I heard a Daily Record reporter on commercial radio earlier this week suggest Celtic should “Do the right thing” and pay Rangers, in advance, for tickets for the game at Ibrox on 25 March. I understand that last night another reporter from the same paper told Radio Scotland listeners that, despite today’s Record publishing a robust contradiction from Celtic, that he had evidence Peter Lawwell reneged on a verbal agreement to pay Rangers in advance.
Evidence of a verbal agreement? Perhaps Lord Leveson would be interested in that one.
To be fair to everyone, any old tart can insist Celtic “do the right thing”, even if it’s the wrong thing, the comments section of Celtic Quick News regularly features such crazy notions, but it is alarming that the influence of a pernicious few spreads across such a huge profile of the Scottish media.
Peter Lawwell’s letter published on the club site was unequivocal. Celtic did not renege on an agreement with Rangers, they are not responsible in any way for Rangers staff losing their jobs, indeed, they enjoy a functional working relationship with the Administrators of Rangers.
The fact that Celtic were able to inform fans in advance that today’s Daily Record would publish Lawwell’s letter “In a prominent position” in today’s newspaper suggests the Record acknowledged the legal consequences of failing to do so. Despite this, no correction has been issued and the assertion that Celtic have reneged on a deal continues to be made.
The BBC, who have editorial standards well beyond those found in the red top press, are now embroiled in this mess.
While many Scottish reporters are busy uncovering genuine evidence of the biggest stories in the history of Scottish football, others cannot break the habits of recent decades.
If Celtic have legal recourse they must act but you have a role too. You empower the media, if it was not for your (plural) custom they would be unable to lie about Celtic.
Decades of malpractice in Scottish football is coming to an end, this is our chance to redraw the map and ensure Celtic have, at last, a level playing field.
Do your part.
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Don’t suppose any of those raith rovers players from ’94 were on ebts?
Justcantgetenough csc
twists n turns on 2 March, 2012 at 11:34 said:
I believe the waiting list for the CQN glee club is being closed at 6.25 million.
__________________________________
Is it too late for me to join?
Independent Inquiry Update
Friday, 02 March 2012
Stewart Regan, the Scottish FA Chief executive, has today provided an update on the progress of the Independent Inquiry into Rangers FC chaired by The Right Honourable Lord Nimmo Smith.
“We are now in the final stages of our independent inquiry into the situation concerning Rangers FC. The report by The Right Honourable Lord Nimmo Smith is expected to be completed next week and will go to a Special Board Meeting for consideration.
“It would be inappropriate to make any further comment at this stage in relation to the details gleaned from the inquiry, the potential contents of the report or any possible sanctions.
“We are, however, aware of the most recent allegations made against Rangers FC today by a former director of the club. We shall investigate this matter thoroughly before making any further comment.”
SFA statement below……
Stewart Regan, the Scottish FA Chief executive, has today provided an update on the progress of the Independent Inquiry into Rangers FC chaired by The Right Honourable Lord Nimmo Smith.
“We are now in the final stages of our independent inquiry into the situation concerning Rangers FC. The report by The Right Honourable Lord Nimmo Smith is expected to be completed next week and will go to a Special Board Meeting for consideration.
“It would be inappropriate to make any further comment at this stage in relation to the details gleaned from the inquiry, the potential contents of the report or any possible sanctions.
“We are, however, aware of the most recent allegations made against Rangers FC today by a former director of the club. We shall investigate this matter thoroughly before making any further comment.”
———————
Tells us nothing
Paul67
Another great leader!
And your article was very good too!
I haven’t bought a newspaper since the “thugs and thieves” story.
I stood up at the front of the Lithgae Celtic Supporters Bus shortly after and told them we should not be paying these peoples wages by buying their rags so they can write their noxious crap about us, whilst clapping each other on the back for their high quality investigative journalism.
I don’t listen to the radio either.
Starve them of oxygen (and cash) and this could well be the most momentous of years.
Who will follow the huns into the abyss?
thanks Silas.
KLV
embdy know what the SFA statement says? 0)))
Holding statement from SFA. No mention of Ogilvie.
His position is untenable and I’m sure Stewart Regan knows this.
