I get that football thrives where it is a manifestation of tribalism. Across Europe and beyond club flags offer people more affinity with than any national emblem.
But, with one or two exceptions, it’s a largely innocuous brand. We get to wear tribal garb and indulge in our rituals without onerous economic consequence. The echo from the Great Recession, which we are still hearing today, has been a lesson in what can happen when a tribe perceives that its relative position has diminished.
That perception often bears absolutely no relation to reality, but widespread economic illiteracy makes us look like a primitive animals.
My only flag’s a Celtic flag. You are my only tribe.
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Canalamar
Re SII report.
Link worked when I accessed from Twitter.
No idea why it’s down.
Never thought to copy, very long.
Might just be a traffic issue.
TET
Fans of Aston Villa , I thought you were blogging about some of their famous fans, apologies if it was not yourself.
The rest of the site is working fine and the SFA story is even showing as trending at the side, but the article doesn’t load, the site does not the article, certainly looks like it has been pulled.
Celtic40me
Possibly, but there is a chance that they can work together on the Syrian problem and actually sort it out, there is a common enemy here imo and it’s not Assad, a bad bassa he may well be, Sadam said many moons ago that the west may not like me, but they will like the alternative a whole lot less, how right he was, Libya is another example, a prosperous nation that wasn’t bothering anyone, carnage ensued.
As an aside, when Obama came to power he made a speech bemoaning the fact that the US was at war, and activly bombing two sovereign nations and how he would stop it, as he is about to leave power the US is currently bombing seven sovereign nations, that didny work out too well for him them.
I don’t believe that Trump has the apatite for war, I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
HH
Evening Tims, busy, busy day so haven’t had the chance to catch up.
On Saturday night the Minx and I are participating in the Celtic Foundation sleep out at Parkhead. This is to highlight the plight of the homeless in Glasgow whilst raising money for the needy in the local area.
If you can share a couple of quid then you can donate here.
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/helendunese1#.V7n_9q3rwpU.facebook
Many, many thanks to those who’ve already contributed to someone who is taking part.
Yours in Celtic.
Auldheid
Do you think Celtic plc will make a statemnt on Res 12 at the AGM? I understand if you do not want this in the public domain.
THE EXILED TIM on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 9:11 PM
MacJay
I am surprised he got this far, but they obviously didn’t think it would happen, but you are right, he needs to be very careful, his problems start now.
As long as he fosters positive relations with the likes of Russia I will be happy.
HH
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Positive , yes.
But he must display a firmness and a sense of purpose conspicuously absent from ” Mr. Nice Guy ” , Obama.
Dessybhoy
I was but I didn’t know that Cameron and Harry were villa supporters, I knew Andrew was, the others are news to me hence why I didn’t know what you were on about, sorry bout that :-)
HH
MIKE IN TORONTO on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 9:16 PM
TET ….. I always figured that, at some point when I was in Oz, I would have to sort Macjay out …. but, honestly, never thought I would have to come over there and sort you out, too! Oh well, it just means another trip, I suppose! :)
=========================================================
Most of my pals from C.Q.N. ( There`s a surprise , eh ) don`t agree with my political views.
Who cares ?
I would love to share a schooner with you , should you wash up on these shores.
:-)
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 8:56 PM
“The once impregnable U.S. lives in a state of fear about where the next atrocity will occur.”
If they got rid of their insane zero gun control policy maybe they could ditch their state of fear because that’s where it will most likely come from, amongst themselves against themselves by a weapon(s) legally purchased their.
Folks
Re SII Report
I’d wait for it to be republished. As I said I saw some points for clarification, looks like others did too.
Rangers & SFA may have colluded to award Rangers a UEFA licence
Andy Brown @journoAndy andy.brown@the-sii.com
Evidence has emerged which suggests that Rangers should not have been awarded a UEFA licence for the 2011/12 season due to overdue payables, prohibited by UEFA regulations. The Scottish Football Association’s (SFA) response to questions about the situation appears to suggest collusion in awarding a UEFA licence to Rangers, despite an overdue tax liability to Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The SFA insists that the licence was correctly issued, yet failed to send evidence to back up its claim when questioned by The Sports Integrity Initiative.
History lesson
Historically, Scottish football has been dominated by two main Glasgow-based clubs – Celtic and Rangers. Rangers Football Club PLC (Rangers PLC) was placed into administration in February 2012 and liquidated at the end of the 2011/12 season. The assets of the club were then sold to new owners (Sevco Scotland Ltd.) in June 2012, and the club was renamed The Rangers Football Club Ltd. (Rangers Limited), however the Scottish Premier League (SPL) voted against accepting Rangers into its league. The Scottish Football League (SFL) voted to accept Rangers into its Third Division in the 2012/13 season rather than its First Division, as the SFA and SPL had sought. In 2013, the SPL and SFL merged to become the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL).
