Scottish FA chief executive, Stewart Regan, this evening announced that the Association would not appeal against the Court of Session decision to rule in Rangers favour over the 12 month player registration ban imposed by a Judicial Panel for not paying social taxes between May 2011 and February 2012. Rangers didn’t pay social taxes in the period since February 2012, the period during which they launched their appeal.
I hear Rangers today served the ruling on the SFA and that the SFA have responded by informing the club that, under Fifa auspices, fresh proceedings will be raised against them for taking a civil court action, which will lead to a minimum punishment of Rangers being suspended from the Association.
The initial case will be referred back to the SFA Appellate Tribunal. Regan reminded us that Rangers appeal to the civil courts broke two SFA Articles and five Fifa statues. The tone and content of his statement demonstrated the frustration at the behaviour of the errant club. He suggested the SFA would tell clubs [Rangers] that they must accept and abide by the Articles of Association at next week’s AGM.
While it appears the Association is about to get tough, they are in the middle of a problem of the making of the SFA and, in particular, Mr Doncaster of the SPL. Here is the problem…
Rangers believe they are needed. This belief is absolute and has been reinforced by the people running our game, the very same people who have been rag-dolled by Rangers in recent weeks.
The SPL waited almost three months for Rangers to respond to their demand for information into what is allegedly the biggest scam in British sporting history. Despite this, throughout that time, the SPL chief executive campaigned vigorously for a Newco-Rangers to become the first club in Scottish football history to be parachuted into the top league.
It took the SPL 11 weeks to set a deadline. No wonder Clark, Whitehouse and Green think they can play hardball.
During this time the SFA, who are the only body competent to investigate if Rangers illegally registered players across all domestic competitions, have taken no action. The SFA president, who was an executive director of Rangers when they introduced the controversial EBTs and who received and EBT himself, has remained in position throughout.
Time for strong leadership, Mr Regan. Mr Doncaster, there’s always a career in the law.
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SaintLubo on 1 June, 2012 at 09:01 said:
Can someone point out the difference between these people?
1. D Murray – buys RFCia with MIH money.
2. C Whyte – buys RFCia with
++++++
Actually:
1 D Murray – buys RFCia with BoS money
2 C Whyte – buys RFCia with his weekly sub to his works lottery
South Of Tunis at 10:25
€250? They weren’t looking for much were they.
Mort
An M. Night Shyamalan film involving the orcs. Let’s see. The story line might be about a bunch of embattled deluded hayseeds who think they’re living in the 17th century, who are terrorised by outside forces and are being constantly duped by their leaders as to what is actually going on.
Mmmmmm. Yes. That might work.
Things financial—-
Serious Italian football journos have —–
Hulk signing for Chelsea in a 57 million euro deal .
The fabulous Lavezzi signing for PSG for 30 million.
Ibrahimovic ” almost certain ” to sign for PSG
I wouldn’t expect any major news on the crooked club today. Thousands of Orcs marching over this weekend. Any action taken today would ensure riots on the streets.
Am I right in saying the CVA document stipulates that the money brought in from the sale of all these players will not be included in th CVA ‘pot’..?
greenjedi on 1 June, 2012 at 10:14 said:
roy croppie on 1 June, 2012 at 09:34 said:
“Steve Davis, the Northern Irish midfielder, can leave for £1.65m; Allan McGregor, the Scottish international goalkeeper, for £2m; Steven Naismith, a Scottish internationalist and the subject of much premiership interest, for £2m; Kyle Lafferty, almost certain to leave after a row with manager Ally McCoist, for £575,000; Steven Whittaker, Scottish internationalist, for £850,000; Maurice Edu, USA internationalist, for £300,000; Dorin Goian, Romanian internationalist, for £500,000.
…………
Well thats £7.85m straight away, nearly as double the creditors pot that the Duffers have offered!!!
+++++
What about all them wunderkids from Write-down Park? Surely Traynor et al could up their values to hunners o mullions?
Mort ——-
oopla ——
250 thousand Euros !
DeniaBhoy – But the SFA tribunal already ruled out a scottish cup ban, as the transgression did not relate solely and directly to the scottish cup. That only leaves suspension or expulsion.
If I can ascertain this, why can’t a full-time sports journalist?
Does anyone know how many season tickets the bhuns have sold to date ?
When they sell wunderkidon Fleck for £50m all their troubles will be over…have Barca bid yet?
I keep hearing D&P say that their fees are at the discretion of the creditors. What exactly does this mean?
Can the creditors renegotiate or even refuse to pay the bill?
