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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Looking ahead to next season, I’m sure we will reduce the size of the squad to try to ensure as many as possible of the new squad will be contenders for a first team place……a number of our first team regulars will benefit from the resultant competition for places………
I am convinced we also have a number of young players, like McGeoch, ready to break through…….so NEIL will be busy getting the balance right on selling surplus, bringing 1st team contenders in, and promoting young contenders..
Looking forward immensely to next season, since NEIL has done Celtic proud in many areas, and we have a great manager in place……just need some of the players to add ‘competitive’ to their portfolio………
HAIL HAIL
Looks like we may have misjudged Chris Graham.
Chris is a Power Ranger, not sour Ranger*. Legend says when the darkness arises, five brave sorcerers will be called to fight for his club’s survival – with the guidance from their wise mentor (Super Ally) and the ancient Xenotome (SFA rule book). They will embark on magical adventures (riots around Europe), befriend mystical dragons (Duff & Phelps), battle dangerous beasts (HMRC), encounter pure evil (their own fans)… and transform into the Power Rangers !
See, he is not a bad person after all.
Awe_Naw @ 11:07,
Is that praise for the Board? Well who’d a’thought!
Something must be cheering you up:-)
Hail! Hail!
Bobby Evans Superstar.
I left a couple of comments on Grahams page nothing offensive just funny. Theyve been removed couldnt have been that funny to them. Thats whats wrong these days people have no sense of humour. Keevins cut me off last night cos I joked abt his age.
I hope that every seller of union jacks on Sunday has the proper Street Trader License from Glasgow City Council.
They cost £61 a year, which should eat into the profits a little.
And I hope they have noted section 15 of the Council’s conditions, which relate to football matches and state that “street trading shall take place only at fixed stances as designated in the relevant street trader’s licence. ”
Then there is section 15 (a) (ii) which states that: “(he licenceholder shall not sell, supply or display any goods other than football programmes or football memorabilia which must not contain any design, insignia, word or groupings of words, which have a political, racial, religious or sectarian content or which could reasonably be construed as inciting political, racial, religious or sectarian hatred or violence.”
Section 15 (a)(v)(c) defines: “Football memorabilia” means hats, scarves, pennants and any other type of goods approved in writing by the licensing authority, which contains colours, designs, insignia, individual words or groupings of words associated with, or which can reasonably be construed as being associated with, any football team.”
Now does that imply that their wee flags need to be approved by the Council in advance?
Bobbyevans superstar ……. LOL……..and spot on
cavansam
He might be selling white flags after the game on Sunday
new articile im off
TOM ENGLISH MAKES REVELATION OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS.
In an astonishing archeological find in Gazza, Tom English has unearthed a parchment which proves beyond any doubt that Christian Churches have been wrong for two millenia and that there were indeed, not twelve, but four Apostles.
MINGING
The badly minging parchment, found in a clay storage pot for succulent lamb, cleary shows that eight Apostles were ‘later additions’, probably part of some Catholic conspiracy at the Council of Trent.
BOOKS COOKED
This will be a great boost to The Orange Order who can trace their roots back to Jesus Christ himself and who have consistently argued that the Kafflick Church has been ‘cooking the books.’
GREEDY AND GRASPING
Rabbi Dingle couldnt hide his delight at this astonishing revelation, momentarily putting down the bottle he was brandishing, to proclaim, “They also got this ‘love one another’ pish wrong as well.” He expressed hope that now, even poor Protestant widows would throw their dosh in the bucket at the Milan game to save the Gers, instead of giving it to greedy and grasping charities.
DARK SHADOW
Tom English’s shocking revelation will surely now cast a very dark shadow over all those who have acted with integrity and behaved in a principled manner. “They will just have to find new principles”, smiled Jabba El Djouf, a leading spokesman at a centre for articulate ecumenism and Bingo, in Glasgow.
Tomorrow – Another exclusive by Tom English: How Moses wrote the eight commandments.
This is not a suggestion……..this is a necessity for the future of our club, CELTIC FC ……..
Once we have won the league, we need to bhoycott all away games…..
We have no alternative…….these 10 clubs have held meetings, and not invited Celtic ……… That is not democratic, and we need to get them to understand that we will be part of any change management or we will justifiably remove our revenue source from them……..it’s the only language they understand……..and we need to understand that we have been left with no alternative ……their future is in their hands now, and our future is in ours …
We will not be bullied, as we have proven in the past……. The gloves are off ….!!!!!!!