Walter Smith was not named by BBC’s Mark Daly as a recipient of an Employee Benefit Trust in the recent documentary, however, before this matter is put to bed I expect more names to emerge. As soon as Smith makes himself available to a proper journalist he will be asked:
Did he receive EBT loan payments from Rangers?
If so:
Did he repay those loans or hold his cash while the club ran out of money and died?
Was he in receipt of a letter from Rangers confirming he was not required to repay?
Did his then employers, the Scottish FA, know he was perhaps receiving money from a member club while employed by them?
Are SFA employees contractually inhibited from taking payments from a member club or required to inform the SFA board of any payments received by a member club?
Did his earlier employers, Everton FC, know if he was receiving money from another club while employed by them?
Was Smith contractually inhibited from taking payments from another club or required to inform Everton of any payments received from another club?
As manager of Rangers, was he involved in negotiations with players who had EBTs or was he another one who concentrated on administrative and legislative duties?
Was he one of the men SFA president, Campbell Ogilvie, suggested failed to reveal side contracts to the Rangers board?
Rangers’ liquidators, BDO, will forensically pour over most of these questions, so Smith’s answers will be verifiable.
No one who played an active part in Rangers EBT scandal will come out of this clean. The ramifications multiply if Rangers were discretely paying any senior employee of another club.
I simply cannot imagine the justification for a member club discretely paying a senior employee of the SFA. Frankly, it would be beyond every Celtic fan’s most paranoid fantasies. I am sure Mr Smith will quickly and easily be able to reassure everyone.
An interesting twist in Smith’s bid for the assets of Rangers is that if he is to inherit Green’s application for a SFA licence and take a controlling interest in the club, Green is obliged to do due diligence on Smith to determine if he is a Fit and Proper person. Perhaps Mr Green can use the above as his due diligence questionnaire.
One final thought. In the unlikely event that it is established that one senior SFA employee was receiving discrete payments from Rangers, we need an immediate and independent inquiry to establish how many others received such payments and what they were for.
As a matter of some urgency I would recommend Stewart Regan brings himself up to speed on this one. I am sure his president is banging the table as you read this insisting the chief executive gets to the bottom of this. It’s not as though he is heavily conflicted and the SFA is in dire need of an independent president to steady the ship.
My friends in Celtic, this just got interesting.
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malceye on 15 June, 2012 at 10:05 said:
starryhope
there was no liquidation at the point of sale. The administrators sold the assets. Can this deal be challenged by BDO? That is the interesting question.
———————————————————————————————————–
Surely this sale must be challenged. If there was no liquidation at the time of sale then D&P as administrators are still obliged to act in the best interest of the creditors. If a CVA was not agreed upon then their next duty was to ensure that the assets that would be sold off to pay the debts to the creditors would be sold for the highest possible sum. £5.5M doesn’t come near it.
Starryhope
Starry plough
Can’t you just picture him there sitting with that menacing and sinister look he has, saying, ‘no, nothing to do with me……I knew nothing…I was just a football manager….you need to ask others….now if that’s all…thank you.
OK, Headtheball broke the blog!
What happened?
you coming under attack Paul??
and we’re back in the room
CQN is the Jaguar cars of blogs: she comes and goes as she pleases.
;) (thumbsup)
Mark Daly suggesting on twitter that he has seen no firm evidence that Smith benefited financially from the EBT scheme.
Awe Naw No Annoni Oan Twitter Anaw Noo…
————————————————————————————————-
enrico annoni @enrico6
@celticfc is beatifull
Pantaloon
Have you pulled up Rico for his spelling? Nah, didn’t think so ;-)
JohnnyClash on 15 June, 2012 at 12:18 said:
Mark Daly suggesting on twitter that he has seen no firm evidence that Smith benefited financially from the EBT scheme.
…………….
Which suggests he has seen some evidence?
JohnnyClash on 15 June, 2012 at 12:18 said:
‘Mark Daly suggesting on twitter that he has seen no firm evidence that Smith benefited financially from the EBT scheme.’
