Smith, the SFA, Everton and EBTs

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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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  1. mic1888 says no to cheats charter no to zombie r*****s on 16 June, 2012 at 11:06 said:

     

    You are all forgetting something her…. No sponsors have withdrawn their support…. Their sponsorships were with RFC( deceased) and ended when they ended.

     

     

    excellent point.

  2. They’re dead.

     

     

    Embrace that fact and revel in the joy.

     

     

    We are not dead. Quite the opposite.

     

     

    The media’s cloistered denial and truculent use of present tense description only heightens their displeasure. Like I’ve always said about the chip wrapper writers – saying something to be so, wanting something to be so – won’t make it so…

     

     

    And like our atlantic cousin are want to say – wish in one hand, sh*t in the other and see which fills up first.

     

     

    And as one illustrious writer on here put it, many, many years ago – a cat can have kittens in an oven – it doesn’t make them biscuits.

     

     

    Dead.

     

     

    The good guys won Johnny, the bad guys tasted bitterness and defeat…

     

     

    U

  3. !!Bada Bing!! on

    We have been swamped with souptakers in recent years,notably Walker IMO.By far the worst came from Burley on 5 live a couple of years back.He was summarising an EPL game,a reporter interjects,”good news from Scotland Craig,Celtic have just went 1 up v Rankers..”,he replied “couldn’t be less interested,the day Celtic stopped putting money in to my bank account ,was the day i stopped caring about them”

  4. bigngreen.....I am Neil Lennon on

    Gourock EmeraldBhoy

     

     

    Grannie’s in Embo ……..and I travel from The Royalle when I get the chance ;-)

  5. ItaliaBhoy –

     

     

    Yes, you are quite correct.

     

     

    Except that they were talking about the English media, rather than their sports men and women. Which is what we Scots moan about.

  6. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    bournesouprecipe on 16 June, 2012 at 09:38 said:

     

    Celtic hold the trump card in a open vote, and should negotiate with

     

    the other SPL clubs on the basis that if New Club is in, Celtic are out.

     

    No revenue from Celtic fans at away grounds total boycott.

     

    No to New Club.

     

     

    Bourne

     

    I can`t think ,and believe me I`ve tried,of any reason why that is not the strategy which MUST be employed. Sorry about the double negative.

     

     

    However,I implicitly trust our Board to look after the interests of our club and our supporters.

     

    Unquestionably,they will have insight and info. which we do not.

     

     

    Absolutely loving their silence.

     

    “Speak quietly and carry a big stick.”

  7. South Of Tunis on

    England 3 —– Sweden 2

     

     

    ” England play hit and hope football– Scratch card football ”

     

     

    ” Ibra had one of his ‘why did I have to be Swedish games ‘ ? ”

     

     

    Italian tv commentator 15 /6 12

  8. If we are two sell Ki for £8mil together with the players that are already off the wage bill, I would love to see us make a quality centre half and striker bought to go for the champ league in a big way. I’m relatively happy with the squad and looking forward to see them develop. Also by spending relatively big it would quash the argument that we are cutting back due to what’s happening at newco. Any opinions on Paul Robinson as a keeper if big Fraser decides on pastures new?

     

     

    Hail Hail

  9. “Sky Sports understands…………..”

     

     

    Aye, Jim………..

     

     

    …..belter.

  10. Talking to Motherwell season ticket holder at work yesterday. Their online pole regarding Sevco in the SPl next season is currently at 97% NO !!!

  11. midfield maestro on

    macanbheatha on 16 June, 2012 at 11:28 said:

     

    1677 posts .Time for anew article Paul

     

     

    Gi the guy a brek, it’s saturday mornin, let him huv sum kwality time wae his wife n weans.

  12. The Rangers Football Club Ltd.,

     

    Formed 14th.,June 2012

     

    Club Motto “No Quite Ready”

     

     

    A History……

     

     

    League Championships 0

     

    Scottish Cup Wins 0

     

    League Cup Wins 0

     

    Glasgow Cup Wins 0

     

    European Competitions Entered 0

     

    Matches Played in Competitions 0

     

    Players 0

     

    Loving Cups 0

     

    Arsenal Shares 0

     

    SPL Licence 0

     

    Players Booked 0

     

    Players Sent Off 0

     

    Youth Academy 0

     

    First Team 0

     

    Reserve Team 0

     

    Season Ticket Sales 0

     

    Supporters Clubs 0

     

    Debenture Holders 0

     

    Shareholders 5

     

    Managers 1

     

    Tel.No. Not Known.

