You will not hear supporters or staff at an opposing club with a bad word to say about Graeme Murty. He took over a shambles of a football club and for several months matched results with anyone in the league. Twice he took Newco to Celtic Park and left with a point, but the man is a football coach, not a miracle worker. The disparity in resources would eventually tell.
Against the might of Brendan Rodger’s Celtic for a third, fourth and fifth time he experienced increasingly worse defeats. No one was surprised by this, the Newco board even tried to sell these results as “ahead of the curve”, but there was a fundamental issue that made it difficult for Murty to remain in position – he was sabotaged.
The evening before a game at Celtic Park, news leaked (and was not contradicted by the club) that Steven Gerrard agreed terms to become Newco manager. This came a day after Murty spoke about his chances of keeping the job if he won the four remaining league games. It was degrading and prioritised the position of the board over results on the field.
Dave King made a similar comment about the future Newco manager just days before his team faced Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final two weeks ago. That statement coincided with season ticket renewal letters.
What could Murty say after losing 5-0 at Celtic Park? We did our best but last night someone, who travelled with us on the team bus today, leaked that I was soon to be removed from my position? Whatever exchanges took place between the manager and his employers, a common purpose was difficult to imagine.
Inevitably, there has been some pullback on the Gerrard ‘news’. It seems matter is not as clear-cut as was believed on Sunday morning. I spoke to Peter Lawwell before the appointment of Brendan Rodgers. Brendan wanted to come and the Celtic board were equally keen, but Peter was clear: until a deal was signed, no one really knew what would happen. He had not committed to deliver anyone in particular, but he was nervous.
Promising a new manager the evening before you visit Celtic Park might take the edge of the inevitable pain for some, even at the cost of undermining your manager, but you had better deliver on that leak. Otherwise, you will look like pathetic opportunists who are exploiting the trust of your fans and are miles behind the curve.
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Borgo
“ its hard to make an opinion on the invisible man “
CQNrs seem to manage it every week on Callum MacGregor?
SFTB @ 8.59
Spot on
As ever.
Dave king the star man in the concert party
REGULATORS have taken legal action to compel Rangers chairman Dave King to make a judge-ordered £11 million bid for most of the club’s shares.
It has emerged that the Takeover Panel has been granted a court order which also forbids any attempt by Mr King’s South African-based Laird Investments (Proprietary) Limited from making the mandatory offer to thousands of shareholders without a third party confirming that the funds to support it are there.
The Rangers chief has already been told that he is in breach of takeover rules by failing to make the bid.
Rangers International Football Club plc said it understood that the funds for the offer are there and that Laird was seeking South African government approval to allow the money for the offer to be transferred to the UK.
READ MORE: Dave King ‘breaches takeover rules’ by failing to make £11m Rangers shares bid by deadline
Lord Carloway at the Court of Session dismissed an appeal in March forcing a bid for 70 per cent of the shares to be made after agreeing that Mr King and others acted together to force their way into the Ibrox boardroom three years ago and ousting a board of directors said to be allied to Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley.
It came after the Takeover Panel originally decided that a formal takeover should have been triggered after the Three Bears group led by Mr King secured more than 30 per cent of the voting rights in Rangers.
The Takeover Panel has now received what the courts have described as “certain orders” on April 24.
The Herald understands the orders were aimed firstly to ensure that the bid is made while supported by actual funding making it Takeover Code-compliant, and secondly to ensure that no offer is made to shareholders without that money.
The move came after the panel said an initial share bid announcement by Mr King did not comply with the Takeover Code, as it was not supported by cleared funds.
READ MORE: Dave King ‘breaches takeover rules’ by failing to make £11m Rangers shares bid by deadline
Mr King’s Laird firm had said in the March 29 announcement that the bid would be funded “using the receipt of dividends” amounting to £13,074,842.90 which was “to be declared on April 4”.
Mr King had gone through a lengthy battle through through the courts to stave off pressure to buy the shares fearing the heavy financial toll it would place on him.
During an October hearing, Mr King’s advocate Lord Davidson of Glen Clova QC argued that the Rangers chief “is penniless” adding: “Any order wouldn’t secure compliance. It won’t. It is pointless.”
Under Takeover Code rules, a written offer to shareholders had to be made within 28 days of Laird making the bid announcement on March 29 – but so far it has not been forthcoming.
READ MORE: Dave King ‘breaches takeover rules’ by failing to make £11m Rangers shares bid by deadline
A letter by John Bennett, the chairman of an “independent directors” group of Rangers International Football Club plc to shareholders agreed that the original Laird announcement had not been “cash confirmed” by a third party as required by Rule 2.7(d) of the Takeover Code.
He said in a circular on April 4 that “this will be addressed promptly” after April 4 so that when the official offer to shareholders is made the cash to fund it will be ringfenced by a third party.
He said that the bid announcement was expected to be followed by the actual offer to shareholders “no later than 26th April, 2018”.
RIFC plc said last week that it noted that the 28 days had expired “without the publication of a code-compliant offer document” and that it had been informed by the Takeover Panel “that this is a breach of Rule 24.1 of the code”.
READ MORE: Dave King ‘breaches takeover rules’ by failing to make £11m Rangers shares bid by deadline
The King-led takeover group – which included Park’s Motor Group founder Douglas Park, Rangers Supporters Trust and Rangers First member George Taylor and Rangers fan George Letham – had always denied that they had acted ‘in concert’ to purchase shares in Rangers on December 31 2014 and January 2, 2015.