RTC hasn’t been wrong yet on any details of the EBTs.
He may have inside knowledge that Daly doesn’t have.
PeteTheBeat, 10:06
Alex Thomson doesn’t despise Rangers, let’s be clear.
He despises the financial and sporting corruption that they have wrapped themselves up in.
hen1rik, 10:11
ALEX.THOMSON@ITN.CO.UK
Saint Stivs on 15 June, 2012 at 10:07 said:
Stivs on 15 June, 2012 at
09:42 said:
Postcode update on Lantern
lighting.
G77, G71, PA7 , G69, PA8, G64, G67, KA7, IV25, G22
please add.
JohnnyClash on 15 June, 2012 at 12:21 said:
His English is better than my Italian. I’ll let him off with it. Just this once.
We’re back yeeha.
greenjedi/Ernie
Aye maybe. RTC suggestions carry a bit of weight, but if Mark Daly (BBC)’s comments had corroborated the allegations then the MSM would be obliged to question Smith on this.
St Stivs
CH1
321 and you’re back in the room. Take it we have our friend in Belfast to thank for giving the server a swift boot!
Apologies if the following have already been covered, but this layman’s head is spinning:
If they went into liquidation yesterday following the CVA meeting and HMRC appointed BDO as liquidators, then why are D&P still involved, who’s paying them and why didn’t BDO attempt to “auction” the asets to the highest bidder?
When do Lord Carloway and the SFA appeal panel meet again?
When does the SPL Newco vote take place?
What are the timescales for the SFA and SPL investigations into alledged dual contracts?
I thank you!
TTTTlazybassaCSC
Gerry, coming under attack from hoardes of joyful Celtic fans. That’s all.
philvisreturns, :-) When I’m stressing to get the server back up I’ll remember that.
Add G44 to the list
H.H
T minus 9 hrs 30 mins
The sky will be red
cos Rangers are dead
15/06/2012 @ 22.00 Hrs – Light a lantern
St Stivs is kindly updating postcodes on areas covered. Please feel free to add
Good Morning,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls… can I welcome you this morning to a whole new era. A new world, a new dawn… in short a whole new existence.
Let me say at the outset, that the words above are NOT a reference to any New Co that has been formed recently and is now the owner of assets that previously belonged to Rangers PLC, nor is it a reference to a new structure within Scottish Football– although today– 15th June 2012– is the first day since the inception of League football in Scotland that there has been no club called Rangers that can legally claim to have a place within the football league structure.
The New Co has a stadium but no Licence, and Rangers PLC technically has a licence but with no accounts and no ground etc it does not comply with many of the conditions required to maintain that licence. Further. a straight question to Duff & Phelps will confirm that the company that they are in charge of has no intention of playing Association Football today or at any time in the future.
No this new dawn arrived yesterday. In fact if you look back in time you may have caught a glimpse of it arriving in the trailing moments of Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland two nights ago when Jim Traynor inexplicably ended the programme with a call to arms when he suddenly and without warning pronounced that this was a chance for Rangers to be reborn without all the sectarian baggage, a chance to clean the “club” of its past divisive policies, its debts, its tax burden, and effectively its abuse of Scottish football.
It was a comment that struck as slightly out of context at the time but was one I welcomed. For the avoidance of doubt and in the interest of fairness it is only right that I should say that JT has made similar calls in respect of Rangers past practices before, and so it was not a new mantra from him.
However what is new– so blindingly new– is the MSM dissection of the events of yesterday. Don’t get me wrong they did not get everything right, they did not see all the moves nor have they cottoned on to all the circumstances and consequences that were revealed yesterday… but by God what they did do ( at least in parts ) shows that this blog and many other footballing blogs and internet activities have kicked what would have been the standard of sports reporting well into the past…… although whether things remain that way is as yet to be seen.
New media has changed things although some have yet to catch up, wake up nd shape up.