Regan nipping out to B&Q for another few pots of white paint…
It tells us, he knows Jimmi, So he cant say no one told them about it. So now its all out we’ll see how they proceed.
KLV
Some think that Scottish football would be poorer and less competitive without Rangers, but I beg to differ.
Once the cheats have been stripped of their tainted trophies, all the way back to 1995, the Scottish roll of honour will look like this:
Scottish League Champions
2012 TBC (Celtic, barring a miracle)
2011 Celtic
2010 Celtic
2009 Celtic
2008 Celtic
2007 Celtic
2006 Celtic
2005 Celtic
2004 Celtic
2003 Celtic
2002 Celtic
2001 Celtic
2000 Celtic
1999 Celtic
1998 Celtic
1997 Celtic
1996 Celtic
1995 Motherwell
Scottish Cup Winners
2012 TBC
2011 Celtic
2010 Dundee Utd
2009 Falkirk
2008 Queen of the South
2007 Celtic
2006 Hearts
2005 Celtic
2004 Celtic
2003 Dundee
2002 Celtic
2001 Celtic
2000 Aberdeen
1999 Celtic
1998 Hearts
1997 Kilmarnock
1996 Hearts
1995 Celtic
Scottish League Cup Winners
2012 TBC (Celtic or Kilmarnock)
2011 Celtic
2010 St Mirren
2009 Celtic
2008 Dundee Utd
2007 Hibernian
2006 Celtic
2005 Motherwell
2004 Livingston
2003 Celtic
2002 Ayr Utd
2001 Celtic
2000 Celtic
1999 St Johnstone
1998 Celtic
1997 Hearts
1996 Aberdeen
1995 Raith Rovers
A grand total of 15 different clubs will have won silverware (rather than the 9 currently shown in the historical records). Celtic will have won 31 of the 51 trophies between 1995 and 2011, with a strong likelihood of completing their second consecutive Scottish treble this season, and their 17th consecutive league title.
Surprisingly I can only find two seasons since 1995 when Celtic were eliminated from a cup competition by Rangers prior to the final, those both being in the League Cup, in 2001-2 and 2004-5.
We might argue that Celtic would probably have won the trophy in those years were Rangers retrospectively barred for fielding ineligible players, but why rob Ayr United and Motherwell of their historic achievements? They had their day in the sun, so let them keep the trophy to remember it by.
Incidentally, Celtic have emerged victorious on 5 of the last 7 occasions that they have been drawn against Rangers in either of the cup competitions, while on the other two Rangers have needed extra time and/or penalties to prevail. It is a long long time since they beat us over 90 minutes in a cup match, by fair means or foul.
I also noticed, on the list of teams when checking the head to head records on Celtic MAD, that there is a team listed as Rangers London (defunct).
I wonder if the adjacent entry will soon read Rangers Glasgow (defunct)…
hahaha
another investigation!!!!
bet the shredders are whirring away like a wee bluebottles wings when he’s
stuck to the newly painted windae ledge.
Even if Rangers’ use of the EBTs is found by the courts to be proper, the suggested deployment of secondary contracts/back letters constitutes improper player registration, according to the laws of the game.
Their financial future hinges on the tax case, but the legitimacy of 30-odd trophies hinges on whether they played illegitimate players in hundreds of matches.
jimmci on 2 March, 2012 at 11:36 said:
Tells us their looking in adams claims and possible saunctions.
Its a start.
Paul 67
thanks for the share, big smile, all I need is to be called a hun on here and I can die happy.
Play
I saw what I think is the finest post I have ever seen on CQN last night – and that is SOME praise indeed given the diverse quality we have had – from James Forrest. Think it was around 10pm last night.
I imagine CQN is now been avidly followed by the media at the moment.
The thing that struck me was that if I had anything to do with the content of newspapers I would be hounding down JF with an offer of employment; yes the quality was so high that I am sure the great Hugh McIlvanney himself would have nodded his head in admiration.
Yes, the piece indeed was THAT good.
JF, take a bow, sir.
Think Regan’s jaickets on a very shoogly peg. They keep banging on about the inquiry but fail to inform of it’s remit.
