I’ve spoken to a few Rangers fans over recent months, the base line of acceptability has been redrawn many times. If you read back on what was presented as reality on 13 February, when Craig Whyte announced that while it was “business as usual” he applied to the court for a 10 day period to appoint an administrator.
Back then, administration was abhorrent, but suggestions of liquidation were regarded as outrageous. On 22 February Celtic Quick News asked questions about Improper Registration of Football players, was it possible that Rangers results would have to be re-written as 3-0 defeats for a decade or more?
In March Rangers director (still, I believe) Dave King sent out a new baseline, liquidation was inevitable but there was no question that titles would be taken off Rangers. Even this concession to liquidation was disputed by the Blue Knight and Duff and Phelps. Publicly, both still hold to this line, although Duff and Phelps use some creative ideas to get there.
Most now know that liquidation is inevitable. A few understand that the SPL inquiry into player registration is likely to result in five or more league titles being reallocated to Celtic, but I don’t hear anyone accepting the reality of the situation.
Rangers don’t have a buyer, primarily as the administrators don’t have a stadium they can sell. Even if they try to remain in administration for next season, Ticketus own the majority of their income. It will cost countless millions to pull a deal together, much more than the £11.2m Bill Miller considered putting on the table, and no one is coming up with that kind of money.
In the unlikely event these problems are resolved, whatever club emerged would have to deal with the fallout from players refusing to join a Newco and becoming free agents, football fines debts from Oldco, SFA penalties, Newco penalties if preferential treatment is provided in order to get them into a higher league, and SPL penalties for Improper Registration of Players.
There are two simple solutions. Form a new club, ask to share Firhill or Love St – or better still, rent Cathkin Park (reset ambition for Rangers as the new Third Lanark), and apply for entry to the Scottish Football League. Alternatively, co-opt a lower league club, maybe Airdrie United could help, rename it and spend however many years as it takes trying to acquire whatever parts of Ibrox survives liquidation.
This is a controlled and predictable way forward, a concept not delivered by Duff and Phelps, totally in the control of whoever wants to harvest fallout from the demise of the Rangers brand.
You can buy a hard copy of the new issue of CQN Magazine via Magcloud here.
The graphic below is just for a flick through, to read the magazine go here to it’s dedicated site.
1,122 Comments- Pages:
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tap 3?
Come on you bhoys in green
Jam67
FLax Flaherty?
Podium??
………..it’s Over !
Paul67 –
The ideal match.
Top ten… :-)
HH
Giggs
Paul67
Ng is back so rangers are in no danger. Also, there is a consortium of Millionaires with Premiership experience ready to step in.
I believe there is also a ‘warchest’
HH
Paul67,
Dont like your idea of Cathkin, value of houses in my area would plummet!!!
So the spin is that there are 3 other offers on the table and not only that, they’re going to complete the deal before Sunday. How exactly do they think that they can have a buyer submit an acceptable offer and see it through given they’ve had none so far that haven’t scarpered on seeing the books. How exactly do they think that due diligence can be completed in days rather than weeks/months? How exactly do they think they can get creditors to forget about the trifling £100m debts and sign off on this giant fraud? And still this is peddled by the MSM without a hint of irony.
D&P look more and more out of their depth with each passing screw-up. This could easily end by HMRC or Ticketus moving to oust D&P and put in their own administrators. It’s looking more likely that any vote by the SPL to have Rangers playing top flight football next season could be wishful thinking – they might struggle to get a stadium/team/corporate structure in place to enter SFL3 next season.
Craiginho
Private Fraser CSC “Doooooooomed!!”
Bill Ng back in race to buy crisis-hit Rangers after Bob Miller pulls out of the running
Rangers were once more on the brink last night after another chapter of sensational and improbable events left the club’s support bemused and the Scottish football authorities reeling.
By Roddy Forsyth
9:26PM BST 08 May 2012
The alarm bells which had begun to ring at the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football about the bid from Bill Miller, the American tow truck magnate, were confirmed when he pulled out of the running late yesterday afternoon.
However, three bidders have made their presence known and The Daily Telegraph understands that Bill Ng, the Singaporean businessman, is back in contention with two new parties in the running, one of which is a UK-based consortium with Scots on board. One of the three appears to have proposed a deal worth close to the £11.6 million offered by Miller and administrators last night indicated that a deal could still be made by Friday’s deadline along the same proposals as Miller’s newco plan.