There was criticism ( rightly so in my opinion ) of Charles Green before yesterday, but Thursday morning saw the revelation that Ally McCoist was to be sacked as Green had supposedly revealed to a former Rangers Director that he was secretly planning on booting Ally out.
Now pardon me for being cynical, but this is not much of a secret if you reveal it to a past Rangers Director who must have had some working relationship with Ally, and who is then in possession of information which is explosive and headline grabbing. Green is no dummy– a brash man, maybe an arrogant man, maybe even a brazen carpetbagger– but he is not stupid enough to release such information into the public or private domain in the midst of a takeover and season ticket renewals.
If he did make the comment then he is more of a fool than I took him for, partly because whoever this former Director was has clearly shown to Mr Green and everyone else that he cannot be trusted with sensitive information. Within hours it was in the Daily Record, and hours later Walter Smith, Douglas Park, and Jim McColl go public with an offer to buy the goods that Green has already acquired under contract. Ally– that most media friendly of personalities appears at the requisite meetings but says absolutely nothing! We await his every utterance.
Despite this earth shattering turn of events and the call to Green to stand aside, just ask yourself this: At what time yesterday did you first hear any of the mainstream media use the word “Choreographed”? Throughout late yesterday afternoon and on into the night the word came up time and time again, from numerous contributors. It is clear that certain sections of the media had been briefed as in days of old, provided with information, and given a nod and a wink—- yet they were at pains to not so subtly point out that there was an obvious “pincer movement”– another phrase used more than once— at play and that the McCoist sacking story or McCoist set to quit story was part of one and the same movement as Walter to the rescue story.
Whether, the second part of the story was fully released before the press statement is open to debate, but there were hints that Smith would make an offer before the McCoist revelations.
Perhaps, some in the media felt used yesterday as the dark arts came into play as in days of yore, though this time was met with a little more scepticism and a reluctance just to accept all that was being said.
Last night questions were being asked why didn’t these guys offer before, where have they been and so on– so they are not getting a completely free ride in terms of press.
However, so far the scrutiny of yesterday, what it meant and what it means has not dug nearly deep enough in terms of analysis and comment… and hasn’t scratched the surface in terms of questions asked or to be asked.
So let’s have a look at what can be said and asked this morning as some things are clear.
The first obvious thing is that Jim McColl, Douglas Park, Walter Smith and everyone associated with them were not prepared to save Rangers PLC or its trading history etc from obliteration and ultimate consignment to the History books. They might have wanted to, they might have liked to…. but they were simply not prepared to.
At no time did this conglomeration of a genuinely successful international businessman with a real and accounted for multimillion pound fortune, a very successful car dealer and property man and a former Rangers, EPL and International football manager make any attempt to strike a deal with Administrators, Tax Authorities or Creditors which would salvage the entity that was Rangers PLC. Nothing that they attempted to do yesterday offered any money to the tax man who collects taxes for you and me, offered any money to any of the creditors who traded with the football company in good faith– certainly nothing to any of the other football clubs who have been left high and dry by all previous Rangers management– and perhaps most important of all– nothing whatsoever to the 26,000 souls who made an emotional but financial investment in the fabric of Rangers Football club– be that Dave King with his millions or the wee guy down the road who cashed in his premium bonds to invest in their football club.
No– this conglomeration merely want to buy the assets– the carcass— of what once was Rangers FC and they want it at a knockdown price.
Now don’t get me wrong, for Park & McColl this is a straight business deal– although I am bemused at the stance of Douglas Park who has allowed his name to be associated with the blue knights consortium from day one. Perhaps he no longer fancies Paul Murray ( he may have good reason ), but for whatever reason he has been portrayed as being at the forefront of an organisation who has constantly and publicly championed the saving of the club by way of CVA.
McColl and Park played no part in bringing about the downfall of Rangers PLC in terms of its financial Armageddon– other than perhaps by remaining among that group who could be described as not so much the quiet men but the silent knights!
