“The appeal is dismissed.” With those words at the Supreme Court in London at 9:52 this morning, Rangers tax cheating was established as fact. The charlatans who manipulated Scottish football fans were shown to be the disgrace they are.
Rangers made unlawful payments, totalling many millions of pounds, to footballers, who, by the club’s own admission in court, they would have been unable to recruit if they had to pay tax and National Insurance contributions for.
They lied to HMRC.
They also hid documents from HMRC, which only came to light during a City of London Police raid on Ibrox.
They hid documents from the SPL and SFA, failing to honestly register dozens of players.
They cheated the tax man.
They cheated the welfare state, the NHS, the police, councils, schools. They cheated the Army and other services.
The SPL’s (now called Scottish Professional Football League) Commission into these matters must now be set aside. It was conducted on the assumption that Rangers acted legally. Lord Nimmo Smith was clear that his conclusions were predicated on this point. A fresh commission is required, we cannot just allow the biggest cheats in British sporting history wander off into the distance.
The SFA has failed to call Sir David Murray to account, or the other directors of Rangers, who had explicit responsibility to ensure the club acted within the laws of the land and within the rules of football, both of which it failed to do.
Murray should be sine died. God knows, I cherish every moment Dave King controls things at Ibrox, but he was a director of Rangers with legal responsibility for its actions. They should all be censured.
NEW CQN PODCAST WITH SFA PRESIDENT ALAN RAE OUT NOW!
Episode 2 of ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ finds Paul John Dykes and Kevin Graham discussing a variety of topical subjects concerning Celtic Football Club, including:
* Callum McGregor: The Youth of Today;
* Death of the Cult Hero;
* Norwegian Wood – Ronnie Deila’s Exit Interview;
* Farewell to The Stone Roses;
* Hillsborough: The Truth.
Paul John Dykes also chats to SFA President, Alan McRae, to challenge him over recent comments made about Celtic’s domination of Scottish football.
Connect with A Celtic State of Mind @PaulDykes and @CQNMagazine or just listen using the link below…
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So it’s like buses then.
You wait 5 years and then Progres comes two days in a row
Anyway, whether we like it or not, depending on the response from the SFA/SPFL professional football in Scotland may well have died today.
Then there is the ‘Fit and Proper’ guff, King,Johnston,Dickson…..?
So CVeltic statement says “We will do nothing, just go away!”
Ernie
Totally agree. Sitting in private was very strange.
Chairbhoy 1:05
If they believe that Sevco Rangers is the same Club as Rangers as their reports always suggest, then who did the Footballers on EBTs represent? Did they play for the Club or Company.
——
Exactly. It’s like the trophies belong to the CLUB. But the players who won the trophies for the club belonged to some external “company”.
It’s complete guff and they know it.
They tie themselves in knots at times.
They go on about the company being liquidated, then two minutes later say “the club needs investment”!
Marodominic,
no the Celtic statement says nothing of the sort
Tony Donnelly
As a Celtic support who followed the club during this period paying home season book prices for the full duration of cheating and away tickets and travel up until 2001 (October) when my son was born, all paid to Celtic FC directly why should I not view this as an issue that my club should take up on behalf of all supporters and shareholders?
MWD
Barry Ferguson acts on advice to flee the counrty or be bankrupted by HMRC.
Spotted on the Arran ferry this morning.
So who is going to start up the Heidi Poone CSC?
See the Huns on FF are clutching at straws about one of the Proges players being ineligible to play. Something to do with a banned substance he used in May. I have checked lots of sites Sky, BBC, STV ect but no mention of this anywhere.
Title stripping ? Not for me.
Let them keep them but a small asterisk should be placed adjacent to their ill gotten gains.
Same with their strips’ 5 stars, one should be replaced by an asterisk.
If that ain’t acceptable to Ra Peepil, they can dawn a cowl and ring a bell as they stumble around.
So no statement from Celtic PLC?
Well I am of the opinion that it would be prudent for Celtic to await what utterances come from the SFA/SPFL before making any comment. Failing any response or adequate response from said SFA within a maximum of 48 hours then I would be demanding that Celtic make a statement about cheating!
