“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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LiviBhoy
10:55 on 15 January, 2015
______________________
Agreed – thanks for reminding me of that.
Hail Hail
Zbyszek
Did I see earlier about a young Legia (18)player linked to Arsenal ? sorry if asked already
I am slowly but surely starting to realise just how many crooks,masquerading as businessmen, there are out there …..and, when you consider how much ‘net’ money murray took out of oldco during his 20 year tenure, he’s got to be up there in this category of crooktook ……
Duty calls again. Just as things are getting interesting.
When I get back,I hope someone has cleared up who owns Ibrox.
At the moment.
The suspense is killing me!
Well,something’s sure as hell giving me really sore sides…
Crooktook = crook. Haha
As Celtic Connections kicks-off and the Celtic FC begin their seven week journey towards the treble and the last sixteen of the EL, so the pantomime season is extended at Ibrox.
This could be the biggest convulsion since ADMINISTRATION and the St Valentines Day massacre!
Zbyszek
Do you reckon Celtic would be attractive to him and what fee would be involved? Best opponent I have seen all season.
I would take him in a minute.
LB
Thats all Celts – Off oot, bye.
Looking at the weather on the BBC.for Saturday. It will be cold.but I’m sure the game won’t called off.no significant snow or rain on the radar.I’m still looking for a spare tkt.
Northern Ireland’s captain and coach did not get a vote in the Ballon d’Or poll, as the Irish Football Association (IFA) did not send the ballots on time.
The blunder meant the choices of Southampton midfielder Steven Davis and Michael O’Neill were not counted.
The pair were the only Uefa representatives not to have a say in the contest to decide the world’s best player.
“The original documents were not received on time,” the IFA admitted.
Davis’s top three were Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, 30, Argentina forward Lionel Messi, 27, and Dutch winger Arjen Robben, 30, with O’Neill also going for Ronaldo in first place, followed by German World Cup winners Philipp Lahm, 31 and Thomas Muller, 25.
Fifa confirmed that it sent out a reminder email before the closure of the ballot.
A Ballon d’Or spokesman confirmed: “The online votes were recorded before the deadline; however the original documents with the signatures were not received on time. We need to have it, because only than the votes are valid.”
One hundred and eighty one national football associations voted in the global poll, while 27 countries did not return any nominations.
Journalist Jackie Fullerton, who voted for Ronaldo ahead of Bayern Munich’s Muller and Barcelona’s Messi, was the sole Northern Irish representative.
Real Madrid forward Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or, his third title, with 37.66% of all votes.
Dearie me!
LB
Maybe we’re finally going to get to know who does own Der Bunker….Big Mick forcing someone’s hand.
Ayrshire is Green and White
Leftclicktic
Not 18. He is 17 since last week. Not loaned. Arsenal will pay sum close to 3 million euros. Bielik is playmaker, big talent.
Alfie
When Jackie Baillie was campaigning in Clydebank, she had Gordon Brown with her.
You’re not! Are you? :)
Bolton Wanderers manager Neil Lennon has confirmed he is interested in signing Celtic midfielder Kris Commons.
Lennon worked with Commons when he was Celtic boss and the 31-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season.
Commons reportedly wants a new two-year contract at Parkhead but has so far been offered a one-year deal.
“Is there interest from us? I know Kris very well but whether we can get a deal done there is another thing,” Lennon told BBC Radio Manchester.
“I think there is other interest in Kris. It wouldn’t surprise me because of the quality of player that he is, but I know Celtic will do all they can to keep him there as well.”
The former Stoke, Nottingham Forest and Derby County midfielder scored 31 goals in 46 games last season as he was named PFA Scotland player of the year.
LB
Peeing in the wind alert:
Could it be that Ashley is peed off and wants to get out of dodge? As a parting shot, he wants to expose the fact that the Seivedome and Lord Murray Park do not belong to those huddled around the bored-room table?
he Green Man
10:54 on
15 January, 2015
Alfie Noakes
You say you have won many battles for the working class…name me one.
You really do have a high opinion of yourself….and you reckon the blog should be impressed with your INTELLIGENCE.
That is funny.
Do yourself a favour….stop being an arse
==============================================================
Too many to list in the Proud history of the Labour party…but, how about
NHS
Welfare State
Sick Pay
Holiday Pay
Decent State Pension
Income Support
Child Benefit
Tax Credits
Child Care
SureStart
Comprehensive Education
Now, what EXACTLY have the one-issue SNP EVER done for the poorer in our society – name just ONE THING.
And please, don’t say free prescriptions, bus passes and university tuition – these things benefit the better off much more than the poor!
Minimum Wage
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120909150421AAnAjBD
Sure Mr Somers, “your high school…”
Kinda like when I went to the doctor and told her “my best friend” has syphilis…
Alfie Noakes
You are just a hun troll.
I will now ignore you.
The reflex to the security story over by is to infer that Ashley is going to pile in behind it with sufficient cash in loans to reset the business model and the future direction of the company. It’s probably true.
Alternatively, he appointed the only two Execs recently, and perhaps he’s been advised by them to get his existing position secured asap ahead of an altogether different scenario playing out.
My only observation on what goes on over there is that no one has ever been able to accurately predict what happens next at any point in the last number of years, and things are no different now.
In engineering terms, this system is entirely out of control.
Alfie I actually agree with some of your politics but. It must be wrong when it makes me cringe when we do.