Surely John Fleck alone could be sold for £100M+ and pay off almost all of their debts?
I wonder why they haven’t thought of this already.
Traynor is merely stating the obvious, while throwing in the “acceptable” sanction of a Cup ban.
He couldn’t even spell Damascus, never mind finding the road.
Sons of Erin – Absolutely, but we are talking about James Traynor here and it surprised me that he was willing to write about them being kicked out for good rather than spinning a tale of victory for RFC (IA) over the SFA.
And he managed to write all of that without slandering Celtic or saying it would never happen because we all need them. That’s progress of sorts.
We may have considerable problems in Scotland and there may be some corruption based on secterianism but it is as nothing compared to the long and dishonest traditions of Italian football both domestically and in european competition stretching back for decades. Juventus Roma Inter and Milan (and perhaps a few more) should all have been expelled sine die from the game long long ago and would have been if it were not for the collusion of UEFA.
The Solti/Lobo affair exposed so expertly by Brian Glanville over many years should have finished the arch cheats Juventus from ever kicking a ball in the game again.Italian football is a corrupt charade .
ThomtheTim – agree completely, he is only stating the obvious but that is unusual in itself. The man would never state the obvious if he could spin it differently into a pro_Rangers story.
And meanwhile over on the bright side of town
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiUIhgN7FH8
Hail Hail
In athletics and horse-racing, hurdles races present a unique challenge. An indomitable will and unmatched athletic prowess are not enough to ensure victory; fail to negotiate one of those barriers, even the last one with the finish line in sight, and you are out.
Life is a hurdles race, with multiple obstructions blocking the direct path between you and your important goals. Sometimes you just have to accept things as they are and get on with it. Sometimes you can plot a judicious course that lets you achieve your objectives while easing or even avoiding some of those challenges, but most of us know that the Easier Path is usually anything but.
At the very least least, you try not to make things any more difficult than they already are, but all of us know people who are their own worst enemies. The routinely eschew straightforward solutions that are obvious to others, complicate matters, alienate their family and friends, and turn their lives into an endless series of obstacles. In extreme cases, they create insuperable problems for themselves and for those around them, with tragic consequences. Rarely do they do this deliberately, but all too often they choose the Easier Path when taking on a challenge would bring an infinitely greater reward.
Amongst that group, our prurient attention is frequently drawn to individuals who despite a gilded inheritance and the innumerable social and financial advantages that go with it turn to excess and dissipation, and ultimately squander everything in a riotous display of narcissism and self-indulgence.
Consider the curious case of Rangers Football Club (in administration). Fifteen short years ago it was the dominant force in Scottish football, virtually unchallenged in its own back yard and with realistic ambitions of building a solid reputation as a leading player in Europe. A once-enfeebled Celtic had made enough of a comeback to pip Rangers at the post in a league that at times both teams seemed eager to lose, and with that Rangers’ coveted 10-in-a-row was gone. However, with a well-Established advantage over its old rivals and a turnover close to double that of Celtic, a Generation of Domination for Rangers seemed virtually assured; a straightforward, disciplined execution of the existing business plan would more than likely have been enough to secure it.
Rangers’ owner was not satisfied with that; he wanted more and he wanted it now. His search for ever-greater success was never subjected to any analysis of whether money could or should be thrown at the club, for the simple reason that he never once reached into his own pocket; Rangers’ Easier Path to dissolution was financed first with injections of capital from external investors, then with the club’ own capital base, followed by huge amounts of borrowing and finally by the evasion of legitimate tax liabilities in ever-more flagrant style.
In 1998, Rangers had the option of a largely unimpeded route to a successful, stable, prosperous and trophy-laden future. Today, it faces the loss of every trophy and virtually every individual match victory it has secured over the intervening years, and must fight for its very existence.
Over the next few months, Rangers must face several daunting challenges; and it must do so whilst bereft of money, leadership or (increasingly) friends. Amongst these are:
1 The proven SFA disrepute charge now being referred back to the Appellate Panel.
2 A further SFA charge for going to the CoS. This is not yet certain, but Stewart Regan tweeted last night that the SFA is in discussion with FIFA on the issue and it seems unlikely that FIFA will want to fudge a high-profile example of what is for them a very important issue.
3 Its impending liquidation – CVA my bahookie – and the need for a NewClub to go cap in hand to a disaffected SPL membership and try to cobble together 8 votes for a parachute.
4 The enquiry on player registrations and its seemingly inevitable conclusion that rules have been breached for a decade or more, and on a scale that dwarfs the 2011/12 disrepute charge, for which suspension and expulsion were actively considered.
