So what do we know?
Need for clarification
Rangers’ potential new owner has asked for clarification on what he is buying, a franchise with a place in the SPL or the middle of a doughnut, with the ability to apply for membership to the Scottish Football League.
That clarification has not been delivered, which must undermine Rangers sale.
Rangers want an extension
Despite needing clarification, Rangers administrators, Duff and Phelps, failed to attend the meeting and asked for a further extension (it’s like the 2007-08 league season all over again). Curious, to say the least. Clearly they were not in a position to offer the SPL information that would assist their case.
To be revealed before 30 May
The next meeting is on 30 May, by then the First Tier Tribunal on Rangers Employee Benefit Trust will have reported. There will also be a considerable amount of information in the public domain on how Rangers operated under Sir David Murray. With all this information available, it will be impossible for the SPL to further delay publishing the findings of their inquiry into Improper Registration of Players by Rangers. In disciplinary terms, this is the big one.
What about Craig Whyte?
Bill Miller was appointed preferred bidder on Thursday but, as floating charge holder, Craig Whyte can ask the court to block stop Duff and Phelps disposing of Ibrox. We don’t know Craig Whyte’s mind, or if he has a deal with Miller, but if they are not working in partnership, you can expect a late and effective legal block put in place to stop the disposal of Ibrox.
So what does it mean?
The chance of a Newco being in place, in the SPL or SFL, for the start of next season has never been more remote. On 7 May they don’t have a buyer, after 10 weeks they don’t have the stadium and the moral outrage over what looked likely to be voted through today is beginning to gain traction.
Today was the best chance Rangers had to cut a quick deal with the SPL. Further delay only means more time for the other clubs to work on contingency plans and to be lobbied by their own supporters.
We are six days away from the end of the season and Duff and Phelps have to put enough of a confirmed deal in place to convince someone to part with £11.2m. They don’t have passage into the league and they don’t have a stadium to sell.
If Bill Miller stays in the game until the end of the week and submits a formal offer for the stadium and other assets, we can expect Craig Whyte to go to court to halt the process. I cannot see how or why Miller, who doesn’t even have a passport and has made no moved to come over and negotiate in person, would put £11.2m on the table when he doesn’t know what he is buying, or what sporting and financial penalties are coming his way.
Rangers will have to overcome all these obstacles long before 30 May if they are to stay in the game long enough for Newco to inherit their place in the SPL but their chances of surviving that long is dependent on a positive outcome from the meeting that has now been postponed.
They look marooned; I don’t think they are going to make it.
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.
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The Ross County aspect is interesting and I remember the main Celtic website congratulating them on their promotion. I don’t think they done this in the previous years after a quick search on the website.
http://www.celticfc.net/newsstory?item=2471
I don’t think many of the clubs in the SPL can be trusted to do the right thing and Celtic probably know this. Yorkston is pro Rangers before he is pro Dunfermline IMO.
This whole scenario is like one of those convoluted killing methods adopted by Bond baddies,as parodied by Austin Powers.Except pasher.
Thanks up and over lol
Apparently the Greek parliament have asked the SPL to vote on their austerity measures next week.
I concur with your appraisal – see you and raise you:
D&P court case .v. Collier Bristow (October)
FSA investigation into Liberty
………….. and the small matter of an investigation by Plod.
Like Kojo – am still laughin’ (for the moment)!
Craig Whyte now talking to Kennedy …….it gets better by the minute
˙sʇɹɐʍ ǝɥʇ ǝɹoubı ˙suoıdɯɐɥɔ ǝɥʇ ǝɹɐ ǝʍ ˙ɔɟ ɔıʇןǝɔ ןıǝu /o\ ouɐʞ ˙pʍ sɯɐǝquooɯ on 7 May, 2012
=====================================
That there is cool so it is…….
Oops, I’m supposed to be away………..
Byeeeee
Paul67 on 7 May, 2012 at 17:19:
You remember what happened to Third Lanark?
The chances of that scenario happening increase by the day.
The smell of liquid gets stronger by the day…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
It’s like havin’ an illness for years…you get accustomed to it,but you don’t like it. Then…..they come up with a cure for it. You’re elated. Then…they tell you – hold on a minute,pal,we might have been wrong but there’s still a possibility that the cure MIGHT work…..we have to admit,we just don’t know.