The remit of the full independent inquiry could be to find out if Craig Whyte is a fit and proper person to run a football club for all we know.
The SFA is not an organisation that Celtic can work with any more.
think regan needs a exorcist
http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2111&newsCategoryID=36&newsID=9417
Update from Stewart Regan today
The word I really like in the SFA statement is “sanctions”.
The sooner they are sanctioned the better, Permanently sanctioned.
Thanks, Silas at 11:33.
A bit of a D’oh moment for me: I was looking for a ‘Mr67’ … !
FF
the enquiry is a sweep sweep exercise ,its time for celtic to ask uefa/fifa to take control so we can rebuild our game from the ground up without the brotherHOODS input no more jobs for the funny handshake brigade ,time to reclaim our game from the dishonest
TheOriginalSadiesBhoy on 2 March, 2012 at 10:44 said:
My comment was made about the ‘scale’ of the inquiry needed.
I mentioned Bloody Sunday as this Inquiry is widely known for considering vast amounts of inforrmation and therefore took a seriously long time to get to the truth.
I was in no way inferring that people were murdered at ibroxgate!!
I also made the caveat that my analogy about the scale of such an inquiry was not meant to trivilaise the events of Bloody Sunday.
If you have read the blog over they years you’ll know my politics, and I would doubt there is anyone here who would think I was trying to compare the corruption at Ibrox and the SFA with the murderous events of Bloody Sunday
Apologies if I my earlrier post offended you or indeed anyone on this blog.
Árd Macha
I
I expect Stewart Regan will pitch up at his local Tesco on Monday asking if there’s any chance of him getting one of those work experience placements.
Secondary contracts kills them.
Just blows them away.
Suddenly the Big Tax Asteroid isn’t even needed.
(It will feature in the movie however.)
And a top actor will now be needed to play Hugh Adam.
pigalle
Jimmci
Any chance of a re-post? I do enjoy a good read :)
the solution for Rangers survival is like a blind man in dark room, looking for a black hat, which isn’t there
shamelessly stolen from Robert Peston, who was talking about something else
If they are indeed expunged from the history books with every result going 0-3 in their opponents favour, what i’d like to know is…
When was the last time they legally beat us?
playfusbal4dguilders on 2 March, 2012 at 11:42 said:
Paul 67
thanks for the share, big smile, all I need is to be called a hun on here and I can die happy.
##################
Just call, Gerry McNee a hunskelper extraordinaire and that should do the trick :o))))
Hail! Hail!
Now that ‘Arry is looking doubtful for the England job, do you think Ally McCoist will step up to the plate. I’m sure money wouldn’t be a stumbling block and he knows the words to all the songs.
Barcabhoy on 2 March, 2012 at 11:49 said:
I’d guess the room doesn’t really HAVE to be dark.
Rickmansworth Bhoy on 2 March, 2012 at 11:50 said:
If they are indeed expunged from the history books with every result going 0-3 in their opponents favour, what i’d like to know is…
When was the last time they legally beat us?
Surely it would be 1-3 with them getting a penalty?
Rickmansworth Boy – get yer best Ian Paisley voice on……..” NEVER!!”
Trying to catch up here,
are Rangers in a spot of bother?
Repost of JF from last night ,a must read.
James Forrest is The Emperor of Ice Cream on 1 March, 2012 at 20:47 said:
What started out with a football story became a drama. What was a drama became a shambles. What was a shambles quickly turned into a comedy and what was a comedy has swiftly turned into a farce. This is an administration like no other; 15 days and counting without a player being sacked. Indeed, they tried to sign one. 15 days and counting, and only two members of staff paid off, and one of them was Gordon Smith, so that was hardly a shock.
15 days in which the blue half of Glasgow has woken up to what the green half has known for months; Craig Whyte is a man of no credibility or material wealth. Indeed, his entire business history is littered with the wreckage of companies in which he has been involved.
15 days in which people have cast around for someone to blame, above the man who’s getting the flack, Mr Craig Whyte himself.
It’s time some facts were faced by the Rangers fans.
