Principled resignations, ASA withdraw adjudication

I cannot fathom why someone would leak their intentions to quit as chairman of a football club.  Either Walter Smith is sufficiently alarmed by the conduct of his club to resign, or he should be busy working to resolve matters.  Leaking that he intends to resign will surely only add to the nonsense that surrounds the club.

Some will believe that Smith, who accepted the position as chairman of Rangers International when season tickets went on sale in May, can shuffle of the scene now 34,000 tickets have been sold.  Shareholder votes will determine the future of the club, in this instance, the identity of the chairman has little reach beyond parting fans with their cash.

Some investors may consider a more immediate problem is why the club are burning a hugely disproportionate amount of cash to secure promotion from the third tier of Scottish football, and why a management structure is not in place to deploy resources more effectively.

In light of Francisco Sandaza’s off-the-cuff comments to Tommy in Glasgow, and his subsequent dismissal by Rangers International, we urge Mr McCoist to be more cautious than he was after his team’s spirited, but ultimately fruitless, performance in Forfar on Saturday.  It would be unfortunate if McCoist transgressed a condition of employment and suffered accordingly.

Advertising Standards Authority ruling withdrawn

It doesn’t rain but it pours.  The Independent Review Process of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has looked into the ASA’s recent, and widely reported, ruling on Rangers International’s claim on football titles won by a liquidated club. The Review found that “it was a procedural flaw for the ASA to have relied on an extract only of a report sent to it by the advertiser”.

Further, the review process ruled that “there was also the risk of a substantial flaw of adjudication in the distinction that had been made between ‘club’ and ‘company’, especially in the light of previous ASA decisions about companies that change hands and the circumstances in which the new company could or could not trade off the reputation of the old company”.

The Chairman of the ASA, Lord Smith of Finsbury, as decided to reopen the ASA’s investigation into the case and to withdraw the published adjudication, which favoured the advertiser.  Withdrawing this adjudication does not infer that a different outcome will subsequently be reached.  To use a football analogy, it’s half time and they’re all square.

An interesting, and potentially critical part of the story, is that after the initial ASA decision was issued, the club’s web site noted that their submission to the process included information that a “panel of the London Stock Exchange” supported their claim.

The Stock Exchange subsequently appeared surprised at this assertion, so much so that the club promptly withdrew the claim from the web article.

“You’re history, that’s what you are, na na na na”.
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