The Sports Integrity Initiative first became aware of this issue in March this year, when a complaint (PDF below) was filed with UEFA alleging collusion between the SFA and Rangers in order to ‘ensure that one club gains financially at the expense of others’. In essence, the complaint alleges that the SFA and Rangers colluded to allow Rangers to financially benefit from being awarded a licence to compete in the lucrative Champions League during the 2011/12 season. The accusation is that due to the importance of Rangers to the revenues of domestic Scottish football, the SFA was keen for the Glasgow club to have the money to return to the SPL as soon as possible, and so ignored issues with the award of the licence.
It also appears that the SFA may have been actively involved. Evidence suggests that SFA decisions allowed a commission of inquiry into the financial collapse of Rangers to be misled; that the SFA failed to investigate whether the UEFA licence was correctly granted; and journalists were misled in order to cover up SFA collusion in granting the licence. It also appears that as far as any UEFA investigation is concerned, they may have got away with it.
‘On 19 April 2011, the SFA granted the licence necessary for participation in the 2011/12 UEFA club competitions to Rangers FC and this decision was communicated to the UEFA administration on 26 May 2011’, read a 8 June 2016 UEFA letter (PDF below). ‘At the time when the licence was granted by the SFA, there was no reason for UEFA to suspect any irregularity committed either by Rangers FC or by the licensor (SFA). Moreover, and simply or the sake of completeness, we can also advise that there is a five-year limitation period to investigate any possible breach of the club licensing regulations and so UEFA is not, in any event, in a position to open any investigation with regard to a licence granted in April 2011, since this would be time-barred’.
The complaint
UEFA was initially notified of the complaint in February, however was sent detail regarding the specific allegations in March. A brief summary is as follows:
• That as Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) considered Rangers PLC to have an overdue tax liability in February 2011, SFA officials knew about and withheld knowledge of overdue payables at Rangers which would have resulted in the club being ineligible for a UEFA licence for the 2011/12 season;
• That Rangers PLC accepted its £2.8 million liability to HMRC on 21 March 2011, ahead of the 31 March 2011 deadline stipulated by the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play (CLFFP) Regulations.
• That the SFA ignored its own rules by allowing Dave King and Paul Murray to become Directors of Rangers Limited in 2015, despite both having been on the board of Directors at the Rangers PLC in 2012, when the club entered liquidation. Article 10.2(j) of the SFA’s Articles of Association prevented anyone from becoming a Director at a Scottish club if, during the previous five years, they had been a Director at a club that entered insolvency;
• That the SFA broke its own rules by allowing Dave King to become a Director of the Rangers Limited in March 2015, despite his pleading guilty in 2013 to 41 of 322 charges of tax fraud brought by the South African Revenue Service (SARS);
• That the President of the SFA at the time, Campbell Ogilvie, misled the Lord Nimmo Smith (LNS) inquiry into the financial collapse of Rangers by claiming that he had no involvement in administering an Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) whilst working as Company Secretary at the club;
• That the date of the LNS inquiry, which was initially supposed to start in 1999, was changed to 2000-2011. This had the effect of excluding one of the two offshore schemes allegedly set up by Rangers PLC to pay players and staff whilst avoiding tax.
• That the SFA allowed Campbell Ogilvie to continue as SFA President during the ‘independent’ LNS inquiry, despite the fact that he had served as a Director of Rangers PLC during the period being investigated.
UEFA Licensing
Since 2011, UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play (CLFFP) Regulations have required clubs to prove that they have no overdue payables in order to be awarded a licence to compete in European competitions. ‘Financial fair play was approved in 2010 and the first assessments kicked off in 2011’ reads a UEFA Q&A section on the regulations. ‘Since then, clubs that have qualified for UEFA competitions have to prove they do not have overdue payables towards other clubs, their players and social/tax authorities throughout the season. In other words, they have to prove they have paid their bills.’
This provision is outlined in Articles 49 and 50 of the 2010 edition of the Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations, which would have been in force at the time that Rangers sought its licence to compete in European competition. They state that clubs must demonstrate no overdue payables ‘as at 31 March preceding the licence season’ – the UEFA club competitions begin at the end of June.
Two offshore trusts used to pay players
Annexed evidence (PDF below) published by The Offshore Game (TOG), an offshoot of the Tax Justice Network (TJN), reveals that Rangers PLC had been in discussion with HMRC about its Discounted Options Scheme (DOS) since 2000. The DOS scheme created offshore shell companies which were invested in by the Rangers Employee Benefits Trust (REBT), which was created in 1999. In return, the REBT would have the option to take control of the shell companies in the future. This made them technically worthless to anyone other than the REBT, however REBT would allow its option to take control of the companies to expire, passing ownership of the company – and the money invested in it – to Rangers players.