5 Potentially, the ‘nuclear’ allegations regarding bungs to ex-managers and others, which if substantiated would surely lead to a fraud investigation in addition to the severe sporting penalties that would apply.
Any one of these issues has the potential to wipe Rangers from the face of Scottish football, or at least sideline it for an extended period and reduce it to a humbled, vastly-reduced rump of what it once was. And then there are the ‘unknown unknowns’.
This is no mere hurdles race, but a monstrous obstacle course of Rangers’ own creation, which it must face virtually alone, as the good-time friends who once adhered to the club are drifting away as the long-overdue ending of its largesse becomes ever more apparent, even to the most sycophantic among them.
There is something terribly sad about this all, the damage that has been done to so many other parties, the jobs that will be lost and the lives blighted by Rangers’ demise. There is also – finally – a real sense of justice being done, a righting of wrongs. A mighty hubris has preceded an equally mighty fall.
Some will mourn the end of Rangers as we have known them. Many others will agree with Oscar Wilde’s comment on the maudlin fictional death of Little Nell: “you would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh”.
67H 10.30
Indeed, proceeds from player sales are not for the creditors grubby paws.
In their desperation to win everything, at all times, no matter the cost, the hunsters have surely punched way above their weight on the Court Of Session challenge.
Winning this means that they will be punished more severely than if they had done nothing.
And it will be THEIR LAST VICTORY.
pigalle
DeniaBhoy – Yeah, though it’s bizarre that if the SFA do cut rangers some slack (again) and apply a cup ban, they could find themselves back in the court of sessions for applying a sanction which is not available to them.
To coin a phrase which seems to be catching on “Stupid huns”.
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan
supports Kano excellent post but I would have shortened it to “Last thought before falling asleep FCiA are fecked. Woke up 3 weeks later, well it was a heavy night, only to find out they are even more fecked. Oh happy days.
with the issue of corruption again raising its head in italy it makes me think how must the rest of europe see the scottish game just now, it must look really farcical
by the way no sure about the totti – mcstay comparison, totti has long been the but of jokes in italy for being really thick
Pheeewww been extremely busy so that’s me just caught up with the last few days posts.
BRTH
Brilliant as usual!!
Was delivering curries to the people of north Glasgow last night and in the early evening I drove along a street in Barmulloch to be confronted by 2 houses facing each other bedecked in Union flags, bunting and pictures of ol Lizzie.
I returned to the same street just after midnight to discover that a freak gust of wind had laid this royal paraphernalia asunder. Red, white and blue strewn across lush green lawns.
Stupid, stupid huns.
Did you spot the deflection in the Traynor piece?
2 punishments available?……………….. Actually there are 3. As well as expulsion from football and a ban from the Scottish Cup there is also suspension. Suspension is not the same as expulsion and should be framed with a time frame (which can include indefinite). The rules do not state anything in regard the length of a suspension so are open to debate.
HH
BRTH…..an amazing post as ever !!
Bhoys
Before we all get ready for the biggest jelly and ice-cream party the world has ever known , one sobering thought that may stop us getting ahead of ourselves , and being left with egg on our face……………………
Have D&P been in touch with Sone Aluko’s family yet to see if they can fund everything ??
greenjedi on 1 June, 2012 at 10:14 said:
roy croppie on 1 June, 2012 at 09:34 said:
“Steve Davis, ..£1.65m; Allan McGregor, ..£2m; Steven Naismith, ..£2m; Kyle Lafferty, ..£575,000; ..£850,000; Maurice Edu, .. £300,000; Dorin Goian, .. £500,000.
…………
Well thats £7.85m straight away, nearly as double the creditors pot that the Duffers have offered!!!
__
So surely then liquidation of all assets is the best option for creditors. It should then be the only option which Duck and Plunder should be promoting.
Ernie Lynch
I’ll bite.
In the extremely unlikely event that NFL moved to Norwich, I doubt he’d take P8ddy with him.
You may now come back with your main point having been tee’d up.
HH
Headtheball on 1 June, 2012 at 10:33:
In a word, yes.
Creditors can challenge the amount being claimed by D&P. I expect that HMRC will challenge the amount they are claiming.
D&P have put forward what they estimate they are owed. The basis for the creditors challenge in my opinion will include: The number of PCs they held and on fees that were and are continued to be paid to the PR Firm they have engaged; these are unnecessary. Several businesses, small and unknown as well as large and known go through the administration process on a daily basis; they do not half the baggage, entourage, circus that D&P have created.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
The longer it drags on, there more chance there is that one of Them might win a €uromillions jackpot and come to the rescue. Is that what they’re waiting for?
