Rangers director Dave King’s remarkable statement today read like a manifesto for taking over a football club. I’ll leave aside most of his allegations, speculation and threats for now and discuss the central point to be considered by the Scottish Football Association.
King has asked the SFA if he would be deemed a Fit and Proper Person to run a football business. He has been a director of Rangers for the last 12 years, starting pretty much in tandem with the Employee Benefit Trust scheme which has precipitated so much trouble for the club. One of the key responsibilities of a non-executive director, defined by Wikipedia, are to:
“Satisfy themselves that financial information is accurate and that financial controls and systems of risk management are robust and defensible”
It was his responsibility to ensure that Rangers’ tax submissions were accurate and defensible. He was employed (and presumably paid) to carry out this duty on behalf of the thousands of ordinary shareholders. This particular duty has been subject to gross underperformance. Being a bad director is not a suitable defence.
Last year the Daily Record reported that a South African court judgement said: “In our assessment [King] is a glib and shameless liar”.
Adding he, “has no respect for the truth and does not hesitate to lie … if he thinks it will be to his advantage”, before ruling his company was liable for a £250m bill served by the South African tax authorities. The very mention of the phrase “tax authorities” should send alarm bells ringing at Hampden.
Even Craig Whyte has never been called a shameless liar by a court.
King served as Rangers director with SFA president and board member, Campbell Ogilvie, for five years. The SFA have yet to respond to his Fit and Proper Person enquiry.
You are beginning to see why the SFA president’s position is simply untenable. We have been plunged headlong into the biggest scandal in the history of Scottish football and he sat around the table with most of the people involved when many decisions were agreed.
SFA chief exec, Stewart Regan, might be tempted to issue another “Campbell is clearly conflicted with this…” comment but would be much better served by:
Making it clear that works like “glib and shameless liar” from a court do not make you Fit and Proper for Scottish football.
Calling an emergency board meeting and instigate an immediate and wide-ranging inquiry into Rangers – with an initial response before the end of this month.
Advising the president that he should immediately offer information to the SPL inquiry and do the same with the SFA inquiry once convened, and step aside until all related matters have concluded.
More on King’s self-serving claim that trophies Rangers ‘won’ during and around their EBT period are secure soon.
I would like to be the first to congratulate St Mirren on their League Cup win in 2010.
Issue six of CQN Magazine, the Fit and Proper edition, is set to become a landmark collectors item. You can browse the magazine online here but you can buy your own hard copy by clicking on the link below. Read with 20-20 vision…..
You can support the online edition by making a discretionary donation here.
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Hi Paul,
Two savage posts today; thought you’d be more chilled out after your salad and tantric Tuesday!
Keep up the great work.
BlantyreKev from previous article – Lost a reply to your post in the ether, thanks for the clarification on DK’s status.
philvisreturns on 7 March, 2012 at 13:20 said:
Paul67 – I am honoured. (thumbsup)
***
Does your missus know that you’ve been shared?
Paul67
Great item …and so many these days it’s hard to keep up
Often forget to thank you for keeping us in the picture..much appreciated .
Superb stuff
HH
M
Am I alone in my paranoia (I know I am a Celtic fan it’s hereditary)? Isn’t anyone else concerned that all the machinations, posturing and ‘twisty turny’ going ons may be indicative of there being a master plan behind all this and a Grand master one at that? Why are they fighting the inevitable with the tenacity of an Irish terrier? Are they simply stupid Huns who don’t know they are dead or do they have a plan of a Blackadderesque magnitude, as cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?
Why don’t they just die and allow me to socialise with my wife and family rather than being glued to the laptop hoping to read of their demise, I may even start to show an interest in work again when they go? I do not know about Der Hun but all this uncertainty has ‘me at me wits ends so it has’
HECTOR – Moonbeams WD. Kano 1000 \o/ Supporting Neil Lennon 100%. Eating Jelly & Ice Cream. Awe Naw… on 7 March, 2012 at 13:05 said:
Your post highlights the suspicious nature of Neil Doncaster’s statements on Talkspoprt and BBC Sportsound. He was unwilling to clarify the process with you but gave a statement on the process that was not questioned or amplied on air. You would think it was part of a softening up.
Now Doncaster has a job to do and no doubt is remunerated well for meeting targets but targets are often short term ones that can be easily measured. The true impact of meeting them is seldom looked at and the long term commercial damage to football if sporting integrity is ridden rough shod over also needs to be considered.
TBB asked the other day what is to be done and it is a key question. Finding men of ethics to take charge or oversee would be a start. Football seems bereft of them but if they are out there then it is time they put their heads above the parapet.
There is a battle for the soul of Scottish football taking place here..
what possible reasoning could there be for duff/duff not cutting costs
when they have issued a statement the club need to find 1 million a month in order
to survive? you would think time is of the essence in this case but they seem reluctant to carry out their duty without players compliance and seem to be bending over backwards to accomadate them,very weird, unless there is external
influences at work.
No more evictions yet from the Big Brother Hoose ?