As the Panama Papers leaks revealed, Rangers PLC was not unique in using such a system. Such schemes appear to have been commonly used by clubs to pay players. The Panama Papers show that Real Sociedad set up offshore companies for seven players between 2000 and 2008; that 20 football club owttdosttebsners set up offshore companies through law firm Mossack Fonseca; and almost 20 footballers set up similar companies.
Evidence from TOG (PDF below) states that the Rangers DOS scheme only set up shell companies for three players – Craig Moore, Ronald De Boer and Tore Andre Flo. A more complex scheme was later set up and used from the 2001/2 to 2008/9 tax years. In November 2015, the Scottish Court of Session upheld an appeal by HMRC arguing that the later scheme was ‘designed to avoid the payment of income tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs)’. As this later scheme is still subject to court proceedings, it doesn’t yet constitute an ‘overdue payable’ under UEFA’s CLFFP Regulations – but only because it has yet to be decided whether an ‘overdue payable’ is actually due.
Timing & liability
As previously mentioned, evidence of Rangers’ acceptance of the overdue liability to HMRC prior to the 31 March 2011 deadline specified in the UEFA CLFFP Regulations arrived in a report compiled by The Offshore Game (TOG), which they have kindly agreed that we can reproduce. It is understood that this acceptance qualifies the DOS scheme as an ‘overdue payable’ within the meaning of the UEFA CLFFP Regulations.
The timing of this acceptance is crucial. As previously explained, the CLFFP Regulations require clubs to report any overdue payables ‘as at 31 March preceding the licence season’. Rangers PLC reported that it had a ‘potential’ tax liability to the SFA despite having accepted liability for the £2.8 million owed to HMRC on 21 March 2011. It was required to declare overdue payables as of 31 March 2011 under the CLFFP Regulations and from TOG’s evidence, it appears that the liability was actual, not ‘potential’, as Rangers PLC claimed.
A licence was issued to Rangers PLC on the basis that the ‘potential’ liability was not an overdue payment under the terms of the UEFA rules. It has been alleged by TOG and the UEFA complaint that this licence was granted despite the SFA knowing that Rangers PLC had accepted its liability to HMRC. SFA President Campbell Ogilvie had been an employee of the club from 1978 to 2005 and was a Rangers PLC Director when the DOS and its successor were set up. He became the SFA’s first Vice President in 2007 and was later promoted to SFA President in June 2011.
Annex VI of TOG’s report contained a 5 May 2011 letter sent by HMRC to Murray International Holdings, then owner of Rangers PLC, about the payment of the £2.8 million. ‘I agreed with Mr. McIntyre that as I saw no grounds for appeal, as the liability is agreed, I would await developments regarding a potential takeover but as considerable time has passed I cannot allow this to drift any more’, wrote HMRC in the letter, also contained within TOG’s evidence, and reproduced below.
Donald McIntyre was Company Secretary at Rangers PLC at the time. On 21 March 2011, Murray International Holdings’ (MIH) Finance Director, Mike McGill, held a meeting with HMRC at which he presented Rangers PLC’s proposal that they would pay the owned £2.8 million to HMRC. On a spreadsheet detailing the agreed payment to HMRC, a handwritten note from ‘DM’ advises that HMRC have accepted Rangers PLC’s offer of payment ‘in principle’.
The letter signed off by McIntyre and McGill was in response to a suggestion to settle with HMRC by Rangers PLC’s tax Barrister, Andrew Thornhill, in a 3 March 2011 letter, also in Annex VI to TOG’s report, reproduced below. ‘The scheme was carried out in such a way which suggests that arguing the case would be an uphill task’, Thornhill advises. ‘However, the deciding factor in favour of settling the matter is the existence of side letters in two instances demonstrating that there was a true intention of putting case into the hands of the players as part of the renumeration package. It does not help either the the existence of these letters has been denied or not revealed by the club. In this state of affairs, it would be sensible to seek a settlement.’ It should be mentioned that Thornhill is currently facing misconduct charges.
SFA response to overdue payables issue
The SFA claimed that the UEFA complaint had been launched by Celtic supporters who do not want Rangers back in the Scottish Premier League, which Rangers Limited is competing in after winning the 2015/16 Scottish Championship. It is true that Celtic supporters have complained about the situation.
This summer, SFA CEO Stewart Regan told the Daily Record that the SFA had nothing to fear from ‘Resolution 12’, passed at a November 2013 Celtic AGM (PDF below), which requested that UEFA ‘undertake a review and investigate the SFA’s implementation of UEFA & SFA license compliance requirements, with regard to qualification, administration and granting of licenses to compete in football competitions under both SFA and UEFA jurisdiction, since the implementation of the Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations of 2010’.