     

    Lanterns 0

     

    Dignity 0

     

    Please feel free to add to this list por cierto

  13. tommytwiststommyturns on

    Just got another exclusive scoop type text from Lennybhoy, telling me about the bid for Ki….demanded to know the name of his source! :-)

     

     

    T4

  14. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon..!!..Truth and Justice HAS prevailed on

    macanbheatha on 16 June, 2012 at 11:28 said:

     

     

    Give the mhan a rest, FGS ……….. LOL…!!

  15. Smith knows nothing as well

     

     

    I was asked in correspondence by a therangers fan why I care about Smith and the oldco

     

     

    I explained I cared because like the rest of Scottish football fans I want the truth. I want the truth because my club and many other SPL clubs past and present have been directly affected by their oldcos failure to pay Her Majestys taxes like the rest of us.

     

     

    I wanted to see people who received EBTs during Murrays stewardship to be questioned not by scared for their lives SFA officials that upstarts like Mc Coist can intimidate. I wanted to see them questioned by people who can put them under oath and get at the truth without fear of sinister retribution.

     

     

    I wanted people who did not receive EBTs who were not on the BBC list to be asked if they received tax free money because we can’t just assume the BBC list is definitive.

     

     

    I finished by informing the therangers fan that the idea that Smith was just an innocent bystander who knew nothing about the EBTs is self preserving fantasy.

     

     

    Smith was always Murrays right hand man sitting next to him for all the big announcements sitting next to him for a whole lot of EBT signings no one is going to believe he knew nothing.

  16. The way I see is like this: Tennents and others sponsored the OF for £X? amount per, year. Now we’re the OF so we should get all the sponsor money. Simples!

  17. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon..!!..Truth and Justice HAS prevailed on

    macanbheatha on 16 June, 2012 at 11:39 said:

     

     

    Liquidation = Surrender

  18. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    ItaliaBhoy on 16 June, 2012 at 11:21 said:

     

    unlike those modest, self-effacing aussie sportsmen and women then..?

     

     

    They conveniently forgot England winning the Rugby World Cup here.

     

    Australian Broadcasting Corporation aka the Australian Labour Party with a microphone.

     

    Ergo,anti pom and republican.

     

    Old media.

     

    Out of business but for tax payers.

  19. Por Cierto on 16 June, 2012 at 11:37 said:

     

    The Rangers Football Club Ltd.,

     

    Formed 14th.,June 2012

     

    Club Motto “No Quite Ready”

     

     

    A History……

     

     

    League Championships 0

     

    Scottish Cup Wins 0

     

    League Cup Wins 0

     

    Glasgow Cup Wins 0

     

    European Competitions Entered 0

     

    Matches Played in Competitions 0

     

    Players 0

     

    Loving Cups 0

     

    Arsenal Shares 0

     

    SPL Licence 0

     

    Players Booked 0

     

    Players Sent Off 0

     

    Youth Academy 0

     

    First Team 0

     

    Reserve Team 0

     

    Season Ticket Sales 0

     

    Supporters Clubs 0

     

    Debenture Holders 0

     

    Shareholders 5

     

    Managers 1

     

    Tel.No. Not Known.

     

    Lanterns 0

     

    Dignity 0

     

    Penalties (on field) 0

     

    Penalties (applied by ruling bodies thus far) 0

     

     

    Please feel free to add to this list por cierto

     

     

    share on F’book or Twitter

     

     

  20. Green Lantern (((((0))))) on

    Something further to add to the comprehensive list of how we differ from the huns.

     

     

    We have a football club.

  21. Paul Robinson is one of the worst keepers I have ever seen

     

     

    Not good enough to sit on Celtic bench

  22. Stringer Bell @ 10.22,

     

    If I’m not mistaken, the NUM never took a vote on the Scargill strike, so the miners who continued working weren’t scabs.

  23. Tom McLaughlin on 16 June, 2012 at 11:01 said:

     

    I’ve said it 7 times on CQN and I’ll say it again . . .

     

     

    There will be no Rangers, in any name, shape or form, playing anywhere for at least a year.

     

     

    Believe it.

     

     

    share on F’book or Twitter

     

     

     

    Tom can i ask why you are so sure.

  24. tommytwiststommyturns on

    Ten Men – a comparison of the kit men sums up the difference between us and our former Glasgow rivals !

     

     

    T4

  25. hen1rik –

     

     

    SFA ban, but even without that . . . litigation and in-fighting between factions at Ibrox.

     

     

    It’s too big a mess to just turn it round and say – ok let’s get this show on the road.

     

     

    It ain’t gonna happen.