You’re going to have to wait….how long? Well we don’t know that either.
So,you just end up feeling even sicker.
Young James mc Clean,just walked into a bar(Telstar) in Derry were his family and friends were watching the squad being named..I’d say the drink is flowing in the ‘star’
What is the Stars on 7 May, 2012 at 17:24 said:
I am off down the back of the bus to watch my video collection of various old firm games (all which rangers win of course)
=================================
Are they all pre 1998 videos? Celtic won them all 3-0 after that. Amazing run.
“And Where diz Whytey,fit intae awe this?”Nutsy , wants tae Know.
“Whytey? Who’s That?” questions, Luigi, Still Nervous.
“That Reminds Me… I Figure that Whytey ,wull Play the
Part of . Pontius”.. Beams.. Alyss.
“Who’s Pontius?” puzzles. Nutsy.
“Trying tae Figger oot awe awe this is Too Much Fur Me..” Complains , Kojo..
“I’ll Think About it… TOMORROW..” Breezes.. Scarlet
“FugggggggggggggggggettaBouttttttttttttittttttt!” .. Counsels, Vito.
Hmmmmmmmm… Muses….Sir Paul.
Kojo
Still, Laughin’ fit tae Burst.
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon..!!..Truth and Justice will always prevail on 7 May, 2012 at 17:35 said:
Craig Whyte now talking to Kennedy …….it gets better by the minute
=============================================
These off the radar wealth types just love attention don’t they? Must be discussing tax strategy. Allegedly.
Some guy called Kennedy was getting a visit from Hector lately. Must be a different one. Because the Kennedy Whyte knows is the kind of guy who rescues clubs like rangers from being liquidated. £150,000,000 about to leave his bank account I hear.
I hear a lot of things. The doctor says the medicine should help with that.
In Year of our lord 2012, Sir Craigy bhoy holds the Aces.
http://i.imgur.com/JDe85.jpg
I thought this letter posted on football ground hopper website footballgroundsguide.com deserved a bigger audience. If this is the strength of feeling out there you have absolutely nothing to worry about.
—————————————————————————-
This letter addressed to our Chairman who is on the SPL board has appeared on our forum today and similar letters are appearing on club forums all over Scotland.
Dear Mr Brown
We’ve never met, nor would I expect you to know me. I’m one of the rank-and-file St Johnstone season ticket holders that turns up week after week to support my club.
I have watched Saints home and away – including two European trips – for 40 years and have held a season ticket for around 30 years. In the mid 1980s, when the club was at its lowest ebb and needed every penny it could get, I spent two weeks’ take-home pay on becoming a shareholder.
Nowadays, my two children also attend matches and they have a season ticket of their own (not to mention the replica strips, posters etc that generate further income for the club). They are on the point of being ‘converted for life’, just as I was 40 years ago.
In short, Mr Brown, I am the supporter that every football club chairman dreams of having. Whilst following St Johnstone, I’ve been abused, bottled and chased by other ‘fans’; I’ve had to endure vile sectarian chanting every time Celtic or Rangers come to town; my domestic calendar has been wrecked by midweek matches in Stranraer and bizarre kick-off times to meet TV demands.
Through it all, I have kept coming back – but now, enough is enough.
Should you vote for, or be complicit in, any arrangement which allows Rangers FC (or any sort of artificially-created ‘successor club’) to remain in the SPL in 2012-13, my children and I will never return to an SPL match, home or away.
You must be aware that there are hundreds of other supporters at St Johnstone who feel as strongly as this, and many thousands of others at clubs across Scotland.
Over 15 years and more, Rangers FC has behaved disgracefully and illegally. Not content with already being rich and powerful, they have cheated, manipulated and bullied smaller clubs like ours. In recent weeks, Rangers’ appalling behaviour has been magnified by their complete lack of shame for their past crimes and by the nauseating sense of self-entitlement which they have shown.
Rangers simply must be punished appropriately for their misdeeds, and expulsion from the SPL must form a part of this punishment.
As a St Johnstone shareholder, I am well aware of the potential financial implications of an SPL without Rangers (though I believe these will prove considerably less severe in practice than has been predicted). But this isn’t about money – as you yourself have said, St Johnstone FC could survive in a league without Rangers – it’s about fair play, honesty and integrity.