“The UEFA licence was granted appropriately”, said an SFA spokesperson. “The awarding of the licence was accepted by the Celtic AGM”. That has not stopped Celtic fans seeking to place newspaper adverts cqnheraldadvert6-819x1024urging UEFA to intervene. “The basis on which the UEFA licence was granted to Rangers was correct; it was based on the evidence provided and the evidence submitted by the club, by HMRC and by lawyers acting on behalf of the club and it outlines the timeline of the liability”, continued the spokesperson.
Oddly, the SFA spokesperson also claimed that it was not involved in the decision to grant Rangers the UEFA licence, as that was a decision for Scotland’s clubs to make. However, under UEFA regulations, each member association ‘remains liable and responsible for the proper implementation of the club licensing system, regardless of whether there is delegation or not’. Therefore even if the SFA was not involved in the decision to grant Rangers a licence, it had a responsibility to assess whether that licence had been correctly granted.
The SFA pointed The Sports Integrity Initiative to an article written by David Conn for The Guardian, which quoted an ‘informed source’ as confirming that HMRC had agreed that the overdue £2.8 million did not need to be paid until after the 31 March deadline for overdue payables – i.e. after Craig Whyte’s May 2011 takeover of the club. Annex IX UEFA’s CLFFP Regulations do allow a club to write off an overdue payable if a club can prove by 31 March that it:
• has concluded an agreement which has been accepted in writing by the creditor to extend the deadline for payment beyond the applicable deadline (note: the fact that a creditor may not have requested payment of an amount does not constitute an extension of the deadline); or
• it has brought a legal claim which has been deemed admissible by the competent authority under national law or has opened proceedings with the national or international football authorities or relevant arbitration tribunal contesting liability in relation to the overdue payables.
If Rangers PLC had not agreed the final bill with HMRC on 31 March 2011, there would not be a case to answer. However as shown above, TOG’s evidence suggests that Rangers PLC accepted liability for the overdue Bill on 21 March 2011. Rangers PLC’s interim accounts, filed on 1 April 2011, failed to mention this acceptance, despite it being discussed in the media at the time.
A 2 April 2011 article from the Daily Record claimed that the HMRC bill ‘dropped through the Ibrox front door only three weeks ago’, which would mean that Rangers PLC would have known about their liability to HMRC ahead of the 31 March deadline. So would the SFA, if they had read the article. However Rangers PLC failed to add an addendum to its interim accounts to reflect that what was a ‘potential’ liability as at 31 December 2010 had since become an actual liability to HMRC.
‘The exceptional item reflects a provision for a potential tax liability in relation to a Discounted Option Scheme associated with player contributions between 1999 and 2003’, read Rangers’ interim results. ‘Discussions are continuing with HMRC to establish a resolution to the assessments raised’. This was true at 31 December 2010, but it appears from TOG’s evidence that these discussions had been completed prior to the 1 April 2011 filing of these accounts.
As the interim accounts were for the year end 2010, the liability at that point in time was potential, however it is understood that it is common practice that if there is a significant event between the year end and the accounts being signed off (i.e. the ‘liability’ becoming ‘actual’), then that is normally noted as a post-balance sheet event in a separate part of the accounts. As the accounts were unaudited interim accounts, it is therefore unclear if any rules have been broken by this failure to mention Rangers PLC’s acceptance of the HMRC liability on 21 March 2011.
Article 66 of the UEFA CLFFP Regulations places a secondary requirement on a club to prove that it had no overdue payables ‘as at 30 June of the year in which the UEFA club competitions commence’. TOG’s evidence and Emails show that by 30 June, Rangers PLC had accepted liability for the £2.8 million overdue payable, however described it as ‘postponed’, despite the fact that it accepted that liability on 21 March 2011 and it only remained for a schedule for payment to be agreed with HMRC. It appears that Rangers PLC may have played the CLFFP regulatory system regarding the wording of its overdue payables in order to avoid being refused a UEFA licence in 2011/12.
The SFA claim that “confidential” HMRC documents relating to the second scheme used from the 2001/2 to 2008/9 tax years prove that HMRC had agreed for the £2.8 million HMRC liability to be postponed until after Craig Whyte’s takeover of the club in May 2011. The SFA initially promised to supply all documentation relating to this issue, arguing that a review of the full evidence was necessary for balance as documentation used by TOG had been “illegally obtained”. Such documentation never arrived, and repeated reminders sent over many months by The Sports Integrity Initiative resulted in a short response which appeared to be an SFA recognition of acceptance that the 2011/12 UEFA licence had been correctly issued.