These two know accounts and balance sheets inside out. They can read accounts, can see losses as they mount, see expenditure when it is out of control and so on. They know about budgets, stock control, financial management and cost accounting. They know about Employment law, commission and bonus payments, pension rights and the obligations to investors. They know about tax authorities, tax appeals, tax inspections and so on and so forth– yet to my knowledge throughout the entire Murray era– from start to finish– they have never uttered a word of warning or caution to fellow Rangers fans about the management at Ibrox or of Ibrox..
Despite such silence, the tax debt and the creditors are not theirs so why should they pay them? The point is, that with all the assets, business opportunity that Rangers FC presents– the brand, the goodwill, the name, the support and so on– they have clearly taken the business decision not to use those assets and the clubs reputation to raise money for the benefit of creditors or shareholders. Instead they sat back and allowed first Whyte and then Green to come in and scoop the goods.
Green is an unashamed carpet bagger, a fast buck Freddie, a turnaround merchant with football experience who pounces on a situation where people make a mess of a business and where others who would be interested in buying have sat on their hands and done nothing to rescue the situation. He has been allowed by all concerned at Rangers to climb to the top of the castle and literally stare down at the dirty wee rascals below– and that in this instance includes McColl, Park, Kennedy and everyone else.
He will sell– he announced before he bought anything that he would sell. But he is in with some heavy hitters who will sweat the purchasers– which is precisely what happened yesterday.
However, both he and the McColl/Park partnership have still not looked out to sea and caught sight of the Tsunami on the horizon. Nor have the press– or if they have they have not sounded the storm warning as yet.
You see there is an almighty set of investigations coming and the events of yesterday simply saw the start of the biggest one of all. Yes the SPL will look at dual contracts– and will report pretty soon. Yes the committee under Lord Carloway might well suspend or expel any old Rangers of your choosing. Yes the other clubs may block and refuse or regularly condition with penalties any further participation in the SPL, and yes the FTT may well return soon and condemn Rangers past Tax practices and say that the club is liable for £xMillion.
However, by far the biggest wave on the horizon is the one that was announced by HMRC last week when they announced their refusal to accept the CVA and specifically gave the reasoning behind that decision… they do not want to compromise the chase and pursuit of those involved in the tax dodging practices and financial mismanagement of Rangers PLC.
I think they will chase certain individuals who benefited from that scheme. This will include players and former players. It will include Directors and former Directors. Where necessary it will include those deemed to be shadow Directors.
A shadow director is defined in section 741(2) of the Companies Act 1985 as a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of the company are accustomed to act (although a person is not deemed a shadow director by reason only that the directors act on advice given by him in a professional capacity).
The High Court has said that this means that a governing majority of the board must be accustomed to act in accordance with the directions or instructions of the alleged shadow director. The purpose of the legislation is to catch a person who effectively controls the running of the company — or part of the company- by controlling the board. Therefore, a person is unlikely to be within the definition of a shadow director if only one or two directors on a board of several directors follow his instructions.
The directors must act on the alleged shadow director’s directions as a matter of regular practice; it must be a regular course of conduct of the directors over a period of time.
A shadow director must declare his interest in any contract or proposed contract with the company at a board meeting.
Any transaction by which the company will acquire from the shadow director, or his business associates or through a connected party, or by which the shadow director will acquire from the company a non-cash asset value of the requisite value (i.e. its value exceeds £100,000 or 10 per cent of the company’s net asset value) must first be approved by an ordinary resolution of the shareholders of the company. If prior shareholder approval is not obtained, the transaction could potentially be unravelled.
And then there is what can be described a s a De Facto director.
A de facto director is a person who performs the functions of a director but who has not been formally appointed as a director. The High Court in Ultraframe Ltd reiterated that a de facto director is a person who undertakes functions that should probably only be discharged by a director and who has an equal ability to participate in decision making.
It is unlikely that a person will be a shadow director and a de facto director at the same time, although it will be possible for a person to be a shadow director before becoming a de facto director.