The choices that you and other SPL Chairmen and SPL Board members have to make are choices between right and wrong. It has been notable that even Rangers’ manager has agreed this week that a severe punishment such as expulsion would be “the right thing to do, morally”.
If the SPL has become so dependent on one club that it cannot take the morally-correct decision and, rather, has to invent ‘special treatments’ to allow Rangers to remain members, then I cannot bring myself to return, ever.
Mr Brown, both you, and especially your father before you, are honourable men without whom our club would simply not exist in its current form. Your achievements for, and commitment to, St Johnstone have been simply outstanding.
So on 30 April and subsequently, you have a choice about what I will tell my children in years to come: it will be either “Steve Brown is the Chairman who sold the soul of his club by allowing cheats to prosper, and that’s why we’re not going back”, or “Steve Brown is the Chairman who voted for the principles of truth and justice – that’s what St Johnstone will always stand for, and that’s why we will always support them”.
Well as the old saying claims ……
Only fools rush in
The Vote delay show the total panic in the whole spl if they make the wrong decision.
Allow newco and fans abandon the spl or allow sporting integrity to prevail and maybe after a few years the punishment the gers receive will be a warning to every club who break the rules.
Bill Murray has 2 weeks to decide to even spend a £1 on the rotten corpse of RIA.
The FTT and the 2 contract results may finally come in and bury them before the vote on the 30th of may.
Digginaholetaehidein csc
how the flippity flip could kennedy buy whyte’s shares when the stock market has suspended trading in them???
needstoliedown.csc
Ernie
You are a coward! A big fearty! A scaredy cat!
MWD
Robert tressell
And if Huns Newco do get into the SPL next year we can look forward to giving them a few more 3-0 drubbings (maybe even 4-0 and 5-0)
No matter what happens Rangers (division 3,SPL or anywhere in between) they are going to be so financially hamstrung that I can even see myself feeling sorry for them in a few years (ok maybe not)
And yet people on here are getting all worked up about conspiracy theories
A couple of seasons back the Celtic board was being accused on here of conspiring to lose the league to keep Rangers solvent
Madness
Really going this time.
Try not to miss my incisive commentary which is based largely on a total lack of understanding and what mood I happen to be in.
Just noticed I am wearing a blue T-shirt today. Not like me. Missus says I suit blue (which was quickly qualified with ‘you suit green too’ when she saw a mixture of disappointment and tears fill my eyes……..)
Still as of next season the only time I need avoid wearing blue is when St Johnstone come calling…… or Ross County. or dundee
ernie lynch on 7 May, 2012 at 16:57:
“If someone were to write to Celtic and say they won’t renew their season ticket until they know for sure that it will iclude old firm games what do you think Celtic would say?”
Why don’t you do it and then you can tell us all what the reply is?
So no sign of Stokesy in the 23 man squad or the 5 standby, but there is a Celt there:
Republic of Ireland Squad:
Shay Given – Aston Villa
Keiren Westwood – Sunderland
David Forde – Millwall
Richard Dunne – Aston Villa
John O’Shea – Sunderland
Sean St. Ledger – Leicester City
Darren O’Dea – Celtic
Stephen Ward – Wolverhampton Wanderers
Stephen Kelly – Fulham
Kevin Foley – Wolverhampton Wanderers
Glenn Whelan – Stoke City
Darron Gibson – Everton
Keith Andrews – West Bromwich Albion
Keith Fahey – Birmingham City
Damien Duff – Fulham
Aiden McGeady – Spartak Moscow
Stephen Hunt – Wolverhampton Wanderers
James McClean – Sunderland
Robbie Keane – LA Galaxy
Kevin Doyle – Wolverhampton Wanderers
Shane Long – West Bromwich Albion
Simon Cox – West Bromwich Albion
Jon Walters – Stoke City
Standby List
Darren Randolph – Motherwell
Paul McShane – Crystal Palace
Paul Green – Unattached
Seamus Coleman – Everton
Andy Keogh – Millwall.
Well well welll the spl/sfa have adjourned again (surprise surprise) as William Wallace once said you lot would argue anything cause ye canny even agree on the colour of SH**E
Whatisthestars – the madness is kinda inevitable in the ‘fog of rangers administration, liquidation and death’ –
Whatever happens to them they are fecked.