The SFA response to The Sports Integrity Initiative, sent via email, was copied from a letter sent by Celtic shareholders to the SFA on 20 April 2016. ‘The information contained in our initial letter was not referred to you for the purposes of reviewing the initial grant of the UEFA Licence, which our clients have always believed to be valid’, it read. ‘Accordingly, your letter of 14th March appears to miss the point and fails to address the issues which were raised and which concern the licensing process and activity post 31st March and a potential breach of the CFCB regulations in relation to compliance with regulation 66 and other provisions’.
‘In respect of overdue payments for the season in question, licence applicants had to prove that as at 31 March 2011 they had no overdue payables relating to transfer activities occurring prior to 31 December 2010 or towards employees or social and tax authorities as a result of contractual and legal obligations towards their employees that arose prior to 31 December 2010’, wrote UEFA in its 8 June letter. As Rangers PLC had accepted liability for the £2.8 million HMRC bill on 21 March 2011, which related to the DOS scheme in operation from 1999/2000 until 2000/2001, it would appear that under they did have an obligation to declare an overdue payable at 31 March 2011.
Also, although UEFA argues in its 8 June letter that it is ‘time-barred’ from investigating the issue of the awarding of the 2011/12 UEFA licence to Rangers PLC, Article 67 of the 2010 CLFFP Regulations in force at the time reads: ‘The licensee must promptly notify the licensor in writing about any significant changes including, but not limited to, subsequent events of major economic importance until at least the end of the licence season. The information prepared by management must include a description of the nature of the event or condition and an estimate of its financial effect, or a statement (with supporting reasons) that such an estimate cannot be made.’ Article 71 of the same regulations allows UEFA to ‘at any time, conduct compliance audits of the licensor and, in the presence of the latter, of the licence applicant/licensee. Compliance audits aim to ensure that the licensor, as well as the licence applicant/licensee, have fulfilled their obligations and that the licence was correctly awarded at the time of the final decision of the licensor.’ No time limits on investigations are mentioned in these regulations, so it appears that UEFA could investigate, if it wanted to.
UEFA’s letter also said that ‘if Rangers FC had been in breach of the enhanced overdue payables rule as of 30 June or 30 September 2011, any eventual sanctions would have related to potential participation in the 2012/13 UEFA club competitions, with no impact on the club’s participation in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League’. As such, UEFA concludes ‘there is clearly no need for UEFA to investigate this matter any further since the club was not granted a licence to participate in the 2012/13 UEFA club competitions, the new club/company entered the fourth tier of Scottish football and it was not able to play in UEFA competitions for the next three years in any event’. This appears to ignore the issue that one of its member associations, which it is responsible for regulating, may have flouted or ignored UEFA regulations.
There appear to be a number of questions that still need answering on this point:
• Did Rangers PLC tell the SFA about the nature of the £2.8 million liability to HMRC?
• What did Rangers tell the SFA?
• Why would HMRC excuse the £2.8 million liability until after Whyte’s takeover of the club if, as the SFA claims, it was ‘potential’?
• Where are the documents in which the SFA claim that HMRC agreed to postpone payment of the £2.8 million until after Whyte’s takeover of the club?
Lord Nimmo Smith inquiry
On 5 March 2012, the Scottish Premier League announced that ‘The SPL Board has instructed an investigation into the alleged non-disclosure to the SPL of payments made by or on behalf of Rangers FC to players since July 1, 1998’. The SFA had earlier announced that it had appointed Lord Nimmo Smith to head the four-man panel conducting the Independent Inquiry, as well as SFA CEO Stewart Regan. As can be seen from the PDF of the Inquiry’s conclusions below, at some point its scope was changed to only consider payments made to players after 2000.
The effect of this was to exclude the DOS scheme – which Rangers PLC had accepted liability for – from the scope of the Inquiry. As previously explained, the later scheme, which ran from 2001/2, is still subject to court proceedings, and therefore cannot yet be considered an ‘overdue payable’ within the remit of the CLFFP Regulations. In more basic terms, until court proceedings are concluded, it has yet to be decided if an ‘overdue payable’ is due. Therefore even if Rangers PLC is in the clear regarding the DOS scheme, it could still face sanctions over this latter scheme.
Lord Nimmo Smith concluded that between 2000 and 2011, Rangers PLC (OldCo) ‘entered into side-letter arrangements with a large number of its professional players under which Oldco undertook to make very substantial payments to an offshore employee benefit remuneration trust, with the intent that such payments should be used to fund payments to be made to such players in the form of loans’. He also found that such agreements ‘were required to be disclosed under the Rules of the Scottish Premier League (“SPL”) and the Scottish Football Association (“SFA”) as forming part of the players’ financial entitlement and as agreements providing for payments to be received by the players’ and that ‘OldCo through its senior management decided that such side-letter arrangements should not be disclosed to the football authorities’.
