Today’s pre-trial hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court against Charles Green, Craig Whyte and others involved in the business of Newco Rangers brings the state of the football club into stark focus.
Charles Green is accused of raising £21m for Newco Rangers by fraud via their December 2012 IPO. He is also accused of defrauding Sevco 5088 Ltd, the company who were awarded the right to buy the assets of liquidated oldco by administrators’ Duff and Phelps.
Craig Whyte maintained that he, or his associates, had a controlling interest in Sevco 5088 Ltd, and produced a famous recording allegedly featuring Green tell him “You are Sevco”. Although Duff and Phelps contracted to sell to Sevco 5088, another company, Sevco Scotland Ltd, actually bought the basket of assets.
Sevco Scotland was controlled by Charles Green or his associates. The company was renamed to The Rangers Football Club Ltd and is now a football club, sitting top of the Scottish Championship.
While in charge of Newco Rangers, Green’s PR issued a number of confusing statements around Sevco 5088, insisting both that he made certain arrangements with Whyte which he had no intention of honouring, and that he was entitled to switch the beneficiary of the Rangers liquidation Sale and Purchase agreement to Sevco Scotland Ltd. A move he claimed was to give the company a Scottish registration number.
The remainder of the various rap sheets tell grubby tales. Green is accused of fraudulently obtaining the £5.5m he used to acquire the assets of Rangers, and of using £200k from Rangers Youth Development Ltd to aid the purchase. Whyte is accused of defrauding Ticketus and Merchant Capital of £28m, and various other crimes and misdemeanours, but these issues are a side matter. The action regarding the future concerning football is with Charles Green.
Think back to his counsel’s words as he sought funding for his defence from Newco Rangers last month. The £21m IPO money and those assets purchased by Sevco Scotland were ploughed into the club now sitting at the top of the Championship. Should these charged be upheld, the assets would be proceeds of crime.
Green was allowed to issue unfathomable edicts as a desperate PR campaign blamed others for bizarre conspiracies. This was enough for an already-compliant media and he played to the gallery magnificently. Supporters lapped it up.
Under pressure to provide the stock market with a clean bill of health, the club went to the Masons for a report in April 2013, Pinsent Masons, who in conjunction with auditors, Deloitte, found none of the alleged links between Green and Whyte surrounding the asset sale and setting up of Newco. I understand the investigation heard no testimony from Craig Whyte, so found no evidence of anything inappropriate.
All of this provided temporary respite on the park and in the Scottish media but the ultimate Day of Reckoning was never going to be affected by PR. Should charges against Green be upheld, the only unfathomable consideration will be what future a football club with no legally acquired assets has.
There is a chance that all the dominoes will fall in Newco’s favour. That all charges are unsuccessful, that Mike Ashley relinquishes control of all contracts and that investment will be found to meet medium-term cash requirements. It is also possible that one or more of these dominoes will remain standing, and that nothing will ever be the same again.
Best of luck to all parties. I wonder when the penny will drop with those recently rooting for Green to be put away of the consequences……
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Pfayr, s92 as it happens ;-)
Bada bing,
Actually……..according to our website we have….. 13, yip full team and two subs!
MARSPAPA
Happy New Year Buddy. Christie will play on the left wing like every other central midfielder plays in RD’s system. We have mega problems, how do we sort them. HH.
MARSPAPA
oops ???! HH
Our old friend rangers tax case tweeted this earlier
which I think we have all heard about before on here. This may yet
take part in the proceedings
http://www.debtscotland.com/generalinsolvency.cfm#gratuitous
Fieldofdrams
Look out for benefit figure and recoverable amount
Recoverable amount ….should give you a idea of what you’re after
marspapa-Weefra beat me to it he will start off on the wide left of midfield,alongside the inexperienced Tierney HH He looks as if he has a bit of pace to get away from a man
Sftb
Ah I understand your post about Mr Kelly from the other day a bit better now!
Field of Dreams
Good on ye mate much appreciated.
Reference Ryan Christie – Great that we have another young Celtic supporter in the team.
Mars/WeeF/BB
Is Christie fit and ready to play?
Hamiltontim,
You know that bit in Blazing Saddles – ‘It’s HEDLEY’ (Hedley Lamarr rolls eyes…)
It’s DRAMS – fieldofdrams – not DREAMS. That’ll teach me to try to be clever with a blog name :-)
Hats off for all your efforts re the OBAF Act.
Weefrathetim
Happy New Year to you and D too:)
Aye you could be right, hopefully him and Allen get a run together
I’ve never guessed a substitution of Ronnys yet, who knows but I Hope and pray he gets it right sooner rather than later, the qualifiers will be upon us in jig time.
Anyhoo, hope all is well in your own wee piece of paradise
Take care ;)
PFAYR,
I feel you have a knowledge of the law. Is it wise to make comment on here about the court proceedings?