@LawTop20 FIFA confirm they have spoken to SFA regarding rangers,talks to continue.they hopr to make a statement later today.
Retweeted by Gregory Ioannidis
Mon the FIFA
BRT&H 0953
When I put some diuretics in yer pint in The Horseshoe,don’t be upset;just leave yer brain on the bar and p..s off,so to speak,while I download it’s contents.
I can pay no bigger compliment-I’ve already said the beers are on me,haha!
JAMSIE 0934
Bloody hell…………
Thanks bud,I mean that!
starry plough on 1 June, 2012 at 10:50 said:
Sepp Blatter’s……………………………………………………..Fenian Army
Sepp Blatter’s……………………………………………………..Fenian Army
Sepp Blatter’s……………………………………………………..Fenian Army
Sepp Blatter’s……………………………………………………..Fenian Army
Lennybhoy
Thanks for that. Interesting!
And on a lighter note— given Andy Murray’s doggedness, stupidity, bravery or whatever yesterday here is a post from exactly 50 weeks ago today.
We won’t see his like again…….
1. Br\o/gan R\o/gan Trevin\o/ and H\o/gan says:
15 June, 2011 at 11:09
Good Morning,
The power of the media whether in journalism, entertainment or indeed advertsing is an amazing thing. Last Monday I had the TV on in the background so I could take in the final of the Tennis from Queens club. I was delighted that Andy Murray grinded and stroked his way past the powerful diving athleticism of Jo Wilfred Tsonga. Some of the Dunblane man’s strokes were described as “Cheeky” and at one point Andrew Castle apologised to viewers if they could hear Murray’s profanities as he psyched himself up. Neither the crowd nor the sponsors seemed to care a jot– they just lapped it up!
I am sure our Andy enjoyed a cold Stella Artois after the match! And there is the thing– I continually referred to these championships as the Stella Artois– despite the fact that the beer had ended its sponsorship some time ago! Yet years after, Queens will always be the Stella Artois championships for me!
Televised and sponsored sport was unheard of in January 1964 when an Athlete and a Coach from Oregon University started a small sports company. Philip Knight and Bill Bowerman started selling sports gear from the back of Knight’s car. They called their company Blue Ribbon Sports and imported the equipment from a manufacturer in Japan– which manufacturer went on to become known as Asics!!
However by 1971, the deal between the two Americans and their Japanese suppliers had come to an end. Knight and Bowerman had by now opened some shops and they decided that from then on they would make their own equipment. Blue Ribbon Sports was shortened to BRS but they decided to name their equipment after the Greek Goddess of Victory——– Nike.
The Nike brand came complete with the “swoosh” logo and their first shoe to carry the Nike name and the Swoosh was a “Soccer shoe” rather than an athletics shoe. This was June 1971.
In the intervening years, Sports coverage had been revolutionised. Television and other media had made live sport available to the living room and the masses. The 1970 World Cup had brought us the magic of Brazil. Ali was becoming the most famous man in the world. Football was blessed with Best, Cruyff, Beckenbaur and the rest. The Americans had baseball, basketball and Ice Hockey stars in the living room throughout the land, and a homegrown Oregon athlete called Steve Prefontaine was the hero of the American track.
Yet, in making their first ever attempt at world domination in the sportswear world, the young Nike executives by passed all these world names from the point of view of sponsorship. Whilst they wanted to have endorsements from world famous athletes, none of these guys were to be their first signing. Whilst all of these were national names in America, or even International names, they chose instead to launch the Nike product by employing someone who was officially labelled as……………. A Buffoon! Worse still he was a Buffoon from an Eastern Block country! The Bucharest Buffoon was an almost official title– any google search of that name leads to only one man! Try it!
For anyone who is too young to have seen Ilie Nastase play tennis, then you have to think of Best, Cruyff, Ali, Alex Higgins, Jimmy Johnstone, Boris Becker, Harry Houdini and dare I say it Georgios Samaras all rolled into one. By the way Samaras because he could be so damned frustrating!
Nastase almost singlehandedly changed Tennis forever. He took it from the semi snobby posh Strawberries and Cream type game into the era of worldwide spectator sport and media event. He has been described as the most singlehandedly gifted man ever to swing a racket and the original bad boy of Tennis– a wayward genius, part top class player, part clown prince, part spoiled brat.
There are those of us of a certain age who will always think of Nastase as an Under achiever whose record could have been so much better if he had just screwed the nut, yet he is probably also responsible for more people picking up a Tennis racket than any other in history. Guys who are at the very top of the game now were probably introduced to the game by parents who in turn were Nastase inspired— including one Judy Murray.