Right, awa fur ma tea
Paul67 Your post is based on normal rules being applied but this is Rangers we are talking about the Establishment team and when have normal rules applied to them.Now this administration process and the administrators themselves have acted in an anything but normal way.The reason we are having a delay in the voteing is in order for clubs to be given more information from the administrators who didnt bother to turn up for the meeting today but called the shots.In my time in this bigoted wee country I have learned never to expect the expected when the shaky hand folk are involved.H.H.
@DavidHillier: D&P statement makes it quite clear that they expect RFC to be owned by BM before 30 May. They believe new owner should be involved in votes.
The FTT result will only be published when all the i’s have been dotted and all the t’s crossed. This decision will be scrutinised more than any FTT decision ever presented previously. It will be disected by lawyers, journalists, sports journalist, clubs, fans, MP’s , MSP’s and just about any organisation or individual with an interest in taxation.
This decision will have to be air tight like no other decision that has gone previously.
I believe it may well be sometime before we see a decision publicised.
MWD
up_over_goal on 7 May, 2012 at 17:32 said:
I agree, powder is dry, Ammo is stored and I think the board in a position to play poker with a tight hand.
Still don’t know what to do about my SB. But love the wording in the renewal notes…..2 games v rangers( or their successor). Could it be Barca?
have gone for lille @1/4 v caen in the 6pm kick-off
caen are down the table and lille are at home and still in
with a shout of the title
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17983480#
anybody know if neil doncaster has got relatives in turkey?
hen1rik on 7 May, 2012 at 17:52:
“D&P statement makes it quite clear that they expect RFC to be owned by BM before 30 May.”
I think we all know by now that anything Duff & Phelps say should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Saint stivs,
if you are still about,would there be any benefit in waiting
until a couple of days before i go to book somewhere,or do the
prices stay much the same anyway?
coorslad on 7 May, 2012 at 17:37 said:
Young James mc Clean,just walked into a bar(Telstar) in Derry were his family and friends were watching the squad being named..I’d say the drink is flowing in the ‘star’
———————————–
I was reading yesterday the parallels between Man City’s title win in 68 vs today.
Its quite incredible if I can find the link, however, what struck me was that Sunderland went to OT on the last day of the season and beat them 2-1.
City won 4-3 at Newcastle.
What price for Jamesy to score at the weekend ?
Paul67 says they are more or less done for ??
Yet a lot of posts written in response with more than a hint of paranoia – understandable – myself included – I am not in a position to assume they are dead
All the information suggests they are done for – but I am missing a few facts – and in the absence of any statements from the people that have the power to kill them – I refuse to celebrate I have this image in my head of secret meetings with lawyers trying to find a “fit and proper” way of letting them off the hook
As for Celtic I do think our board (I know I am a long time supporter of Lawell and Co – and I believe given the chaos down the road I was right to support them) can make any comment simply because there is nothing to comment about – nothing has been decided
I remain confused and doubtful that the right thing will be done
67ECW
ernie – maybe they’ll offer you the chance to buy on of those season tickets minus the old firm games ;-)
gordybhoy64 on 7 May, 2012 at 17:57 said:
Saint stivs,
if you are still about,would there be any benefit in waiting
until a couple of days before i go to book somewhere,or do the
prices stay much the same anyway?
—————————–
Its just a risk bud, and your going into touristy season, so you could lose out, or pick up a bargain (but not much less than the prices being quoted just now imho).
I would book now to be safe.
MWD I have athritis in ma kneck and also not as young as I used to be, reading you’re posts whilst standing on my heid is a nightmare, must you? Next you’ll be informing the Laptop Loyal about the imminent multi million pound casino complex …….. has that building work got the go ahead yet? tic tock
Im happy to take the Celtic board on trust.
It seems to me there is a football groundswell against a SPL Newco. It is important I think that the current scenario (at least publically) should remain ‘Celtic free’. The general public view will be more impressed by this than an apparently Celtic led campaign and therefore biased.
Celtic seem to have played this correctly although I am also assuming there is more going on in the background.
Make no mistake there are real consequences for Celtic whatever happens and not all of them, in the short term at least, positive.