Brian Kennedy and the Blue Knights consortium, headed by the former Rangers director, Paul Murray, are not in the frame, it appears.
As recently as last Thursday, Paul Clark and David Whitehouse – who represent the administrators, Duff and Phelps, at Ibrox – declared Miller to be their preferred bidder although, as The Daily Telegraph revealed and they confirmed last night, he had not paid the £500,000 exclusivity fee which had been requested.
As was also disclosed on these pages, Miller had indicated that he was prepared to invest in the club and that he believed there was a market to be exploited amongst the 30 million Americans of Scottish descent. What was not clear, however, is how he could square his declaration of strict financial discipline with the limited domestic income available to Rangers, given the likelihood of three years of exclusion from European football because of his plan to revive the club partially in the form of a newco.
On Monday, the other 11 SPL clubs considered a request by the administrators to postpone until May 30 their deliberations about proposed rules and sanctions to deal with clubs undergoing insolvency events. The clubs agreed, so that they could examine the provenance of Miller’s business plan, but by that stage, Miller was coming to the conclusion that the purchase of Rangers was worth neither his time nor his money.
In the meantime, both the SPL and the SFA had become alarmed that there had been almost no dialogue with Miller’s advisers for the better part of two weeks.
However, when Miller and his people carried out their due diligence they were unimpressed by details which had not, according to them, been available in the online data room to which potential bidders had access.
Miller issued a statement in which he claimed that he had also been influenced by the negative response to his bid from sections of the Rangers support but although it is understood that at one stage he was receiving around 1,000 emails a day in protest at his involvement, his decision to withdraw was entirely pragmatic and based upon his examination of the income and expenditure streams.
In an administrators’ statement, Whitehouse said: “We have been informed by his advisers that there were a number of issues with which he felt uncomfortable including legacy contracts, the limitation of potential revenue streams and the expectation of required investment.”
What now concerns the SPL in particular is the ability of the administrators to bring in a deal which will ensure that Rangers are a member of the league in time for next season’s fixtures to be compiled at the beginning of June.
The schedule is required by broadcasters for their advance planning and by other clubs so that they can sell season tickets on the basis of a guaranteed minimum number of visits by the two Old Firm clubs – a matter of importance to sponsors, too.
Meanwhile, it is expected that the SFA will today publish the note of explanation for the decision made by its independent judicial tribunal into Rangers’ affairs – which included a £200,000 fine for Craig Whyte, a £160,000 fine for the club and a year-long transfer embargo on players aged over 18. The tribunal’s findings run to a massive 27,000 words.
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that the expected date for Rangers’ appeal against these sanctions will be heard next Wednesday.
Declan on FF again:
“The total lack of political influence or comment says it all
My view is Scotland has slept walked in to a Nazi style state where the majority are treated as 2nd class by the ruling minority.
You have a no win situation on MP’s ect, while a few good might exist they are only interested in themself and making sure their family and mates get looked after by contracts and the likes and they are more than happy to jump when Rome little outpost tells them to do so.
I left Scotland 12 years ago and the writing was on the wall then, the Daily Record made or broke a prospective MP as did the secret selection commitees on the left while the right just gave up and cut their loses only putting energy into safe seats.
No MP will be willing to pop their head above their wee desk and stick up for us, they ignore the bigger picture of the onion peel of income that the club and fans bring, they look at us as one but as said dont look at the ripples that we bring to the country and economy.
A properly mobilised support could make some real dents on MP seats via protest voting, it need major work to get it right but it can be done and i feel this should be done.
Have a look and http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/ and see what you local MP has done for your or the lack of it…
The hand of the papes is strong and the fear they hold over our brothers is even stronger. We must rise against these importers and reclaim our country.
We also must see more high profile fans coming to the fore but they too appear scared to pop head above the walls, could you imagine down south the well known fans keeping their gobs shut if their clubs were facing the wall and going out of existance?”
Whatever the bias in scottish football, we are truly paranoid. We see Bill Miller as being in cahoots with Whyte, D&P and the whole thing was a plan from the start, In fact it’s nothing more than incompetence and desperation.