Directors should review the decision-making process of the board on a regular basis, in particular the functions and responsibilities of senior managers, to ensure that they are not accustomed to act in accordance with the directions or instructions of non-directors, and to ensure that such senior managers are not de facto directors or shadow directors themselves.
And therein lies the problem for Walter Smith and anyone seeking to employ Walter Smith. The same would apply to Dick Advocaat, Alex McLeish and anyone else who occupied the managers chair at Rangers FC during the Murray Era.
All but Walter Smith have been named as beneficiaries under the EBT scheme.
Presumably Charles Green ( having offered Smith the Chairmanship ). Douglas Park and Jim McColl have satisfied themselves that Walter Smith was not party to, or a beneficiary under, that scheme and have had assurances to that effect.
This is crucial because the scale of the financial claim that HMRC may have against Directors, shadow Directors may well amount to well over £100Million pounds when you include interest and add on expenses and so on.
The manager of a football club ceased to be simply a guy who picks the players and fields the team a long time ago. Managers now get involved in transfers, salary negotiations, bonus payments and so on. I doubt very much that the Directors of a football club simply decide to go and buy this player or that– they act on the manager’s instructions or recommendations ultimately
The manager will also have a huge say in how he allocates his salary or transfer budget. He will say yes or no to the agreed fees or salary– and then the board will implement the contract and have employees of the company see to the details. The manager plays a crucial part in the chain of command.
Also remember that more than once, Rangers have given someone the title “Director of Football” whether they were formally adopted on to the PLC board or not. Whether there is a titled Director of football or not, someone has carried out the duties of a Director of Football. In fact without someone de facto being the Director of Football a modern football club cannot actually operate and trade.
I don’t know what, where and how Walter Smith was paid in return for his services on behalf of Rangers PLC, but others do and some questions were asked yesterday which were….. let’s say illuminating.
Walter Smith has, at various times, been at the very heart of the operations of Rangers Football Club. His activities, his remuneration and his conduct may well come under scrutiny from various corners in the coming months and years, and it may be that to avoid any possibility of being labelled a shadow or De Facto Director he is going to have to tell all he knows and point to who did what.
If he knew anything about the EBT’s and played any part in massive overspending then he has actively played a part in all the minor shareholders losing their money. He did not speak out about Whyte nor express any great concern about the sale to Whyte when it happened.
He publicly proclaimed after the massive spend on players post Kaunas that everyone could see where the money has been spent– on the park— yet raised no concerns about the fact that some of the players under his charge were being paid by way of EBT nor that perhaps it would be wise to set aside funds for a potential tax liability that had already been claimed by HMRC.
Yet yesterday, this same man fronted a bid for the clubs assets and claimed that none of those involved wanted to make money out of the club. That is hard to stomach as the entire movement yesterday was designed to ensure that this consortium were the only people who COULD DECIDE to make money out of the “club” if Green accepted their bid. As I say no offer for the minor shareholders or the creditors and nothing for any football creditors.
If, however, it were ever shown that Walter Smith gained personal benefit by way of payments through the EBT scheme— then can he not stand accused of misleading everyone? From the footballing authority for whom he worked, the minority shareholders whose assets he was meant to protect, the tax authorities who were deceived, down to his partners who have enough business savvy not to want to go into business with someone who is going to come under huge scrutiny and have their very business integrity questioned and examined? In short, it is entirely possible that Walter Smith might not be able to avoid being deemed a Director ( shadow or otherwise ) of Rangers PLC and therefore carrying legal responsibility for the failure of the club. In short he could be named along with several others as the Nero Knights… those who fiddled while Ibrox , the shareholders, the creditors and Rangers FC burned
Unless of course, McColl and Park are no more than the latest incarnation of the Murray Ethos– the “we will look after ourselves and to hell with everyone else” brigade– an attitude which brought Rangers to its knees in the first place!
If so, then they had better wake up to this new day and this new age, where the internet bampots just happen to comprise of some pretty sharp cookies like RTC, Paul 67 and others who now not only have an audience and easy access to all sorts of expertise on business matters, but who have created a sufficient impact to ensure that the MSM yesterday immediately likened the SMITH/MCCOLL/PARK/MCCOIST movement to a choreographed dance movement.
