suggest you are correct when you say he realised it was bad for business …… Incidentally, I felt early on that he wasn’t as bad as the rest of them…
Maybe the Sevconians will spend their £250k SPFL fine money on buying GMS instead – just as the ultimate FU to Scoddish Fitba.
You heard it here first…
marrakesh express
14:58 on 14 January, 2015
Doncaster, Keevins, Guidi, Tanner, Jackson and Speirs to name a few.
All promoted the Armageddon scenario and most probably prayed for it too.
Three years down the line and not a single word of contrition from any.
Shame on the lot of them.
The msm don’t do apologies or own up to anything, so they can be left to peddle more fairy tales to their dwindling readers and listeners, for all I care.
How Doncaster is still in a job surely defies all business/company protocol and logic.
This chief scaremongerer should have been sacked by now for discrediting and wilfully undermining the very product he is paid to market and develop.
Only in Scotland.
Well said, but the fact is, the aforementioned are all shameless.
PS. great article Paul 67
SPD 1956
coolmore mafia…I swear the man hated Celtic, referring to us as That Lot, as well as speaking disrespectfully of wee Fergus. The reasons for the signing policy about-turn may have had more to do with sponsorship deals and, I believe, Souness’ influence.
Ole Euro could pay, but won’t pay Champs67.
Geiss
Mare
Spondoolicks
braw
Evening Citizen.
A choon buying obsession necessitated that a teenage me had a variety of part time jobs.One of them was delivering the Evening Citizen and the Evening Times.I got bigger tips from houses that took the Evening Citizen – Fact !
Celtic go for the Juggler
coolmore mafia
I dont think that SDM was your traditional bigoted hun – just a crooked ego maniac using other peoples money to finance his ambitions.