You truely are a sad individual. And others suspect you are simply a plant to promote the Labour Party. If you are you are doing a very poor job.
Silly boy.
Lifted from twitter, regarding I-broke and auchenhowie advanced notices.
http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/single/?p=13367575&t=9208558
Livibhoy
Probably, Yes. I would say 2 m euros transfer fee.
Celtic scouting policy is like Yeti, or calories. Everybody talks about it but no one has seen it recently.
Battered.he is clearly going to give them another loan. Then if they go bust he has security over the lot, can cash in his chips at Newcastle and start again with der new, new hun.
That’s his plan dude.
Livibhoy
I know Polish league and know that Semir Stilic would be better option for Celtic than Radovic could be. Paul67 was right when called for this transfer here.
If the SFA were to revoke a licence over this he wouldn’t even be the bad guy! Clever man:)
HH
Alfie Noakes
Dear oh dear.
I still have a great many family members living in Clydebank.
An ill-informed, snobbish and obnoxious comment like yours is something I would expect to read in the Daily Mail, credited to someone who was canvassing alongside Nigel Farage.
NegAnon2
I don’t know anything about business but why would a very successful man like Ashley cash in his chips with a team in one of the most televised leagues in the world to start all over again with a diddy team in the second division of a backwater league?
The Green Man
11:22 on
15 January, 2015
Alfie Noakes
You are just a hun troll.
I will now ignore you.
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Good – only one answer to that “go and wash your drawers!
morning fholks
so am i right in thinking that the 3 bears and / or the glib and shameless liar (or indeed anyone else) will be unable to loan Newco any emergency cash without getting any assets as security as Mikey has precedence for 35 days.?
they must be choking on their porridge this morning
CQN always surprises… I was going to say, because it’s easy to forget, how astonishing it is that this blog has produced so many good, more to the point informative, posts for such a long period of time. I occasionally take it for granted, like it’s just another source of Celtic news, but, posts like yesterdays really do stand out from the crowd.
End of days at Ibrox.
Meanwhile, some of the posts are equally surprising… rather than explain, I shall simply say; if you don’t get how good Charlie Mulgrew is, then I feel sorry for you. Why,because it seems like you are a football fan when you post your opinion on a football site, but, the you say something about Mulgrew and it turns out you know nothing about the game.
Mulgrew, fit, might be our best player.
Not for nothing, that Strachan had him straight back in the Scotland team (before he’d resumed with Celtic after injury/suspension), ahead of Fletcher, Morrison and Dorrans, among others. He’s a first pick for Scotland where we have good competition for places, and he’s a first pick at Celtic when fit too.
I’m struggling to remember the last time he played two games at CB in a row, but it’s been over a year, maybe getting close to two. Even then, it was always as a stop gap. He did quite well too. But if it pleases, continue to judge him as a defender and not a ball player.
Can’t wait for his return.
Starry because of he can get the Huns on an even keel his value will increase massively. Or he has a guaranteed income from the stadium ad infinium. Wither way he makes loads of money for a relatively small investment.
It’s not about making der hun successful just about making them survive enough to ensure he gets his profit.
Of course the SFA should be blocking all of this because of Ashley’s undue influence but then they would be viewed as the party bring der hun down. They can’t win whatever they do and the Huns are so thick they will blame them anyway…..
Neganon
I’d say it’s the most likely explanation, but I also observe that the execs authorising the security are Ashley appointees, and that once lodged, the security can only be released by the grantee – Ashley.
My sense is that this may very well be more about positioning than cashflow.
Alfie Noakes
Of course…I reserve the right to call you a hun and a halfwit, whenever I feel like it.
Which will probably be frequent.
Your Labourite stupidity, just about sums you up, not forgetting your Hunguffery.
Well that period of ignoring lasted long.
Geordie Munro
I can always expect a comment from you….but I will be polite.
Comment elsewhere.
NegAnon2
The SFA do something, yer a funny a man:)))
HH
starry plough
11:33 on 15 January, 2015
NegAnon2
I don’t know anything about business but why would a very successful man like Ashley cash in his chips with a team in one of the most televised leagues in the world to start all over again with a diddy team in the second division of a backwater league?
I’m with you on that one, if Ashley is refused, can he call his existing loans in and just dine out on the merchandise deal?
NegAnon2
11:24 on
15 January, 2015
Alfie I actually agree with some of your politics but. It must be wrong when it makes me cringe when we do.
You truely are a sad individual. And others suspect you are simply a plant to promote the Labour Party. If you are you are doing a very poor job.
Silly boy.
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I don’t care what you or others think – I have my views, borne out of experience.
I tell it like it is – I have nothing in common with the ‘clique’ on here, apart from our love of Celtic FC – although most of them have a strange way of showing it.
I don’t go in for unsubstantiated drivel and slogans – anything I say can be backed-up by hard facts.
The clique can dish it out, as they did in the run up to the Neverendum – but as we can see now, after a ‘gubbing’ they can’t take it.
I will use any and every forum I can to sweep away the lies and rubbish that would have bankrupted our country and had a hellish effect on those least able to do anything about it – the old, the disabled and the genuinely out of work – those who ‘duck and dive – those who hang their theatrical walking-stick props over the bar rail, are in my eyes, beneath contempt – they allow the right-wing to tar all with the same ‘scroungers’ brush.