This is not simply the fault of Whyte, or Murray or the banks or the managers who recklessly spent crazy money the club did not have. All of these people are culpable, all of these people played a role in what has gone on. Every one of them is guilty as charged, every one of them has had a hand in creating the current problems.
The media wants to slip out of responsibility, but the very notion they can is hilarious, because they are a big part of how we got to the present crisis. Had Celtic been in trouble and Whyte was the only man on the horizon, the media would not have been afraid to do their own “due diligence” on him, and his reputation would have been in the gutter long before he ever got his hands on the keys. And the Celtic fans, themselves, would have blocked his way and collapsed the deal if the media had not been up to the job. No-one should pay any heed to the media’s claims that they broke this story; we know full well that it was the Celtic online community who did that.
The SFA and the SPL would like to escape the net of blame, but they are probably even less credible than the press when they try. There are serious questions about their conduct here, with everything from players contracts to European licenses still under serious, serious question, not to mention that the man at the very top of the house, Campbell Ogilvie, has been involved in not one team which operated EBT’s but two, and is likely to find himself the subject of some heavy enquiries when this thing ends. And there is no end in sight.
Rangers FC’s survival is going to be decided not on a football field but in a courtroom. It is difficult, if not impossible, to see how the SFA and the SPL can wait around until these matters are resolved. The process could take years, and in the meantime, as Paul Brennan has hinted at in his magnificent article from earlier, more than one Rangers could emerge … and then the question becomes which one is even granted a license to play at all? In the meantime, one club faces relegation in the SPL and they have a case for that not happening now.
Believe it or not, the money is not the only hurdle facing Rangers right now. A bigger problem is going to the clock. Time is getting away from them. The March 31 deadline to gain a European license is actually a much more significant date than has been understood; it is also the deadline for gaining a license to play in Scotland … and no-one in the press has even hinted at that, let alone brought it to the attention of the world.
What are the grounds under which a side can be denied that license?
Let’s take the first finance & admin criteria, which relates to the stadium.
“The club shall have the sole use of the ground or “shared” use and shall be in a position to establish security of tenure for the ground and to play matches as and when required. To establish security of tenure the club shall own or have a lease in place for the ground. The lease shall run for at least the period of the current season as well as the following season.”
Can Rangers guarantee that? Will the ground be owned by the club, or by someone else? Can they assure they can meet fixture requirements by having a fixed place to play their home games? Without that they can’t get a license, and it’s not clear who will own Ibrox this time next year, whether it’s Whyte, a consortium or even the courts.
Let’s take the audited accounts requirements.
“Each club shall be required to provide a copy of its audited financial statements prepared according to the Companies Act 1985 and relevant accounting standards (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The statements shall refer to the year ended 2011. Clubs will provide this information as follows – SPL clubs – by 31 March 2012, All other clubs – by 30 April 2012. The auditor’s report in respect of the annual financial statements shall not include an emphasis of matter or a qualified opinion/conclusion in respect of going concern.”
We know that Rangers will not have accounts submitted in time to meet the European deadline, as the administrators have admitted this. Furthermore, we know that even if they manage to get their accounts finalised, there will have to be a “going concern” opinion contained in them, because there are significant doubts that Rangers will survive long enough to fulfil next season’s fixtures. This clause, on its own, is enough to deny them a license.
The ability of Rangers administrators to guarantee that the club will be in a position to turn up for even as much as one game next season is already in serious doubt. The licensing guidelines have to be followed to the letter, and they are overseen by UEFA and FIFA.
If the SFA and the SPL are to be seen to be doing their jobs, they have to acknowledge the very real prospect that no version of Rangers might exist by the time next season starts.
There is one other party to blame for the shambles the club finds itself in, and so far I have yet to hear anyone in the media or elsewhere allude to this fact, far less spell it out. I will not do so, and tell you who is most to blame for the mess.
Rangers’ fans are to blame.
