Since Stewart Regan’s letter to the 93 SFA member clubs was uncovered by STV yesterday evening I’ve read what feels to me like unfounded concern at the news. Regan asked clubs to declare “any written agreement(s) falling within the scope of Article 12.3 which has/have not previously been lodged with the Scottish FA in the previous ten years, in respect of any current or former players of your club.”
The most pleasing point is that the letter was dated 9 March. A look at the chronology of events is perhaps useful.
Rangers troubles with HMRC have been public knowledge since 2010 but it was only on 22 February this year that questions were first raised (here, of course) as to whether the club registered the Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) payments with the SFA. Everyone knew Rangers players had EBTs, we knew HMRC were contesting that these should be taxed, but there was no reason to believe Rangers did not to declare them to the SFA (unless you count the “sniff test” on Sir David…).
The EBTs were noted in Rangers audited accounts so it appears clear that Rangers at least notionally believed they were both legal (which they were) and legally executed (which we will soon find out). When we took a shot in the dark on 22 February and posed the registration question, there was no reason to assume the SFA board had even considered the issue. I’m sure they hadn’t and like the rest of us, were caught cold by the question.
Earlier that day the SFA announced an inquiry into Rangers headed by Lord Nimmo Smith. His report was considered by the board on 8 March, when they presumably decided to send letters out to the member clubs the next day. In short, this issue has been active at the SFA every day since it was first raised.
Had we known this at the time I suspect our view of the (apparent) SFA inactivity would have been different. Maybe a PR lesson there.
Several friends and one brother have suggested that Stewart Regan’s letter is a prelude to an amnesty. I doubt this. The SFA chief exec does not have the authority to offer an amnesty and in his letter Regan says, “the Scottish FA reserves the right to refer any Club to the Compliance Officer, which might result in proceedings before the Judicial Panel”.
The letter is an attempt to establish if the problem is prevalent in one, or more than one club, a perfectly reasonable step at this stage. I’m guessing around 90 clubs will be able to respond within minutes.
As a result of this letter, the phoney war is over. Comments like “there were no double contracts” can no longer be reported as though they have some validity to questions over unregistered payments to players. Even those reporting from the back of the class will now have to recognise the validity of the questions we have been asking for weeks.
More on the nature of these questions later, specifically, is it cheating?
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The problem is that most companies don’t keep paperwork for 10 years, the HMRC recommend that companies keep them for 6 years if I remember correctly.
KJamBhoy on 21 March, 2012 at 11:46 said:
‘Eugene @the_eriugena
Strathclyde Police grilled on links with the media. Coming up Rob Shorthouse’
And as an added bonus it’s ‘#the woman on the left’ examining him.
Beauty and the Beast?
Paul 67
agreed , SFA are doing a sweep of all clubs , to identify the extent of the problem, which combined with the FTT findings will provide ample evidence of Dignity’s wrong-doing.
However, the records trawl only goes back 10 years (EBT time), however given SDM’s rather pathetic understanding of what constitutes a contract (Sky TV evidence) and CO impersonation of Private Shultz , I believe there is enough information available to justify an independent judicial SFA inquiry (Nimmo 2) into the period from 1988 , SDM’s starting point,
This will put under threat their 9IAR.
The role of the agents must also be closely examined , I am not sure what sanctions can be applied to those agents involved in these double contracts.
Seems to me that when the FTT publishes it verdict then the overwhelming evidence will bury the reputation of SDM and take down Dignity with the SFA being forced to suspend Dignity’s licence . There will be no Dignity for 1 or 2 seasons , as it will take that long to sort out their legal mess and also for Scottish football to completely re-organise it’s governance and league structure.
Still fun watching the media muppetsCFC
I think any club who has experienced administration or change of ownership in the last 20 years may have used EBT’s.
Motherwell may have used the EBT system under John Boyle.
I suspect that any club who had big name players but didn’t appear to generate the money to actually pay for them could also be in the frame. I suspect Dundee used them when they had Ravenelli & Cannigia amongst others. The clubs who have lost out the most appear to be the likes of Aberdeen and Hibs who although have decent numbers of supporters turning up each week, decent training facilities and stadia have had relatively little success in the last 15 to 20 years and have went down or almost went down a division more than once.
Will these clubs who have been very organised and honest let any club away with cheating? I very much doubt it. Their fans would not allow it or walk away. The pressure is mounting on the SFA from all angles. The sporting integrity is at risk here and a whole host of supporters could be lost to the Scottish game forever.
This is now the time for the SFA/SPL to lead from the front and do the right thing here. Rangers supporters I have even spoken to have said that if they are guilty they should get the punishment they deserve and be demoted to the 3rd division. The future of the game in Scotland is at risk here.
LB
Brian Quinn = LEGEND !!