Australian rugby league team stripped of titles for paying players “outside the cap”.
http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/melbourne-storm-stripped-of-premierships-for-salary-cap-breaches-20100422-td91.html
never listened to a podcast before. always thought they’d be equivalent to me and my mates Friday evenings down the pub and believe me you wouldn’t tune in. however…
Congrats to all concerned really enjoyed the contributions from the panel and the audiance. My only gripe was how lightly the audiance let the journos off when discussing newco entry to SPL. The whole integrity of the game is at stake for Gods sake!!!
===========
On another tack altogether…
noticed john Hughes has his EC winners medal for sale on ebay apparently (min bid £5k)
Firstly was surprised tho delighted the original Yogi had one, having missed the fnal.
Secondly I’m a bit sad Yogi apparently wants/needs to sell.
Thirdly I wish I had the dosh I’d certainly buy from one of my favourite Celts of all time.
Fourthly, since I can’t buy I hope the Club does.
Fifthly, could somebody who knows how to do these things not set up a sort of testimonial year for my hero? A much undervalued star.
Graham Spiers @GrahamSpiers Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
I met and interviewed Dave King twice at Augusta National. Gary Player – for what this is worth – describes him as “a very good man”.
Tom-fool of a Took, cast yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity.
Does anyone know how well (or otherwise) season ticket sales are going over at RFC IA and whether these are being actively marketed?
share
Oops audiance = audience
Craig Whyte collects his new mattress
Watty: “never thought it would was going to be as bad as this or as bad as it seems at the present moment”…no scheidt Sherlock…there’s no flies on his mauve gun patch cardigan…
” I wish someone could bring some clarity to this situation” he adds- is there a pandemic of myopia amongst the hun horde? To make all this clear to the average hun you would have to put it in large print monosyllables with cartoon pictures ala Mr Man book…Mr Fit & Proper Person…a ladybird guide to Liquidation…
Colleagues at lunchtime were talking about the famous dead parrot sketch and wondered why I started sniggering.
This was followed by a discussion about The Prisoner and his desperate and continually thwarted attempts top escape and I sniggered again.
Is it unnatural to see Rangers and their sad plight everywhere I look?
This is like the family quarreling over the contents of their dead grannys jewellery box. I would pay a sky subscription to watch the murray vs king vs whyte court case.
“Gary Player describes him as a very good man ….”
Jesus wept. And I think Speirs is one of the best journalists we have here.
That shows how far, how very far, standards overall have fallen ….
hail hail
liquidation soon
Monaghan1900,
Two sets of contracts, side letters, paying players over the odds to buy success – it all seems rather familiar.
I note that as well as having their titles removed, Melbourne Storm also had to pay back all the prize money they recevived through cheating. Suppose trying to do that to the huns would b
Men aren’t my ususal field of expertise but i don’t think Dave King is fit.
However,from all the pictures i’ve saw he definitely looks like a proper person,although i could be wrong on that one. ;-)
If Rangers get Liquidated before the season ends IMO they cannot even apply to join the SPL in the Summer.
There would be no relegation and whoever wins the 1st Division would be automatically promoted. There would be no vacancy for any club to apply for!
Monaghan1900,
Two sets of contracts, side letters, paying players over the odds to buy success – it all seems rather familiar.
I note that as well as having their titles removed, Melbourne Storm also had to pay back all the prize money they received through cheating. Suppose trying to do that to the huns would be pretty much academic, wouldn’t it?
Given the remarks made about him by the SA courts I’d trust King about as far as I could spit a rat.
For me , however , the most reevealing thing he saus is this – about Bain Paul Murray and AJ – ”
“The Rangers spin doctoring machine then started to work overtime to discredit them, both individually and collectively.”
Dave – thats what happens when you have a guard dog – it can turn on you…
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon on 7 March, 2012 at 14:13
I haven’t managed to find out if David Murray owned that club! Everything else is very familiar.
greenjedi,
I agree – but if liquidation was somehow staved off until the summer? Say after promotion and relegation had taken place?
Maybe we should be looking at how Ross County would vote, not Dunfermline.
greenjedi – and Neil Doncaster says they can’t apply for the SFL !
Doh!
reevealing thing he saus = revealing thing he says
sparkleghirl on 7 March, 2012 at 14:09 said
Is it unnatural to see Rangers and their sad plight everywhere I look
………………………………………………..
i’m doing the same i was listening to the ‘final countdown’ the other day and i seen an add’ for the film ‘the abyss’ and all i’m thinking about is the huns.. it’s all very funny
Big Nan on 7 March, 2012 at 13:53 said:
Eye latest edition. Sorry if already posted.
…………………..
PLANET FOOTBALL Rangers
THE role of London lawyers Collyer Bristow and partner Gary Withey are likely to attract more attention as the events behind client Craig Whyte’s takeover of the Glasgow club -effectively with its own money – unravel.
Withey was at the centre of the takeover negotiations with Sir David Murray. Funds were to go into and through a Collyer Bristow client account. Undertakings for £5m of future funding for the club appeared under Collyer Bristow letterheads.