There are two reasons why they are to blame, and both are found in the DNA of the club, it’s supporters and the mind-set which has grown around them. First is the notion that there will always be someone else to pay the bills, someone else to pick up the tab, always someone else to blame when it all goes wrong. Rangers were in the hands of an understanding and professional bank, in Lloyds, who’s conduct only stopped the club carrying on a suicidal course of action. Rangers fans, angered at what they saw as unfair restrictions – restrictions from spending money they did not have, in other words – protested, threatened and finally forced the bank to walk away from the table. That left them easy prey for a man like Whyte, and made the deal attractive to Murray, who himself has experience in dealing with the notorious ingratitude of Rangers’ fans.
Rangers fans have had 30 years of success built on someone else’s money. Even today, they still believe someone, somewhere, should step in and save them from the appalling consequences of years of mis-spending and recklessness. Yet it is that very attitude that drove boards at Rangers to spend sums of money they could not afford. The unrealistic expectations of a support reared to believe the spending would never end have forced the club to the brink of death. The Rangers fans have pushed their own institution to the edge of the abyss, first by barracking Murray to spend more than he could afford and then by pushing away the very people who were in the best position to help them through the crisis – Lloyds Banking Group, who despite the madness written elsewhere never wanted Rangers to die and would have helped them survive.
The second reason Rangers fans are to blame is even more stark, and difficult to face. The very nature of the support, the very intolerance at their heart, the very exclusiveness they seek to put out there, has made them wholly un-attractive to any investor who does not already have Rangers in his or her blood, and no events in the club’s history have been as damaging to that aspect of the business than Manchester and the European fines. Rangers Football Club is too associated with the songs of hate, with the images of rioting fans, with the detritus of bigotry and the stench of sectarianism. They are known, rightly, as Scotland’s Shame, and no corporate investor could possibly want a part of something so tainted.
Every time Rangers fans sang “Why Don’t You Go Home” or “Big Jock Knew” they were wrapping the noose ever tighter round their own necks. Every minority who was abused, every Catholic who was spat on, every foreigner who got it in the neck, every ground where they spewed forth hate, every TV image of the “Red Hand Salute” increased the revulsion felt by every right thinking person who might once have been of a mind to help. If Rangers really were a positive influence on society, if their fans really were ordinary football supporters, if their survival really was critical to the Scottish game, someone somewhere would be willing to step up and save them … but no-one who does not have those same stains on their soul will even care.
The hardship Rangers fans are about to face, the difficult times, the pain, the tears, the sight of a triumphant Celtic, the only surviving superpower in the Scottish game, celebrating a league win at their own home ground … all of it, they brought upon themselves.
I make no apology for the harshness of the tone of this post. The “good “ Rangers fans who have to watch this must be aware that they too are part of the problem, for never challenging the behaviour of the people who dragged their club into the gutter. Those people are likely to emerge from this with one idea of where the club should go, and the “good “ supporters with another. There is a chance that two distinct versions of Rangers will emerge from this, with a bloody, damaging fight for the soul of the football club at stake for the winners. God help the NewCo if the wrong people win that battle, and “No Surrender” Johnston is one of them.
This crisis is vast, and complex and poses enormous dilemmas for many, many people. But it is not the making of one man, or one group of people. This mess was a collaboration on an epic scale. It took ignorance, arrogance, ego, envy and hate to get to the point where Rangers is poised on the brink of death, and the solutions being mooted, everything from dumping debt and leaving creditors in the lurch to being saved by a state they think owes them something, are all grounded in the same awful mentality that got them here. No lessons have been learned.
For the club to be saved – for the club to be worth saving – this is what has to change.
I see no sign of that happening.
share
I think Chairman Ogilvie will be tending his flower beds at home for an unspecified period of time before the day is out…..
Paul67 – my belief this will end in a full Westminster governmental enquiry is being reinforced by the day….
Headtheball on 2 March, 2012 at 11:25 said:
If I were a Ranjurs fan (God forbid!) I would now just like all this to go away and to have my team start afresh in division 3 and follow them from there on an honest path to the SPL (eventually).
+++++
Almost word for word what I said to a Dundee based Rangers fan last night.
His response?
Nah, nae dainjur big man. It’ull no happin. Ave heard the EBT’s are awe leegul and it’s jist a matter o waitin…..
Just cannie keep up with all this the old brain is going into meltdown.I come onto the site and I have two articles to read,one as good as the other.Keep them coming Paul I,ll try and keep up.