Rangers, Hearts for sure. Dundee a good bet for the 3rd team, they were swimming in deep waters for a while.
PAUL67
Sorry but I have not read your post, I want to get this request in before too many replies.
I’m trying to purchase the magazine but when I click on the paypal link I continually get an error please advise me if you have an alternate way of purchasing, thankyou.
windsor.bhoy@yahoo.com
Kayal,
Nice to get that one nipped in the bud. What about Dundee?? Can see Middlesbrough, possibly Newcastle getting looked at for EBT.
Just caught up from yesterday.
Someone was saying that Lionel Messi wasn’t the top scorer for Barca.
Here’s the Team & Individual Records, FC Barcelona Records
http://arxiu.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/club/historia/records/rec_individuals.html
Top goalscorer in history: Paulino Alcántara, with 357 goals in 357 games, between the seasons 1912-27 (215 goals in friendly games, 5 in the Spanish Cup, 98 in the Catalonian Championship, 35 in the Spanish Championship, 3 in the Pyrenees Cup, 1 in the Copa Barcelona)
From the Celtic Annual Report for 2004/05
The Celtic Plc Employee Benefit Trust was established during the year to provide benefits to certain employees, former employees or their families or any charity. Payments to the Trust are charged to the Group Profit and Loss Account in the year incurred.
There was £765,000 in this fund. It was cleared in the 2005/06 financial year.
Mort
kayal33 , cheers for that . Sets a mind at ease.
paul67 ,regarding the clubs that can’t reply timeously , wouldn’t it be a kicker if 2 of those had direct links to the esteemed president of the SFA ?
ernie lynch on 21 March, 2012 at 11:50
Like a powerful women? Haha
Paul67 on 21 March, 2012 at 11:36 said:
I’m happy to grant the SFA some lateral.
. . . but not lateral movement, one hopes!
Unless it comes with Jelly and Ice Cream of course.
and so it goes on….
Gerry Braiden@GerryBraidenReply
·Glasgow City Council now a confirmed #RANGERS creditor. £96K in arrears for non-dom rates as of March 7, 3 weeks after D&P take reins.
Paul 67
This is a more positive slant as I confess I did not trust the SFA’s intentions,however the timing when considered seems right.
What I do not understand ref your paragraph:
“Had we known this at the time I suspect our view of the (apparent) SFA inactivity would have been different. Maybe a PR lesson there.”
I would have thought CFC as the recipient of such a letter,would have unofficially advised Celtic friendly sites such as CQN so they do not dive in with criticism,so I agree perhaps it is a PR error but not yours ( ours).
On a similar vein since the letter we have seen several speculative comments about our players and names,why do we not knock this off as there are names mentioned that the average hack will latch on to as a means of distraction.
I believe we have nothing to hide but silence is golden,so no help to our detractors please.
Kayal33.
11.48
Great news .
I have no doubt that RTC is correct.
TT
I suspect this letter has been very carefully considered befor being sent.
Clubs can reply ‘no’.If subsequently it is discovered they should have replied ‘yes’. They have cooked their own goose.
If they don’t reply. Hopefully this is also telling.
Does that mean CO MAY have an outstanding ‘loan’ to Hearts as well ?
Paul67
Is the Compliance Officer in the Masons?
Are any members of the Judicial Board in the Masons?
Paul67
Agreed re. Celtic having full disclosure. But I am certain they (the SFA) are hoping to dig up some dirt on us is more the point I was making.
MWD
Re the letter to the clubs. We , apparently , used a form of EBT in 2004-05 for Juninho – this was quickly booted into touch by BQ . Not sure when and how many of the 14 games he played were covered by it.
So we declare this and are docked for every game Juninho played in until his EBT was cancelled ?
Would that invalidate our cup win that year ? Wouldn’t affect the league :-(
I’d give up that notch on our belt if everyone else gave up what they have won while playing ineligible players .
=====================
Sanna, if Juninho played 14 games for us, then Hibs would be champsif both ourselves and huns were docked points!!
The key point with any players contracts is, was it declared to the authorities? If so, no worries!
We, including me, inevitably see the actions of the SFA and SPL through the lens of “how does what they are doing harm Celtic / benefit Rangers – what’s the angle?”. This is an inevitable consequence of decades of institutional bias, but is also a burden to us.
If you look at the SFA/SPL actions through a lens that says “they act in the best interests of the integrity of the game”, then the SFA/SPL actions actually make sense.
The SFA have responded to Police and other concerns over Whyte’s takeover through the Nimmo inquiry. Charges have been brought. Serious ones for the club and the individual. (We await evidence that any penalties are proportional).
This was quickly followed by an inquiry into Rangers on 6th March specifically into undisclosed payments during the full life of the SPL. It is not clear who is performing this investigation and thus their independence. We await the results, but the scope is spot on.