HeraldScotland:
But the Takeover Appeal Board (TAB) last year said that ” the case for concluding that… Mr Letham and Mr King, at least, were acting in concert in purchasing the relevant shares becomes overwhelming”.
In December Lord Bannatyne ruled in favour of the Takeover Panel that Mr King acted in concert with other shareholders when he bought a controlling stake in 2015.
But Mr King argued that a judge went “too far” in ordering him to make a mandatory offer at a price of 20p a share.
Lord Carloway on March 1 announced that a fresh appeal would be refused.
Lord Bannatyne in a previous hearing said that Mr King’s argument that he did not have the funds to make the offer was “irrelevant”.
We live in strange times –
Watched Real v Bayern in a Milan bar last night . .The team of choice was Bayern . Had a conversation with a Bologna fan when the game was over — he expressed the hope that Liverpool stuff Real . I asked why — ” to annoy UEFA “
As regards the minimum pricing per unit of alcohol, this is not a tax on alcohol but a price increase per unit which will mean some extra revenue for the government but the bulk of the increase is kept by the retailer to balance a drop in income.
The reason the drinks industry fought this tooth and nail is because of the likely ‘domino effect.’ After all Scotland is only a small country and the effects on profit would be negligible but Scotland is likely to be the first domino to fall followed by Wales, NI, Ireland, England and then it gets really messy for the drinks industry as other big countries begin to adopt the same legislation.
They saw what happened with smoking indoors and how that mushroomed ? and are fairly certain that through time this minimum pricing will hit them hard.
As alluded to earlier, alcoholism is a social problem so sort the problems of poverty and lack of opportunity out first and maybe that will save lives as well as improve people’s health.
2 directors resign from Sevco, Paul Murray and Barry Scott.
GARY67 on 2ND MAY 2018 11:28 AM
2 directors resign from Sevco, Paul Murray and Barry Scott.
Was that 2 of Stevie G’s demands ????????
DAVID66
Thanks,but it was surprisingly simple. I had other things on my mind for a week or so.
The thought of a smoke never crossed my mind during that period;to have jumped straight back onto them would have been incredibly disrespectful to the medical staff. And bloody stupid,since the nicotine addiction had been broken in that time.
But I doubt I could have done it otherwise…
DONTBRATTBAKKINANGER.
That’s an old photo,it would have to be to catch me at my debonair best!
BMCUW
I was pleased to see that you have kicked the coffin nails. I was a heavy smoker, who started when I was 17. I gave up after a serious health issue. I had to take stock of my life in general, and top of the list was quitting fags.
I will have been smoke free for four years on 1st July this year. Now, I am not gonna lie to you, it was not easy. Naw, scrub that, it IS still is not easy. I smoked for nearly 40 years, but hope my belated action can mean I get more time with my family, my friends and Celtic.
On the practical side, a very lucrative industry has built up, Marketing “help” to stop smoking. I am afraid the bad news I have for you, is that stopping involves actually stopping. You have to deny yourself something that you enjoyed for many years. Nicotine is very very addictive, but replacing the time you spent enjoying a fag, with something else is what I found the most difficult.
I still enjoy the whaft of smoke I get when I walk past a group of smokers outside a pub and I can smell someone smoking from about fifty metres away. It does get easier with time, well maybe easier is not the word, less difficult is probably a better description. There are odd moments still, where I would really like a fag. I found the Nicorette inhalator, the best help in these situations, and still use them (Other Shameless capitalist brands profiting on addicts misery are available)
It’s worth going for mate, and I wish you every success. If I can ever be of any help, just ask.
On the bright side, the money you save will easily compensate for the cost of minimum unit pricing on alcohol if you ever decide to move back north, or Englandshire falls in to line in the future.
HH
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Bang and brogues are gone…
I suppose the mystery benefactor that will be investing pure millions won’t be from Hong Kong then…
Murray and Scott have resigned as directors of Rangers
The rats starting to bail out as the ship continues to take on water.
HMS Dignity CSC
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Wonder if Cillitt Bang will give Barry his old job back
A wee brain teaser re our first 7 in a row: who scored our first League goal in 65-66 and our last League goal in 71-72? HH.
Have these resignations been influenced by yesterday’s court action? ?
Or are the ?? deserting the sinking ship ? SS sevco?
Cillit Bung………..?
https://mobile.twitter.com/Chri592/status/991635122016440320?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
HUNDERBIRDSAREGONE
Thank you very much for the advice,old bean. Our smoking patterns have been remarkably similar-I really started about 18yo,dabbled earlier.
As you say,it isn’t easy-I had a stressful and frustrating wee meeting earlier with local bureaucracy,the people with the answers hiding behind a poor young front-desk fella without the clearance to answer my questions.
I knew it wasn’t his fault,so got as much info as possible from him-my next steps on this are already in place.
Point being-I could’ve killed for a smoke immediately afterwards,or at least mugged some innocent puffer for one. So aye,I’ll get twitchy now and again. It’s not easy. But I’m dropping off a small token of gratitude to the nursing staff tomorrow,with a THANK YOU card. I don’t think a PS of “I’m Back on the Fags” is appropriate.
Look after yourself,S. I know you do,and I’ll hopefully see you for a domestic hoot in Autumn.
SMOKE ! SMOKE ! SMOKE !
https://youtu.be/rJcKxlKsAy4
BMCUW
Stick at it M, it’s worth it. Get yoursel something good wi the money you save. Then it’s a tangible benefit. I had a week in Seville wi Mrs H in a four star hotel. Still less than I spent in a year on fags.
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new article posted.