But Paul, there are new bidders. Real bidders. Consortia full of bidders. And this time they have Cash we are told!
Time is now the major factor. Nothing has changed though the period of administration, apart from D&P making a nice little earner out of the whole mess. All of the obstacles are still there.
Will a new club be formed any time soon? Soon, as in at a sufficient state to be called a football club. Financed and ready to try to get the necessary SPL Share, SFA License and UEFA exception? I don’t see it.
With every second that passes the chances of Ibrox lying empty next season grows.
Not been in Glasgow for a while. Is Cathkin still there ?
Remember a few Celtic matches there. Also, remember St.Mungo’s beating Holyrood 3 – 1 in a cup final. After extra time, I think.
Back in the day. Back in the day.
Dumb hun scum.
If I am honest, this is just the sort of long drawn-out convoluted painful death I would have wished for that bunch of cheating bigots.
Pass the Popcorn please!!
HH
Philvisreturns
I haven’t read the article, but I was sent a picture on f/b of a banner hanging from a walkway that links two of the buildings. It was put up by some of the pupils that are leaving this year. It says on it, ‘The Huns are goin’ bust’, with a picture of Hector on it. My daughter is a pupil there, so we got an email this morning from an irate headmaster. I’m sure he is more concerned with the spelling than the content! I wonder if the Sun article focuses on the ‘H’ word? I’ll find out and let you know.
SPF
Airdrie will do me then you will only need to look into one “Cess Pitt” of a weekend to know where the scum flows.
They can play at swap the KKK hat games on the way to the match.
Paul you have kept me strong in moments of doubt for that I thank you.
The day they turn to liquid is nearing TICK TOCK
HAIL HAIL
Stole this from site earlier, love it;
Drowning Rangers fan offered help by man in lifeboat. . . . . . . . . Hears American accent. . . . . . . . . Tells him to f*** off. . . . . . . . Drowns. . . . . . . . :-)
I think the huns better to to Artisan Roast..(or any other good coffee shop)
the coffee aroma is superb….. 8-)
I still think we have too many right-backs.
gbnl
Good Morning.
On a freezing cold winter’s night, a young schoolteacher stood in the taxi queue in Gordon Street Glasgow close to the entrance of the Central Hotel.
A few yards down the road, a car drew up and man got out out of the rear of the vehicle, pulled his coat around him and walked straight through the revolving doors into the warmth of the Central Hotel. The schoolteacher was about to turn his attention elsewhere, when out of the corner of his eye he saw the same man come straight back out of the hotel door and start to make a bee line towards him. Despite the cold, he suddenly felt trickles of sweat roll down his back, especially when the man stopped right in front of him.
” You’re the guy from the BBC?” said the man
” Yes”
” Well tell your bosses that they had better start getting their Cameras to Celtic park, to cover the goals- because we are going to score barrel loads. Tell them to send a good Cameraman– Eddie McConnell— and tell them if they don’t, all the good stuff will go to the “sportsjacket”!”
And on that note, Jock Stein turned on his heel and re-entered the Central Hotel leaving a young Archie McPherson freezing and sweating in Gordon Street.
At the time of this meeting, Stein’s Celtic had won precisely nothing.
In the ’60′s BBC Scotland sport was run by Peter Thompson and Roy Small, and it would be fair to say that both men were vehemently anti Celtic– I will go no further.
TV Coverage of Celtic games by the BBC would often miss any goals and just show pictures of the ground suddenly celebrating. Stein wanted to change that. He wanted people to see his Celtic and what they could do. He knew there was no reason for poor coverage and he could even name the requisite cameraman- Eddie McConnell.
It is to Archie McPherson’s eternal credit that he argued with Thompson and Small that Celtic should get better coverage, and it is to his even greater credit that when Stein effectively banned the BBC from Celtic Park a short time later, McPherson walked up Kerrydale Street to see the Celtic manager on his own initiative and in his own time to see if there was anyway that this impasse could be broken. McPherson sensed that Celtic would be a story under this man and that BBC Scotland were set to miss it.
When he got to meet the Celtic Manager, Stein asked him a number of questions one of which was: ” What have you ( the BBC ) ever done for these people?”.