Titles should definitely be stripped – but not reallocated in my opinion.
Fergus McCann said,……..
“Putting Rangers FC out of the same league as, Celtic FC, was the worst decision in the history of Scottish football!”
Aye,…….rebel ma erse.
BBC still quoting the figure owed to HMRC as £ 47million, bad enough but absolutely no attempt to advise this can double due to penalties. Minimising continues with the PR guru no doubt busting his gut to make sure this happens.
Timjim
Mentioned on Sky the guy has asthma and it was an asthma treatment
Regarding 29p in the pound tax payment, aye right. All these recipients fall into higher tax banding they are/were not poor. It is at least 40%, ie 40p in the pound plus NI.
At the risk of repeating myself
HAVE THEY NOT SUFFERED ENOUGH ?????
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 5TH JULY 2017 1:09 PM
Again. Very straightforward.
No matter whatever gripe we Celtic supporters have with the powers who govern us ………..
Refereeing decision . SFA decision. SPL decision……………..always ends up with a whinge about the Celtic Board.
Are they responsible for any of this current Rangers cheating ?
No.
What could they have done to prevent it ?
Nothing.
Should we not instead be congratulating our Board for not getting down and dirty with the hun and their EBT`s ?
Dressy
They have probably taken it from FF. It was not there earlier
In the Olympics if the guy who wins the gold is found guilty of drug abuse, then second place gets the gold.
It should be the same in football.
Strip them bare!
TONYDONNELLY67 on 5TH JULY 2017 1:17 PM
Once again I fail to see why this is a CFC issue, imo, it’s every club in Scotlands issue, and every fan of these clubs too, but the usual suspects have a go at PL, and the CFC board, its in they’r DNA and can’t help themselves, and then you’ve got the C T making the bulets, me? I’m just loving last night, and today’s results, both of which have nothing to do with CFC , but it’s fun, and I’m sure CFC and the board will be having a wee laugh too. Only my opinion, (whispers) and it’s allowed, so no name calling please :))
=======================================================================
Dead right.
Can I call you a stoater please ?
Trophies should be stripped from the thieves….
and, returned to the victims…..
Aberdeen FC, won the treble in 1990.
Any odds on who will be the first guy to sue their agent for bad advice? This is going to get messy..
‘No win, no EBT? No win no fee….
the last honest man in the rangers boardroom ?
hugh adam 2002.
—————-
Adam shakes Ibrox pillars with warning of bankruptcy 00:00Saturday 02 February 2002 Share this article THERE are licensed premises in Glasgow where the regular patrons will consider the recent deeds and utterances of the former Rangers director, Hugh Adam, to be nothing less than acts of treason. This should be regarded as a natural, almost understandable, reaction from immovably devoted supporters of the Ibrox club to the decision by Adam to unload his 59,000 shares in Rangers on the basis that they were heading towards worthlessness, thanks to the unsatisfactory business methods of the chairman, David Murray. Almost certainly viewed as an even more heinous offence would be Adam’s claim that Celtic are run much more competently and that investment in the Parkhead club would be a much sounder proposition for anyone wishing to purchase shares in a football institution. It would be tempting for many to dismiss Adam’s action as merely a gratuitous attack on Murray by a disillusioned, 76-year-old ex-employee carrying a grudge. But Adam has been a candid critic of the way Rangers have operated for years, ever willing to voice his unease – indeed, his incomprehension – at losses he has always insisted were unsustainable. He also has impressive credentials, having been chairman and managing director of Rangers Development and Rangers Pools since 1971, raising the millions which built the modern Ibrox. Adam’s efforts brought the club around 18million, about 60million at today’s values. To say that his final severance with Ibrox, after three separate terms as a director amounting to about 15 years of service, was done in a fury would be inaccurate, but in conversation this week it became evident that his decision is underpinned by unmistakable disgust. Not given to sensationalism, this essentially conservative disciple of prudent forward planning and low-risk business principles did, however, cause something of a shock by observing almost matter-of-factly that, if Rangers continue on their present track, their ultimate destination will be bankruptcy. “That’s the logical conclusion to a strategy that incurs serious loss year