Perhaps this latest group would be best described as the BOOGIE KNIGHTS and so far having listened to the reaction to their approach from Charles Green they must take the view “Weir Pumped!”.
Either way… there are those among their number who should prepare themselves for Hector the BOGEY man and his dashing big Sergeant !
Jim Traynor made a very public call on the radio— it is time for a complete change. Total, absolute, unqualified and dramatic change. From the Empire to the Republic, where openness transparency accountability, social responsibility, public awareness and inclusion are embraced adopted and actioned.
That is the only way forward for any new Rangers.
Saint Stivs
ML2 Light up, light up
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000 on 15 June, 2012 at 12:31 said:
thats exactly what i was gonny say.
TAL
Paul 67
Regarding Smiths previous role as Scotland boss
I thought his appointment as the Scotland boss was always more about about waiting in the wings before Le Guen got the boot than looking out for the national side imo the whole thing was a set up. Smith later joined Rangers and took a few Scottish national team players (how convenient) with him
Murray needed a plan B in case the PLG experiment was a failure
Nothing was said by the MSM about this rather unbelievable coincidence that got the oldco out of the merde that PLGs appointment left them in.
Were senior members of the SFA in cahoots with Murray regarding Smiths appointment as national coach and did these senior members receive EBT money who knows but they are questions worth asking in light of all that’s happened so far nothing is impossible.
What if Wally were to go for the physical assest in the great liquidation sale how would leave things?
The liquidators are not obliged to sell Ibrokes or Murray Lark to Sevco FC, so surely it’s highest bidder wins?
So you could have Green with the name and whatever else that intails(does anybody know.. really?!?) and Wally with the ground and training facility.
I would love it, love it if that happened. :oD
stirthepot.csc
HH
/Bishop B
Saint Stivs on 15 June, 2012 at 10:07 said: Stivs on 15 June, 2012 at 09:42 said: Postcode update on Lantern lighting. G77, G71, PA7 , G69, PA8, G64, G67,
ML3 , G72
It’s possible that Smith could score some easy PR here.
If he gets the chance to lead a takeover of a Rangers team, he can claim that he used his EBTs (if he took any EBTs) to fund the consortium’s purchase, in effect paying back the loans, so what’s all the fuss about?
Cue mass hysteria amongst the press for Sir Walter being such a great, honest guy and leading the Blue Crusade and ignoring any other wrongdoing on his behalf.
Walter Smith and Stuart Regan should also be asked this.
Did the SFA ask for or demand payment of compensation from Rangers for Smiths return from the SFA to Rangers?
If not , why not?
If so what was the response?
If money was paid over how much was it?
If no money was paid over what steps were taken to recover any money ?
If no steps were taken to recover any money , why were no such steps taken?
Son of Warsaw:
Add Dublin 11 to your postcode list!
BRTH
Another fantastic read!
However, can’t say I am convinced that the MSM has changed it’s tune…
I still rely on CQN and RTC for the “real” news.
In which I suggest that Mr Green has made an excellent deal in buying the assets and business of Rangers for £5.5 million, and that he stands to make a lot of money very quickly, if he plays his cards right, and gets back out almost as quickly as he came in.
And I suggest a comparison with Mark Goldberg’s purchase of Crystal Palace Football Club in the late 1990’s as a benchmark to compare the quality of the deals.
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/what-has-charles-green-bought-for-his-5-5-million-an-instant-profit/
This will be my first visit to see Celtic for 8 years. My father used to take me when I was a boy, before we emigrated to America. I can still remember my father’s excitement on the day Rangers died. June 2012 it was. I was only 10. We left Scotland that summer, just as it was all falling apart for the old Rangers. At the time I didn’t really understand the reasons behind their demise. All I knew was that it was to do with them having no money and going out of business due to some guy called Hector.