And it is with that one question that I will end that particular story.
” What have you ( The BBC ) ever done for these people?”.
My question this morning is– who was Stein referring to when he said “These people”?
At the time he was employed as Manager by Celtic Football and Athletic Club Ltd.
Do you think he meant the shareholders? The Kelly’s. The White’s , The Grants and so on?
Not a chance!
He didn’t mean the players — although they could be included in the group that he did mean.
No he meant the fans, the supporters, the people who came through the gates — the very soul and lifeblood of Celtic. “Without fans who pay at the turnstile, football is nothing. Sometimes we are inclined to forget that. The only chance of bringing them into stadiums is if they are entertained by what happens on the football field.”
However, Stein saw even further and beyond the fans of his own club. He made it plain that he wanted the neutral to want Celtic to win, to play in a certain way which forced the neutral to remember Celtic, how they played football, and effectively what they stood for. Stein saw beyond Scotland, and saw the good ship Celtic sail on a sea which knew no horizons.
Celtic is a club first and foremost… that happens to play football, amongst other things. From its very outset it had a social element, bringing the people of the East end and beyond together in a common purpose. Together they built a stadium, raised money, did charitable works with that money, organised themselves, socialised together, worked together, laughed together, cried together, mourned together and just were simply” together”. A community, a family of friends, neighbours and complete and utter strangers.
Stein, for all his influence was in charge of the football team, just as Neil Lennon is today. Other people– other “These People” were and are in charge of other aspects of the club– media, charity, business and so on. Today, Celtic is a huge organisation– built around a football team but in no way limited to the activities of that team. Walfrid’s vision was not to create just a football team– but to create a football team for a far wider social purpose. A good purpose, which would hopefully make the lives of “These People” all the better, whether that be as a result of Penny Dinners, a social coming together, watching or even playing for the football team or whatever.
Accordingly when I pay for my season tickets each year, in my eyes that is me paying my annual subscription to the club. In return I get the benefit of seat in the stand for each home game…. among other things.
When you buy a share in a company, you only pay for the share once and in normal circumstances you legally become part owner of the company and hopefully get a return on your investment. Such normal commercial sense doesn’t work that way with Celtic.. or many other football clubs. Just as the White’s, Kelly’s, Grants and so on were not “These People” to Stein, so are the shareholders and Directors of Celtic PLC not “These people” in my eyes.
Yes they are part of “These People” but they do not own Celtic Football Club in my eyes just because they have a few shares in Celtic PLC. Legally they are the owners of the “club” in terms of the rules and laws– but no limited company or any other individual can ever claim true ownership of the Celtic dream– my Celtic Dream, your Celtic dream, the guy down the road’s Celtic dream, Walfrid’s Celtic dream, Big Jock’s Celtic dream or whoever. That part of the Celtic parcel is never for sale, for rent, to be mortgaged or anything else.
And so it follows that my yearly investment in things Celtic, the Club that is Celtic, the ethos that is Celtic, is never going to be influenced by the incompetence ( financial or otherwise ) of say the chairman of Kilmarnock FC or anyone else.
Scottish Football, as governed by the SFA, is the forum in which the Celtic Football team is forced to play by dint of sheer Geography and locale. The SFA can be run badly or well. It can be honest or corrupt. It can be competent or incompetent. It can be whatever it chooses to be but it does not have the ability to dictate or sway my choice of following and participating in my club and my vision for my club.
I have never met Peter Lawell, Neil Lennon, Dermot Desmond or any other Celtic Director. I would not agree with all of the business decisions of any of them- or of anyone else for that matter- as I am an individual with my own views and beliefs on every subject. However part of a corporate or a community movement is that your own individual view sometimes has to make way for the majority. Equally, in any corporate or community project you have to delegate certain functions to others and trust in their judgement. That does not prevent you from airing your views or making your voice heard.
Do I trust Messrs Lawell, Lennon and Desmond– yes I do. Again I will say that I would do things differently to them– for example £50 for a team strip is ridiculous as is the price of the corporate seats at Celtic park– but overall I trust their custodianship of part of “My Club”. Desmond’s investment in Celtic whilst significant in local money terms is but a patch on his own personal wealth and investment powers. He could buy and sell Rangers without missing the money should he so choose, but he invested in Celtic the club not in a football team that makes money and shows a regular return of the highest order, If that were his level of interest he would have invested the same amount of money elsewhere and in another industry altogether where he would have earned more quicker.
