Police Scotland’s minor incidents, Dave King, brilliant again

I know and respect Canon Tom White, who was attacked and spat upon after Mass as an Orange Walk passed St Alphonsus at the Barras.  Fr Tom is parish priest at St Marys’s, Calton, the church were Br Walfrid decided to form a football club in 1887.  He minsters to an overwhelmingly underprivileged part of the city, just as it was when Celtic were formed.  When you speak to the man, you appreciate the drive to use our great football club for the reasons it was first conceived – to help those in need.

Police Scotland initially described what happened, not as a crime, but as a “minor incident” until the Archdiocese drew attention to the matter, at which point they realised this could not be swept under the brogues.  It is now recorded as a hate crime.

Tweets of support from politicians are useless if they do not address the key question: what level of assault is required on a priest before Police Scotland are prepared, under their own measures, to consider a crime has been committed?

Today we know that level is higher than it should be, and that is the issue politicians should address.

On Friday, lawyers for Sports Direct went to court to assert their rights to match “some or all” of a third party’s offer to sell Newco merchandise.  These rights were acquired under a contract, signed by Newco under Dave King’s regime.

The court issued an interim injunction, stopping any Newco branded merchandise from being sold (including replica strips).

The initial contract Dave King agreed with Sports Direct, allowed the retailer to match whatever offer Newco could get from a third party.  Sports Direct are, therefore, entitled to the retail profits from Newco merchandise for a period which has not been confirmed yet.  These profits will be significant.

This clause should have been cash neutral for Newco.  They simply needed to get a competitive bids from other retailers, then allow Sports Direct to pass or take whatever they wanted – on the same terms.

Now we are in a different space.  Any contracts made with other retailers are legally enforceable by the retailer, but impossible for Newco to deliver without satisfying Sports Direct.  Or, I suppose, committing Contempt of Court – you know Dave!

I suspect they simply forgot about the Sports Direct contract, which speaks of a competency you and I can scarcely comprehend.  Rushing out a blabbering statement about the SPFL chairman on Saturday has to be the most transparent attempt to pull wool over their own supporters’ eye yet.

The worst (best) possible person campaigned to get control of Newco.  He chased one of Europe’s richest men away.  Each year he re-invents the same old garbage about having everything in place, while the only achievement he manages to record is the compliance of pet journalists and media organisations.

The entire club has reached an utterly brilliant level of dysfunction.  You know how this ends.