Neil Lennon was the Celtic manager at the time. It is amazing to think that he is now a director of the club. I’ll never forget the day the Bhoys won the Champions League at Wembley. It was Neil’s last day in charge before moving upstairs and making way for the new manager – Paul Lambert. To see him holding that big cup aloft during the lap of honour was a joy to behold. And what was Super Ally McCoist doing as his nemesis was showing off the European Cup around Wembley? – stuck in the Big Brother house and sharing a toilet with losers such as Rebekah Brooks and Gary Glitter.
After Rangers died, most people expected the new club to go straight back into the SPL, but a season out of the game, and restarting in Division 3 in 2013 meant that it would take them a long time to be any sort of force again.
It was no surprise when Celtic were invited to join the new English Super League in 2015. They had really outgrown the Scottish setup after winning the 2013, 2014 and 2015 titles by an embarrassing landslide. When Sky TV went under, causing the total collapse of the English game, no fewer than 11 clubs went to the wall and 9 others merged, leaving them with no other option but to completely re-organise the whole system of World Football from top to bottom.
Everyone thought Neil Lennon’s Celtic would struggle in the new setup. They did indeed struggle, but only for the first half of the inaugural season until they settled into their new routine. Even the most fanatical Celtic supporter in the world could not have expected Celtic to win the English title in only their second season, but win it they did, and in some style.
Celtic celebrated that triumph by refurbishing the old Celtic Park, bringing the South Stand in line with the rest of the stadium, making it the biggest club ground in the UK with an 80,000 capacity. The immediate sale of 64,000 season tickets was testament to the decision to increase the capacity. It was fitting indeed that the stadium was also given a new name. The Fergus McCann Arena has a nice ring to it and ensures that the legacy of the man who had the vision to make it all possible will live on in Celtic for many decades to come.
Rangers eventually clawed their way back to the top division in Scotland, after 5 years of pain. They still languish in mid-table mediocrity, playing to crowds of 5 to 10 thousand, but at least those who do watch them have no interest in politics and religion, and new manager Charlie Nicholas seems like a decent enough chap who has found his level.
So today I fly back to Scotland for the first game of season 2020/21. I will have time to take in a couple of Celtic games before moving on to London for my cousin’s wedding, which just happens to be the day before Celtic face Arsenal at the Emirates. I can’t wait to see Henrik Larsson in his first game as Celtic manager now that Paul Lambert has moved to Barcelona.
My father still talks about the great victories over Rangers back in the day, as well as a few agonising defeats.
Me? I am happy to watch live broadcasts of games v Manchester United, West London (merged from Fulham, Chelsea and QPR) and Mersey City (formerly Liverpool and Everton).
The old Rangers are a distant, childhood memory of a club who got greedy, stole and cheated, and died as a result.
The new Rangers are a toothless, aimless entity playing out of a rundown Firhill Park as their city rivals eat from the top table in world football.
As my late granny was wont to say . . . Hell bliddy mend thum.
Bring on the Gunners.
A few weeks back RTC posted that Lord Cardigan did have an EBT in place over a certain time period but that he had never drawn any money down from it – I posted a response drawing some logical conclusions from this and very shortly thereafter RTC pulled the whole post
I think it is safe to say RTC has access to more material than Mark Daly
VertWolf
The huns dead yet?
Oh! Wait A Minute…
Paul67,
sorry for breaking the blog but, for future reference, how did i do it as i was just posting short paragraphs with no links etc?
Lads someone on this site asked yesterday how a newco could play in the SPL without a licence.
I advised him that a site called the bleacher report had a column up for 25 mins and it was then taken down with no reason.
I then emailed this site and this was his reply below.
Hi *****
The article was only up on our site for about 25 minutes before we had to pull it back for sourcing concerns and contact the writer. If the writer can answer those sourcing concerns, we will be able to restore the article.
Best,
-Tim Coughlin
B/R Copy Editing
Article below.
This page does not exsist or is currently unavailable.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1200816-ranger-fc-a-dying-club-determined-to-take-scottish-soccer-down-with-it