A few months ago I met with the new CEO of the charities division at Celtic Park and he told me of the clubs plans in that area. They are different to what has happened before. Radical in certain ways but at the same time show a direct link to the basic Ideas of the founding fathers of the club. They were exciting… and sounded like good fun too, ticking all the right boxes for me personally.
So, on this debate about season tickets- Celtic will be getting their annual subscription frorm me. I will not pay a penny to other clubs unless the football league is run properly. I will not support the SFA if I view their administration to be improper and will boycott their competitions and teams. I will invest money in other pursuits and let them know if necessary. I will protest , walk away and publicly damn football as it is run in this country but I will not deprive my club of their subs. That does not mean to say that I will not seek to hold the PLC board to account, nor does it mean that I will automatically accept and use the season tickets themselves. Long ago, I sent Season Tickets back to Jack McGinn ( a long term friend of my father’s ) in protest at certain things which I thought were not being dealt with properly by the club. If protest is needed I will protest to whatever organisation or individual needs to be addressed and I will try and make sure that my point of view is heard.
Next week, I am off to Barcelona with some pals. I will have in my bag a newly bought scarf or T shirt or something Celtic to give to a waiter or waitress or someone I meet. I will watch the Champions League final in Catalonia and probably I will be wearing something that is green and white and which lets the neutral know I am a Celtic man. Hopefully I will play a wee part in creating a Catalonian Celtic fan– whether he or she be a follower of Barcelona FC, Espanyol or not a football fan at all.
The good ship Celtic sails on a sea that knows no Horizons and its course will not be dictated by the idiocy of Scottish Football Administration, The impecuniousness of other clubs, nor by a vote by the self interested blazer types behind closed doors.
Celtic Football Club was built from the very ground up by “These people”.
I am and always will be one of them— Football or No Football, Rangers or no Rangers, Season Ticket or no Season Ticket.
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Airdrie Utd/R@ngers? Stop it Paul, you’ll have poor Jim Traynor hyperventilating!
If Airdrie became the huns, would anyone notice the difference?
The strips might change I suppose
‘It’s not Celtic’s fault so I will renew my ticket regardless’
Fair enough and on the face of it, 100% correct.
However, In the past Celtic went toe to toe with the SFA over Dougie Dougie and Dallasgate and had a degree of success. Since then we also faced and will continue to face a backlash for having the temerity to pull them up.
Now we have a situation where smoking guns are littered over the floor, we have weakened them in the past and a final push could fatally wound the old guard that we all know now, if we were ever in any doubt, is rotten to the core.
Silence followed by a token and futile no vote is simply not enough. This is a once in a lifetime, no scratch that. This is a once in many lifetimes opportunity. The enormity of which goes back generations. Even if the huns disappear altogether (which they won’t) the authorities have been shown to be so weak and bad for the game it is incredible. To meekly vote no and continue as before will be a sickener to many people. The people who say blindly, I will renew regardless, are making it less likely that a fight for integrity and real worthwhile change in the game to take place.
Having said all that, even if a complete revolution did take place and the old guard were swept away once and for all. There are plenty more Ballantynes and Ogilvies ready to step into the vacant roles, that however, does not mean we should not take up the fight. The game is bent, run by cheats.and incompetent morons, It needs tackled or people will walk away. It has become so outrageously obvious in recent weeks.
Celtic are either keeping their powder dry or choosing not to get embroiled either way, football in this country will never be the same again.
Paul67’s summation on a previous thread that Celtic will continue even if a smaller support turns up is, I would guess, a depressing indication of the latter.
Two BELTERS from RTC night shift posters. :)))))
from FF earlier (oh how i wish I could have claimed copyright on this) Nuff n Helps!
………………………………………………..
Has anyone nominated RFC(IA) and it’s fans for the Darwin Awards yet?
Natural Selection at it’s very best.
HAIL HAIL
Airdrie town centre awash with the great unwashed. So, no difference there then!
SPF
Morning bhoys, very warm on the hun free mountain range.