on year,” said Adam. “In the past five years – and it’s all there in the last annual report – Rangers have lost 80million. “Now, the banks are well known for being a bit more tolerant of companies whose core business is a popular pursuit like football. But there is a limit to how far backwards they can bend to accommodate you. “David Murray has always had an amazing persuasiveness when it comes to getting people to put money into his businesses, but the signs are that those sources have dried up. “The 40million worth of shares that ENIC (English National Investment Company) bought a few years ago are now worth about 15million, with no evidence to suggest that they will recover. The money itself, that which was actually invested, was lost some time ago. “Now the latest investor, Dave King from South Africa, will know that his 20million shareholding is worth around half, or even less, of what it was when he bought. No proper businessman will want to buy into that kind of loss.” ADAM sold 12,000 of his 59,000 shares last year and the balance of 47,000 just recently. For the latter, he got 1.15 each; three years ago, they were valued at 3.45. He is convinced Rangers cannot trade their way out of trouble, unless they gain access to a league that will attract higher-bracket income from TV. He was in favour of the proposed Atlantic League, involving the Old Firm and clubs from Holland, Portugal and other countries, but is extremely sceptical of their chances of joining the English Premiership. He is adamant that Rangers do not have the customer base to improve their financial standing through merchandising. “Rangers’ so-called global appeal is a myth,” he said. “When I was there, we did an exercise which involved asking 50,000 fans on the database to recommend a friend or a relative abroad. “A big response was expected – some were even talking about getting 100,000 names – because everybody in Scotland seems to know somebody abroad. “We got back 2,800 names and three-quarters of them didn’t know they had been nominated. It’s no surprise that Celtic are officially the best-supported football club in North America, with more official clubs than anybody else. The difference is the Irish connection. “Many Irish people may support Manchester United, Liverpool or whoever, but they all – every one of them – have an affection for Celtic. And, of course, Celtic also have a great Scottish following. “The difference is that, while the Irish all have an allegiance to Parkhead, there are millions of Scots who not only don’t support Rangers, but actively dislike them. “Despite the claims of international appeal, Rangers are, essentially, a West of Scotland club. They talk of supporters’ buses leaving from all parts of Scotland, but if you look closely, you’ll see there aren’t many from each area and they are not all full. “This doesn’t mean that even Celtic will earn fortunes from emigrant supporters. There may be more of them than Rangers fans, but it doesn’t mount to the kind of income necessary to fund their ambitions. But Celtic have been, since Fergus McCann’s arrival, much the better-run club. “Fergus was the most unjustly maligned man in the history of the game, when you consider that he took the club from bankruptcy into the mainstream and built that stadium along the way. ‘NOW, the Celtic board have more financial heavyweights than Rangers, with people like Brian Quinn, Dermot Desmond and Sir Patrick Sheehy. “It’s only in the last couple of years that Celtic have sustained losses, but over the five-year period they break even. But Brian Quinn and his board are taking steps to warn people that they are not in the business of heading towards bankruptcy. “For their pains – for doing their job properly – they get crucified in the media, accused of penny-pinching. I don’t understand it. “They are determined to keep Celtic properly managed, while Rangers, with Murray, is a one-party state and the man in power has an allergy to any form of personal criticism. But he’s not a businessman in the long-term sense of planning and prudence, he’s more of an impresario. “But what has been happening is unfair on shareholders, and they’re being short-changed. “It’s a nonsense, too, to say that Rangers’ shareholders are all supporters who aren’t interested in dividends or profits. “That’s okay for the man with 50 shares, framed and hung on his wall. The number of shareholders in that category would amount to a minuscule percentage of the equity. “But I’m 76 and haven’t had a dividend in years, so what’s the point of me keeping shares until they dwindle to nothing? And I’m certain the people at ENIC won’t be too pleased with their investment.”