The SFA followed up on 9th March with a blanket letter to 93 members asking for self assessment on this point. Clearly you can argue this is a weak control as it relies on an honest response, and why would you fez up if guilty? Well if there was another parallel investigation specifically into your affairs, you’d be a bit stupid to deny on one hand and be exposed on another. Also, this approach allows the SFA to appear even handed and not to be picking on Rangers in the poisonous world of Scottish football paranoia. There is also the practical element – Regan has openly and repeatedly stated his team do not have the time nor resource to audit every club. Members are expected to follow the rules. It is this honour system that Rangers will likely be proven to have abused, in concert with certain friendly SFA blazers.
As always, the proof will be in the way any findings are dealt with. But for today, consider the actions of the SFA / SPL through a different lens and see how that feels.
HH
TLK
PS But the fact remains Stuart – you could just have asked Campbell!
paulsatim ,
haha . ok then , altho he played in 4 CL , 2SC and 2 LC games so only 6 league games – surprise , surprise , we’d be champs again ;-P
Excellent site for the statos
Kayal33 put up a mind-easing post earlier that we provided full disclosure at the time .
Dignity FC…
rangers great Sandy Jardine is urging supporters to sell out the Milan Legends match on March 30 for the good of the club.
Jardine, second only to John Greig in terms of Rangers appearances, said: “We would ask every Rangers supporter to support this game.
“There was certain criticism in the press – they might not have been Rangers supporters right enough – that we were taking money away from charity.
“But what you have to understand is that if there is no Rangers, there is no Rangers Charity Foundation
Rogueleader @ 11:43, whilst I am not a huge fan of Regan due to the way he discourages debate on Twitter, in fairness to him on this I don’t think it’s uncommon that there is a certain amount of self-regulation, I’m sure it’s the same in other countries. Mind you his pal Daryl could have spent 10 minutes on the companies house website as opposed to twitter and would have found out about Whyte’s track record.
What is an issue is that in instances such as this, where the club has clearly lied, although the benefit to the club of this is unclear, then there should be set penalties.
This will probably be part of the new review , the after the horse has bolted regulations that will now be brought in.
From what I know of the whole Juninho thing, didn’t Brian Quinn stop it and inform the SFA? Therefore that wouldn’t constitute “undeclared” second payments?
Shorthouse on now
Does anyone have a link to e.mail Alex Salmond. Thanks. H.H.
How sleep the brave:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-21/jim-stynes-state-funeral-date-confirmed/3904422?section=sport
RIP Jim Stynes.
Just want to confirm the following:
There is no seond contract if there is no side letter for an EBT and also there is no tax implications if there is no side letter to an EBT.
Paul67
‘It has come to the attention of the Scottish FA that there COULD be a number of examples of non-compliance with obligations of Article 12.3.’
How has it came to their attention if they were only investigating rangers?
am I right in thinking that if Motherwell beat Killie on Sat then we don’t win the league at ibrox(with us winning too obviously.)
that’ll mean that it goes to the week after where it’s Motherwell vs the huns and that day we’re wanting the huns to win? And then we win it at home on the Sunday vs St Johnstone?
Got tix for the St J match and I want to know when to defrost the icecream? I prefer it soft scoop!
sannabhoy on 21 March, 2012 at 12:19 said:
Just goes to show a little knowledge can be dangerous!! Glad you corrected me, I read elsewhere, and accepted as fact, he had played 14 league games! Phew, been sitting on that for a couple of weeks as didnt want to stop our 17 in a row!!
Juninho:
why is everybody hun myth making for them; nobody knows the story with Celtic and their players and their contracts so why invent them; besides if it was Juninho… it is not like he got paid more in bonuses than a paper boy could afford to pay back.
And paid back it was regardless of what player it was if any. Personally I think it was Mahe, that guy was a nutter.
cardiffbhoy – reactive vs proactive again :)
The self governance thing, as you say, will probably be adopted widely, however in light of everything widely available regarding their finances you would think in those circumstances even a cursory check would have been done.
For example I bet nobody at the SFA have ever asked Rangers to provide, or sign a disclosure mandate to allow the SFA to obtain, the very first letter they got from HMRC regarding the “wee tax case” for their UEFA licence last year.
Self governance is one thing, malaise another.
A son of Dan – they really are scraping the barrell!
Anyway, I don’t understand this business with the flags and the Milan game and the fighting fund. They are quite simply going to be doing no more than keeping a mortally wounded beast alive until June. Any money being raised now is paying bills, wages, perhaps some debts, the administrators £650 per hour charges. Fair enough. But what it isn’t doing is putting rangers on any kind of firm footing for the future.
But hey, let them spend their money foolishly if they so wish. Hell mend them.
Paul67 has said on the first page of this thread that he believes Celtic are in the clear on this.
Seems pretty unequivocal. I believe the man has good sources.
We can all relax.