Crucially, Nimmo Smith found that ‘Rangers FC did not gain any unfair competitive advantage from the contraventions of the SPL Rules in failing to make proper disclosure of the side-letter arrangements, nor did the non-disclosure have the effect that any of the registered players were ineligible to play, and for this and other reasons no sporting sanction or penalty should be imposed upon Rangers FC’. However, had it considered the earlier DOS scheme, its conclusions might have been different, since Rangers PLC had accepted liability for an ‘overdue payable’ to HMRC in respect of the DOS scheme, which brings that ‘overdue payable’ within the remit of UEFA’s CLFFP Regulations. Champions League football and the financial solidarity payments it beings from UEFA arguably might be seen as a ‘sporting advantage’ gained from failure to disclose such a scheme to the SFA and SPL.
‘Each domestic champion which did not qualify for the group stage received €200,000’, reads a UEFA statement concerning the season in question. The SFA also received €690,000 from Rangers’ participation in the 2011/12 Champions League.
Alleged failure to fully investigate
Both the UEFA complaint and the evidence compiled by TOG allege that the SFA failed to fully investigate Rangers PLC’s ‘potential’ tax liability. As the moving of the dates of the Nimmo Smith inquiry led it to only consider the later scheme, this allowed SFA President Campbell Ogilvie, who was involved in administering the earlier DOS scheme whilst at Rangers PLC, to legitimately claim: “I assumed that all contributions to the Trust were being made legally, and that any relevant football regulations were being complied with. I do not recall contributions to the Trust being discussed in any detail, if at all, at Board meetings. In any event, Board meetings had become less and less frequent by my later years at Rangers. Nothing to do with the contributions being made to the Trust fell within the scope of my remit at Rangers.”
However, the allegation is that he should have mentioned the earlier DOS scheme that Rangers PLC had accepted liability for in March 2011. Contained in Annex III of TOG’s evidence is a 3 September 1999 letter signed by Ogilvie on behalf of the club, under which OldCo took control of Montreal Limited, an Isle of Man company managed by Allied Irish Bank. In the letter, Ogilvie makes it clear that the purpose of the company is to provide remuneration to a Rangers PLC employee.
There is no suggestion that SFA President Ogilvie has done anything illegal, as the moving of the dates of the Nimmo Smith Inquiry allowed him to legitimately claim that he knew nothing about the later scheme being considered by the Inquiry. However, the fact that he did not mention the earlier DOS scheme to the Nimmo Smith Inquiry adds credence to allegations that the SFA ‘managed’ the Inquiry by appointing its CEO, Stewart Regan, to the ‘independent’ LNS inquiry despite his boss, Ogilvie, having served as a Director of Rangers PLC during the period being investigated.
SFA response to Lord Nimmo Smith Inquiry issues
The response from the SFA appears to support this. When questioned by The Sports Integrity Initiative, the SFA said that the UEFA complaint and TOG had “conflated” the DOS scheme with the later scheme considered by the Lord Nimmo Smith Inquiry.
In a sense, the SFA are correct. Nimmo Smith was only given a remit to examine the later scheme and through the moving of the dates of the inquiry, was precluded from examining the DOS scheme, which evidence shows that Campbell Ogilvie was involved with. However, if this is correct, it doesn’t reflect well on Ogilvie, as it suggests that he was not forthcoming with important information that could have assisted Nimmo Smith’s Inquiry.
SFA response to Director issues
To recap, the allegation is that the SFA ignored its own rules by allowing Dave King and Paul Murray to become Directors of Rangers Limited in March 2015, despite both having been on the board of Directors at Rangers PLC in 2012, when the club entered liquidation. A separate allegation is that the SFA broke its own rules by allowing King to become a Director, as in 2013 he had pleaded guilty to 41 or 322 charges of tax fraud brought against him by the South African Revenue Service (SARS);
The SFA defended its decision. “It is not our place to confirm South African law, but he made a positive settlement with them, so on that basis, that could not have been an obstacle to him being considered fit and proper”, said an SFA spokesperson. “Had we said no, we would have become subject to judicial review and we would have lost”. The SFA also denied that Campbell Ogilvie had sat on the panel that made the decision regarding King, despite evidence to the contrary.
Conclusion
There is nothing new in these allegations, however the evidence above suggests that the SFA and UEFA are attempting to sweep serious issues regarding the governance of football in Scotland under the carpet. At the very least, it appears that the SFA failed to investigate whether Rangers PLC’s 2011/12 UEFA licence was correctly issued. At the worst, it appears that the SFA and Rangers colluded in order to ensure that Rangers profited from Champions League football, accelerating its return to the top tier for the financial benefit of Scottish football.