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/adam-shakes-ibrox-pillars-with-warning-of-bankruptcy-1-595808
SS- i remember the shameful obitury to Hugh Adam in The Herald, a man totally vindicated today.
TONYDONNELLY67 on 5TH JULY 2017 1:17 PM
‘Once again I fail to see why this is a CFC issue’
###
When the huns died, and were then resurrected, a lot of posters on here said that it was not the appropriate time for Celtic to comment on what had happened, or was been allowed to happen.
They argued that Celtic could only comment once the tax case had been disposed of, and then, and only then, would Celtic make their views absolutely clear.
Some of us disagreed, and said that there was nothing to stop Celtic commenting at that time, that Celtic had chosen not to comment, and would, for whatever reason, never comment on what had taken place.
Well, lets see who called that one right.
I just hope I was wrong, but I fear not.
*obituary
Maybe, the PLC will remain mute until….
the Linfield powderkeg has been negotiated ?
But,……remember this,……
we’re talking about, the same PLC….
who flung NFL under a bus when….
he proved that his team were being….
cheated by the MIBs.
Anyway,….
…off-oot.
To make a bad night worse. Fans couldnt get a taxi in Luxembourg after the game. Most of the drivers had a football match to play earlier…..
Maradominic
I get that , but we are talking wage payments here and HMRC?
I hope this doesnt break the blog – but a little bit of forensic study , and here is the victims of the cheating Rangers football club. i dont know who composed it but its the spreadhseet equivalent of the moravcik67 youtube celtic compilation.
offcourse the shredding of many documents means we dont know what really happened since 1987 to 2000.
but here goes – from 2000 onwards – read it and weep.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dhAk4K4f1aaWIZScFH9QpCXx1W8a-802o60kS3BEOwI/htmlview#gid=0
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL @ 1:38 PM,
Noticed you posted on the subject before me. You are quite right…
“….Exactly. It’s like the trophies belong to the CLUB. But the players who won the trophies for the club belonged to some external “company”.
It’s complete guff and they know it.
They tie themselves in knots at times.
They go on about the company being liquidated, then two minutes later say “the club needs investment”!
It could well be decision time for the BBC…
Like you point out, only Football Clubs can register Players with the Scottish Football Association.
So if this result gathers pace like it should do, the BBC can No Longer have their cake and eat it.
If Oldco Rangers and Newco Rangers are the “Same” Club as the BBC claim then any ramifications for these players that the Club registered, in terms of illegal payments and/or incorrect registrations must be Borne by the current Rangers Football Club.
As the the 14 effected Trophies are also claimed by the current Rangers Football Club any striping of Titles and resultant sanctions must be visited on the Current Rangers Football Club…
…Remember the rules allow various penalties, as well as the title stripping…. including the power to expel the club, impose unlimited fines and place a registration embargo on the club. (PMcC)
If Sevco want to avoid being implicated in the Draconian Punishments befitting the Crimes of Rangers, they will have to end this same Club nonsense and put in place some demarcation points.
As an aside… It’s good to see that the SPFL are deliberating on the SC’s decision, I’m sure they knew it was coming today and had various statements at the ready.
The fact that they’ve not made a statement can only mean the Judgement and the reaction to it has sent them off… to think again.
Hail Hail
hOW LONG BEFORE SOMEONE says thatif the loans are repaid they should go to the club…what a windfall to buy new players! Bugger I bet they have already said it on FF or BBC
https://twitter.com/alextomo/status/882583307992608769
HMRC saying we’re coming to get you…
BRT&H
Honestly, you have to see beyond the immediate problem to see where this lot come from and are going and with no offence to Chris, and many others, he is not at the races let alone the starting gate.
Yes I get that mate, but I’m going down the road of no matter who you are or what you do, at the end of the financial year YOU, and ONLY you fill in your earnings and sign the sheet at the bottom right?
They (Hun players) withheld information and lied to HMRC you are responsible for your tax form, everyone in the U.K. Is as far as I know?
So I can’t see them going after anyone else if there is only your name on the tax form?
But a could be wrong.