Tom MgLaughlin
I never said that RTC should reveal his identity, I was replying to another poster, I said that speculating was what people do, I also said that the likes of Paul and Phil do not feel the need to obscure their identity, nothing there about wanting to know who he is.
Next time you feel the need to critisise, please read my posts correctly first :>)
celt55 on 9 May, 2012 at 10:07 said:
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000 on 9 May, 2012 at 10:04
Another great post, but did your mammy ever tell you you were a blether?:)
———————————————————————————————————–
Are you kidding? Do you think I could get a word in edgeways when my mother is about?????????????????
Much sabre rattling on the blog in recent days, most of which is unnecessary, and caused by impatience in my view.
What do we want most for and from Celtic at this time?
Do we want a clear statement of Celtic’s position more than we want the club ‘to do the right thing’?
Do we want words or actions?
Many of us have made our position crystal clear to the Club. From the articles written by Paul67 and the comments on this and many other blogs, to the statements from the Trust and CSA and the ghuys and ghals in the Green Brigade, to letters written to the club from many individual supporters, the Leadership at Celtic are fully cognisant of the overwhelming opposition to Fubar FC being given any accomodations outwith the fair application of the rules of the game.
The Leadership of Celtic know full well the views of the fans.
Celtic of course has a pivotal role to play in the management of the outcome of this sorry mess. Stating the Club’s position and obtaining the club’s preferred outcome may necessarily be exclusive. The Values of The Club and of The Game are at stake, and ought not be subject to crude PR. The reaction to Michael Johnstone’s prostitution of the values of the Game at the weekend are testament to the wisdom of keeping schtum at this time.
Silence does not indicate inaction, and neither does it betray duplicity. Silence is simply disconcerting for those of us who want to see our desired outcome delivered with due haste.
I have been a critic of the Board on many topics over a number of years, but I will not criticise them at this moment because I believe they are working to achieve the same outcome as the rest of us, but are doing so in a manner which does not fracture the Game in Scotland in the long term. Perhaps I’ll rephrase that: I want to believe that the club are working to achieve the same outcome as the rest of us.
That outcome is a Game in Scotland in which the result is determined by the collective abilities of the players, respecting the full rules of the Game which are applied impartially. That’s first base. Meritocracy.
My anger is caused by the realisation that the SPL has been a bent game from its inception, that Rangers, through deception and bad faith, have corrupted the competition from the inside out. I simply demand we take this singular opportunity to remediate it. The values of the Game of Football must be held above all other considerations.
I am impatient for Celtic to help deliver this outcome, but nevertheless am sufficiently confident that they are working to achieve this to give them the time and space to get on with it without my complaint or criticism.
Fubar FC are beyond saving. They are gone. Celtic know this. The Game in Scotland will adapt to their demise. Playing the long game, cards close, will deliver our ambitions for Celtic and the Game in Scotland more effectively than soapbox campaigning.
We just need a little more patience.
TBB
So what have we learned so far? Nobody wants to “buy” the rangers. Same as last week same as last month…
Big thanks to Celtic First for his words of wisdom re: Bilbao and San Sebastian
Canny wait for the pinxtos (thumbs up)
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon on 9 May, 2012 at 10:21:
“If Airdrie became the huns, would anyone notice the difference?
“The strips might change I suppose”
Blue and white with an orange sash – what’s not to like?
Paul67
combining “Airdrie United” and “Rangers FC” I had a look to see what combined name we can have for your suggestion.
Redirecting A Fundraiser FC
Frigid Reincarnated User FC
My personal favourite
Cardigan Turd Refineries FC
Cardigans Derriere Unfit FC
Fragrance Dirtier Undies FC
Ruddier Sectarian Fringe FC
Hail Hail
To Orcs remember
As somebody commented recently ( and worth repeating) – if your dog dies and you put wheels on it and drag it around town – it´s still deid FFS!!
Again lifted off RTC poster :))))))
TBB
if the action is legitimising a tax fraud then I have to completely disagree with you
Hail Hail
The Battered Bunnet on 9 May, 2012 at 10:29 said:
Well said.
Bloody well said.
Sorry Paul. My son Dominic’s football team, Jimmy Johnstone football academy has the long term let for Cathkin Park. incidentally the club house is full of their trophies they won last year legitimately.