That the SFA appointed its own CEO (Regan) to the ‘independent’ Lord Nimmo Smith Inquiry into the liquidation of Rangers is suspicious, as his boss was Campbell Ogilvie, who had been involved in the setting up of the DOS scheme that had led to Rangers’ admitted liability to HMRC. There is also the question as to why the dates of the LNS inquiry were moved from 1999 to 2000, excluding the DOS scheme and allowing Ogilvie to legitimately claim that he didn’t know anything about the scheme being investigated by Nimmo Smith.
Why were Directors of the Rangers OldCo allowed to assume new positions at the Rangers NewCo, despite SFA rules preventing people from becoming a Director at a Scottish club if, during the previous five years, they had been a Director at a club that entered insolvency? It is also difficult to accept the SFA’s explanation that as a settlement had been reached with South African authorities over Dave King’s numerous tax offences, then he was cleared as a ‘fit and proper person’, as the wording of Article 10.2(h) of the SFA’s Articles of Association appears to apply to all jurisdictions, not just Scotland.
Why was Campbell Ogilvie, a former Rangers employee, allowed to sit on the Panel that made the decision in King’s case? Why has the SFA subsequently deny that he was on the Panel despite evidence to the contrary? Why was the SFA’s 11-man Professional Game Board excluded from the King decision?
The SFA has questions to answer and blaming such questions as being based on the prejudice of certain Celtic fans against Rangers only leads to suspicion that it would not welcome further investigation. Rangers and Celtic are by far the most popular clubs in Scotland and generate masses of revenue for the SFA and the SPFL. According to Deloitte, Celtic made up 50% of SPL revenue in 2014/15. The motive therefore exists to get Rangers back to the SPL as soon as possible to increase revenue, and evidence exists that pressure was put on SFL clubs to vote to accept Rangers into the First Division back in 2012.
Rangers PLC entered the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League after winning the SPL on goal difference, depriving another Scottish club of potential revenue and allowing a weakened Rangers side to compete (and, ultimately, exit) in European competition. In reality, Celtic would have been Rangers’ replacement, so Resolution 12 of its AGM, which asked UEFA to investigate this situation – was a legitimate complaint that appears to have been dismissed without a compelling reason.
The people behind the UEFA complaint stress that they are not Celtic supporters. They understandably want to remain anonymous because of the potential threat to them for highlighting these issues – a threat that it is difficult for anyone outside of Scotland to understand. The very fact that such threats appear to be being used to intimidate those who dare to speak out on these issues should also spur football’s authorities to investigate.
In 2014, Parma was denied a UEFA club licence by the Italian football association (FIGC) over an unpaid €300,000 tax bill. At the end of 2012, UEFA sanctioned a number of clubs with exclusion from European competition due to ‘overdue payables’ remaining. Earlier this year, it excluded Galatasaray after it failed to comply with the terms of an earlier settlement agreement with UEFA. UEFA has therefore investigated such situations before, and should not be put off by the fact that a related court case is still in progress.
UEFA has had a busy time recently. It remains to be seen whether it has the stomach to revisit such allegations, which sit within such a complex and inflammatory regulatory environment. Until it does, mistrust and allegations will continue to plague Scottish football.
Allied Irish BankAndrew ThornhillCampbell OgilvieCelticChampions LeagueCraig Moore
AULDHEID
We will never be deleted
Love
I’ve just made toasted cheese.
Discuss.
KTF
HAMILTONTIM on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 9:55 PM
Evening Tims, busy, busy day so haven’t had the chance to catch up.
On Saturday night the Minx and I are participating in the Celtic Foundation sleep out at Parkhead. This is to highlight the plight of the homeless in Glasgow whilst raising money for the needy in the local area.
If you can share a couple of quid then you can donate here.
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/helendunese1#.V7n_9q3rwpU.facebook
Many, many thanks to those who’ve already contributed to someone who is taking part.
Yours in Celtic.
“………………………..
HT
Good luck to you and Minx 1888 on Saturday and to everyone else who is taking part. Heroic effort by everyone involved for a great cause. I hope the weather is kind to you.
JIMMYNOTPAUL on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 9:27 PM
Macjay.
I’ve just been on your Canberra based Australian Celtic fans blog.
Stayuplategetupearly.
I thought it only fair to say that I mentioned you in dispatches, arguing about politics. :-))).
He’s written some good pieces and Melbourne Mick has been on posting, after you gave him the heads up.
Hopefully his blog will succeed and get the Celtic message out there in Australia
He’s picked up on fav Celtic players which was on CQN and changed it to unsung Celtic players that were personal favourites. I said Joe Craig, that goal at Ibrox will live with me until I die.