Yet to think of Nastase as no more than the Clown Prince is to ignore some pretty hard hitting facts. He emerged from Romania in the mid to late sixties playing with his friend and fellow Romanian Ion Tiriac who went on to coach a certain Boris Becker.
Nastase won his first European Tournament in Cannes just about the time Billy McNeill was hoisting the European Cup. John McEnroe was just 8 years old and his long term Playing partner- Peter Fleming — was 12. By the time that he won his last tournament it was Fleming that he defeated in the finals.
In between, he became one of only 5 men in history to win over 100 ATP recognised tournaments. He won grand slams in both Doubles and Singles– playing doubles with almost anyone but most famously with Tiriac, Jimmy Connors and Adrienne Pannetta who was a Nastase Look alike.
He was the world’s first official No1 player when the rankings began and he held that position for almost a year and then regained it. In 1972 he won 17 out of 31 tournaments he entered and he bettered just about all of his main rivals on a head to head basis. John Newcombe, who succeeded him as world No 1 beat Nastase on their first meeting— but he was never to do so again!
In between ATP Tournaments ne played 130 Davis cup matches for Romania winning 100. He won what is now the Masters in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1975– if you are wondering about 1974 he lost in the final in 5 sets! He was the first player ever to win the French open without dropping a set and he won the Rome, French and Queens titles back to back. He didn’t win the singles at Wimbledon– but did win the doubles!
Yet in between times, Nastase clowned, joked, politicised, threw tantrums and mostly entertained wherever he went. He was banned from tournaments because he agreed to play in some events that the ATP deemed illegal. He was disqualified from tournaments because he would fight with the umpire or the crowd or whoever. He would sometimes frustrate because he would just walk out or not play to his ability. He lived the life of the playboy, with one biographer claiming he was a sex God having slept with something near 3,000 women! Nastase said this was nonsense– it was only 1,000!
Yet Nike knew him to be the biggest draw in sport, the great entertainer, the crowd puller– even into his old age. He once played against a far younger McEnroe at the US open and started arguing with the umpire who docked him a point. Nastase continued to act madly and so was docked another point. He persisted and was docked a game. Finally he was disqualified by the Umpire. Now this was New York and John Mac is a New York boy. Yet the crowd went wild, shouting, protesting, throwing things on to the court– so much so that the tournament referee overturned the decision of the umpire for fear of a riot!!! He still lost but the popularity of Nastase was overpowering.
Of course he never won the singles at Wimbledon, losing one of the all-time great finals to Stan Smith and coming up against the all-conquering Borg in the first of his 5 wins. Yet he won the doubles with Connors, playing one outrageous game against the Indian Armitraj brothers by making every single shot a huge lob up into the sky.
When Wimbledon introduced cyclops ( the magic eye ) he famously called it a Communist when it ruled against him. The great Dan Maskell went from describing his play as out of the top drawer to absolutely disgraceful. He was the first to dive athletically about the court, play wild drop shots, run into the crowd, talk to opponents, and wear a daft hat and so on. He was very far removed from the “gentleman” player.
Nastase was always political. He greeted all South African players in the Apartheid era with the same greeting–” Hello Racist!”. He stood for Mayor of Bucharest ( and lost ) and the French awarded him the legione D’Honneur.
When he retired from tournaments he revolutionised tennis again becoming the single biggest draw on the fledgling senior exhibition circuit where he clowned and joked yet still played sublime tennis from time to time. When asked to compare himself with Federer recently he stated categorically that there was no comparison and added ” When Federer fathers a child at 61– then you can make a comparison!”.
Yet for all the joking and the tantrums, when the man chose to play he could REALLY play and the world turned up to watch.
Below are the highlights from the 1972 US open where he beat Arthur Ashe in 4 sets in a hell of a game. It is worth the watching as this is him at his best behaviour wise and tennis wise. He said of himself once ” I am a little crazy, but I try to be a good boy” and later ” I don’t know what I do– I plan nothing!”.
Hopefully at Wimbledon next week we will get some great tennis and some great entertainment. Hopefully it is not all bang wallop and stiff upper lip, and if you hear one of the commentators exclaim ” Where did that come from?” when they see something outrageous– well perhaps the truth of the matter is that it came from the past and the Bucharest Buffoon!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf4wrrpzdYc
BRTH,
As usual a great post. I would just like to say I read out in my back garden while watching the Coal Tit fledglings vacate one of my bird boxes. An awesome sight. Usually the wee bam pots disappear when I’m at work.
EC67