HAMILTONTIM on 5TH JANUARY 2016 9:27 PM
I believe Ryan will not start training until the end of January.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Hamiltontim
I asked.this question the other day
Has anyone any update on our injured players
Mulgrew
Janko
Armstrong
boyata
Christie and Bailly (Gk)
Don’t think I got a reply.
Maybe someone has an update.
Bada Bing :)
I was hoping he would play up top in the diamond ( no.10)
In a 3-5-2 with Allen in the middle behind him I think they could open up teams…. But I know I’m dated… Lol I know I’m outdated and out voted in my views, as I said previously the next six months will be very interesting
FoDrams
Oops, sorry about that mate. Back to work in the morning so my eyes will be better attuned by lunch time! :-)
Many thanks.
Lennybhoy
Cheers, I thought that.
Marspapa
Christie is out and won’t start training until the end of the month! :-)
Yesterday, people were discussing their preferred line-up for this weekend ….
I believe in rewarding success ….. so, even though I didn’t see the u21 game, people said they played some decent football (unlike the seniors on the weekend) ….
so, how about the youths that beat the accies 4-1 get a run out this weekend. I think they have earned it.
(Of course, I reserve the right to complain about RD if they lose and we dont get the treble!) :)
HT
Correct, I don’t think young Ryan will be fit till February.
Sipsini
We are all superb and survived the wettest December on record. The winds were our biggest issues. Never slept two nights in a row last week. It’s amazing how the ole alchohol can equalise that. Lol. Hope you well buddy, see you soon. HH
Pop ups for Skybet and William Hills worse than ever
BIG-CUP-WINNERS on 5TH JANUARY 2016 9:26 PM
Reference Ryan Christie – Great that we have another young Celtic supporter in the team.
Too true,canny get enough fans in the team. HH
MARSPAPA on 5TH JANUARY 2016 9:43 PM
I have no idea how long the others are out for but Mulgrew and Janko seem to be long term.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Hamiltontim
Is it fair to say he ( Christie) won’t be ready until the middle of February, that’s a pity can’t wait to see him in the hoops, what about the boy Mcginn he looks as if he coukd well do a job in Broonies position, young pacy Scottish talent playing in their favoured position would be pleasing on the eye, movement, pace, talent and technical ability what’s not to like, ably backed up with a few seasoned pros ;)
If the young guy is fit mid February, he’ll be no different to many January window signings.
Marspapa
I definitely think that we’ll be keeping tabs on McGinn as a possible replacement for Broonie in the future.
67Heaven 7:05 pm
Was that the Loving Cup in the foreground, full of (Kevin) Barry’s tea?
On the football programme on now on BBC Alba watch out for No 11 that is young Master Hebcelt
Bada – I’m using an ad blocker browser. The site was almost unusable for me prior to doing this.
And no.pop ups for gambling sites or the army!
BIG-CUP-WINNERS on 5TH JANUARY 2016 9:26 PM
!!BADA BING!! on 5TH JANUARY 2016 10:02 PM
Had a few discussions with Marspapa today. One of them was about Celtic minded Players (Fans). We both agreed that whilst it is great to have Celtic Fans in the Team but we also agreed that it is important to have Celtic Fans that have quality. We cited Peter Grant who as we all know is a Celtic Fan but did he really have the quality we needed. Perhaps opinions come in to it but we need quality over being a fan every day of the week, especially with the type of football Ronny wants to play.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Once Scott Brown is fit, watch us romp to the title. You don’t miss the water till the well runs dry. Explains the importance of Scott to this team. Were is his replacement coming from???! If Scott Allen can’t do it, no one will. HH
Ooooops, IMHO. HH
Lennybhoy@10:10 …
on one hand, I agree with you …. but, I thought the team on the weekend looked short of heart …. young KT being the obvious exception. if there were 11 bhoys playing, they may not be the most talented, but I think there would be a few more who would at least leave it all out on the park ….
so, more bhoys not win us more games, but it might stop the listless performances of late … at least, I would hope so.
HEBCELT on 5TH JANUARY 2016 10:08 PM
I have been told I am watching CBB but I am recording the programme, I will look out for young Hebcelt.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
We’ve missed Broonie without a doubt. However, I think Scott is a different kind of player – the creative type rather than the errr……. mental type!
Weefra…
Good to here all is well mate, team wise we have been through worse, although it is getting frustrating watching us :( HH
Hebcelt…
I have recorded your daughters programme, I will look forward to watching it tomorrow. HH
weefra ….
I will admit that I dont think the team would have been as lifeless on the weekend, had SB been playing … but to me, he and NB just dont seem to fit well together as the 2 in RD’s system …. so that is a problem….
NB, on his day, is probably our best passer, so hard to leave him out … but dont see RD playing an extra mid …. so, not sure what the answer is.
Parkheadcumsalford
I’m commenting on the law of the land …not the particular case
The info I’ve given is freely available to all
Ok ghuys, lots to do tomorrow with mucking out and replacing certain fittings. So I will wish you all a very good night, and let’s be glad we are Celtic supporters. HH