Hail Hail
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Marvellous to see some success for Stayuplategetupearly.
Re. posting.
I prefer not to share my email address . Certainly not at this stage.
We`ll see.
I hope Taurangabhoy ( He`s your man for N.Z.) has clocked the new arrival.
Joe Craig. Unsung right enough.
Auldheid: can you post your email address and I will contact you tomorrow.
Thank you for all your work on Res 12 and hopefully Celtic PLC will follow through on the outstanding issues at the agm. It is the least we deserve.
Who are the Sporting Integrity Inicitive and more importantly do they have any clout ?
HT/ Minx
Mind no Heavy Petting
Enjoy
TOSB
Mucho gracias and thank you for your donation it’s much appreciated.
The Huddle
The though is quite scary :-)
But I wouldn’t discount it.
HH
THE SPIRIT OF ARTHUR LEE on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 10:14 PM
HT/ Minx
Mind no Heavy Petting
Enjoy
****
Make up your mind. Which is it ?
Mods
I’d remove reference and copy of SII Report.
I had my doubts about some of it so no point giving a hostage to fortune.
Wait for clarified version.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon on 9th November 2016 10:10 pm
JIMMYNOTPAUL on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 9:27 PM
HailHail both. Thanks for the mention Jimmynotpaul and thanks for your contributions.
Macjay I appreciate you not wanting to share an email address. I fully respect your decision and when/ if you do decide to post I promise not to stalk you :-)
My ghuy was big Starky as an unsung hero
HEN1RIK on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 9:54 PM
Here is a cached copy.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XXILekuHe6gJ:www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/rangers-sfa-may-colluded-award-rangers-uefa-licence/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
Cheers for that Henrik.Great read.Wow.
Soal
One sleeping bag between two x
Turkeybhoy
Don take as final version. It over reaches in parts.
HT
Twix
Cheese on toast .
Jimmynotpaul, have you heard of the terrible news about Davie English?
cheese’ntoast
with a pineapple ring between the bread and cheese.
chewonthat.csc
Hi Bhoys. Two of us are travelling over from Ireland for the Cup Final at the end of this month against Aberdeen. We were originally planning to go to the Celtic versus St Johnstone game on November 26 but that game has now been postponed due to our involvement in the aforementioned Cup Final. I’m finding it very hard to get my hands on two tickets as I’m not a season ticket holder. Do any of u Bhoys know where I’d get my hands on two tickets. CorkCelt and Almore can vouch for me – I’m a big Celt from the Emerald Isle. All help would be greatly appreciated, thanks. HH
Auldheid
They have used the New Club ad from the Sunday Herald in January 2015 rather than the ad we put in the Tribune de Geneve in May this year.
Might be worth clarifying.
STAYINGUPLATE on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 10:18 PM
macjay1 for Neil Lennon on 9th November 2016 10:10 pm
JIMMYNOTPAUL on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 9:27 PM
HailHail both. Thanks for the mention Jimmynotpaul and thanks for your contributions.
Macjay I appreciate you not wanting to share an email address. I fully respect your decision and when/ if you do decide to post I promise not to stalk you :-)
My ghuy was big Starky as an unsung hero
=============================================================
`S no you am wurried aboot.
You sound nearly civilised .
:-)
THE EXILED TIM on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 12:50 PM
I need some tekie help please.
Is there a way when clearing your browsing history to only clear one specific site, I need to clear my E Bay browsing, but I really don’t want to clear the rest.
Yes pal we all believe you have to delete one site!!! You were watching porn or buying a big dildo
Interview with John Pilger from earlier today on RT
https://youtu.be/o1Ho8OrBzig
on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 10:18 PM
Reading that piece makes your blood boil.
The evidence is there & it’s about time our club grabbed the bull by the horns.
If you allow cheats to do as they please then they will continue to do as they please in the future because no one questioned their shady practices previously.
If Celtic want to change the game in Scotland for good now is the time to be heard.
THROUGH A GREEN GLASS BRIGHTLY on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 10:02 PM
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON on 9TH NOVEMBER 2016 8:56 PM
“The once impregnable U.S. lives in a state of fear about where the next atrocity will occur.”
If they got rid of their insane zero gun control policy maybe they could ditch their state of fear because that’s where it will most likely come from, amongst themselves against themselves by a weapon(s) legally purchased their.
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You don`t need to persuade me that a constitution written some 200 plus years ago could stand some revision.
U.S. citizens accept their gun violence statistics so they must see these gun deaths as acceptable.
I couldn`t . They can.
The atrocities I was referring to were terrorist atrocities.
Ban the plane.
:-)
Yeah. I know. Inappropriate.