Gary and Craig seem to have become close once Pritchard Stockbrokers, where Whyte was a shareholder/backer and company secretary, acquired the private client business of brokers Wills & Co after it was effectively closed down by the Fundamentally Supine Authority in 2010. Withey acted for Wills. He had previously been observed socialising with Whyte at a PLUS Stock Exchange dinner in 2009, where Whyte was a Wills guest. Now the FSA has effectively shut down Pritchard.
Whyte and Wills are not Collyer Bristow’s only colourful clients to attract attention. Danish conman Bjorn Stiedl was convicted of fraud on a Scottish pension fund in 2004, but not before he had been engaged in promoting failed film tax schemes with the aid of advice from Collyer Bristow.
Also involved in the Balfron fraud was struck off lawyer Paul Baxendale-Walker, whose employee benefit trust tax scheme is at the centre of Rangers’ financial problems.
Meanwhile, perhaps the FSA will direct itself to a statement in the Rangers shareholder circular last June announcing the Whyte purchase: “The information contained in this document for which they accept responsibility is in accordance with the facts and does not omit anything likely to affect the import of such information.”
The club, rather than the directors, was last week fined £50,000 by PLUS for failing to disclose that Whyte had been disqualified as a director for seven years in 2000. But what about the funding for the takeover – provided by mortgaging future ticket revenue – and the £26.7m Whyte promised to provide for players and investment which has not materialised?
No doubt Gary Withey and Collyer Bristow have complete explanations.
‘Slicker’
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon on 7 March, 2012 at 14:13
Suppose trying to do that to the huns would be pretty much academic, wouldn’t it?
No harm in trying! There certainly seems to be money around this strange administration.
oglach on 7 March, 2012 at 13:54 said:
Am I alone in my paranoia (I know I am a Celtic fan it’s hereditary)? Isn’t anyone else concerned that all the machinations, posturing and ‘twisty turny’ going ons may be indicative of there being a master plan behind all this and a Grand master one at that? Why are they fighting the inevitable with the tenacity of an Irish terrier? Are they simply stupid Huns who don’t know they are dead or do they have a plan of a Blackadderesque magnitude, as cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?
——————————————————————-
A few months ago it concerned me. But the constant stream of scandal, the absolute mess and trail of destruction would indicate to me that the various public pronouncements are more about individuals protecting reputations within the RFC community, defelcting blame from themselves despite all of them having been involved in the mismanagement of RFC in some way or another.
Perhaps some of them are positioning themselves should a Newco opportunity present itself – no doubt about that. Paul Murray and others have some sort of plan, again, it would be foolish for me to think otherwise.
But the sheer scale of the mess (even without the FTT judgement) seems to make it nigh on impossible for them to have or implement any kind of master plan.
My anxieties over them are at an all time low. Their flush is busted for many years to come. Whatever new club emerges comes with huge structural problems from the outset.
Havent posted on here much at all, mainly because many on here articulate things far better than me. However, theres something thats intrigued me. The administrators have stated that they need to trim £1m a month, which is all well and good. But, what about their ever increasing fees? How will they be paid? Will it mean that they will have to actually make savings of £2m a month?
I dont do financials, so if someone can explain it to me, I’d be grateful.
James Forrest is The Emperor of Ice Cream on 7 March, 2012 at 14:12 said:
“Gary Player describes him as a very good man ….”
Jesus wept. And I think Speirs is one of the best journalists we have here.
That shows how far, how very far, standards overall have fallen ….
+++++
To be fair, he pulls it back – I think that tweet was just to open it up…
Graham Spiers @GrahamSpiers Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Various – yep, SARS see Dave King somewhat differently.
gavin campbell @gavceltic Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
@GrahamSpiers Player’s opinion aside this is the man charged with 11 counts of fraud in S. Africa, another fit and proper person??
-Graham Spiers @GrahamSpiers Close
-@gavceltic Eleven counts?? It’s more than that, mate.
Gordon J
I mentioned that yesterday, if they go bye bye after the season Hunfermline would no longer be part of the SPL and what they thought would be irrelevent, although I guess the could sue the SPL if they didn’t get a reprieve.
Can anyone suggest a group effort / fund to buy this and perhaps donate it to Celtic for safe keeping. It’s a shame that an integral part of our history is being sold on Ebay, imo.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/European-Cup-Winner-Medal-1967-John-Yogi-Hughes-Lisbon-Lions-Celtic-1967-/180833677091?
The huns are being investigated at the moment by
The SFA
The SPL
The Police
The Insolvency Agency
HMRC
AIM Stock Market
Anyone else ?
Gordon_J
On a more serious note – how many millions in Champions League money have RFC defrauded Celtic of over the years? Whistling into the wind trying to recover that.
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo on 7 March, 2012 at 14:22 said:
The huns are being investigated at the moment by
The SFA
The SPL
The Police
The Insolvency Agency
HMRC
AIM Stock Market
Anyone else ?
+++++
Bergerac.