The Celtic soap opera season continued through the weekend. We were taken to the school of St Mirren on Saturday, then watched incredulously as a central defender we knew little about but who Sky incorrectly reported had signed a pre-contract, was instead heading for Liverpool.
Vasilis Barkas was dropped after the 2-2 draw with Livingston, he would be forgiven for being grateful as Scott Bain was given the unenviable burden of coping with a level of defending unseen at Celtic in decades. For the good of the player as well as the team, Neil Lennon has to accept Shane Duffy does not have what it takes at this level. A midweek pantomime against Hamilton went unpunished, while St Mirren fully exploited his meanderings.
In early December, I was assured Neil Lennon had the full support of the dressing room. Speaking in the heat after Saturday’s defeat, he questioned the players’ attitude and behaviour. There was no containment of the problem, no deflection of pressure off the squad and onto his more capable shoulders. Whatever goodwill exists must be under strain.
It must be difficult to find the words for so many post-match failures but throwing players under the bus is not the received wisdom. You and I are left to ponder what direction our season will plunge towards next.
Deadline Day in the ‘January’ transfer window leaves us with little to get excited about. We can hope for a central defender to fill the gap left by Christopher Jullien and a right back to allow Kristofer Ajer to move back into the middle. We cannot, though, buy confidence.
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GO TELL THE SPARTIM on 1ST FEBRUARY 2021 1:15 PM
A very simplistic take on the situation.
What would have been your solution if we’d agreed a deal with Davies and the contract was waiting to get signed?
Erratic… That would just have meant less of a package to Davis and make it even more unlikely to get him……
Just take in these words:
“I was taken from my house in Cheshire at 8.30am driven to Glasgow and spent six days in a police cell, with no bed and a concrete floor, at Helen Street station. I was treated worse than a terrorist.
6 days
No bed
Concrete floor
This makes Scotland equivalent to a military junta.
Look also at the words of Graeme Pearson, former head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and a former MSP in the OPINION piece at the end of the article.
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/news-special-insolvency-expert-david-whitehouse-vows-to-put-crown-office-in-the-dock-for-baseless-prosecution-over-rangers-takeover/
NEWS SPECIAL: Insolvency expert David Whitehouse vows to put Crown Office in the dock for baseless prosecution over Rangers collapse
An insolvency expert shattered by a baseless prosecution has vowed to put the Crown Office and Police Scotland in the dock, saying the legal action against him should be investigated as potentially criminal.
David Whitehouse, one of several executives targeted in a fraud investigation following the deal to buy Rangers out of administration nearly 10 years ago, described his treatment as “utterly scandalous”.
In an unprecedented admission, the Crown Office has accepted there was no evidence against him and his prosecution was malicious. However, after sharing a £21 million compensation award with a colleague, who was also prosecuted without grounds, Whitehouse will go to court this week to demand evidence is released that, he believes, will help prove Scotland’s most senior prosecutors and police acted illegally.
He said: “I believe that those responsible should be held to account and I struggle with the concept that you can wilfully, intentionally and maliciously prosecute people with no evidential basis and not cross the boundary into criminality.
“I have a hearing on Thursday in which we are making an application to use the material we recovered for civil litigation to bring a criminal complaint in relation to officers of Police Scotland and Crown Office staff including the former Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland. I want to see them prosecuted. They used the full power of the state to abuse every process of the justice system and that should not be allowed to happen. If there is not an inquiry into this that will be a further scandal.”
The case against Mr Whitehouse was initiated by Mr Mulholland, now High Court judge, but was dropped months before James Wolffe succeeded him as Lord Advocate in 2016. However, the Crown fought the civil action of Mr Whitehouse for another four years. Mr Wolffe is now expected to address the Scottish Parliament on the scandal at the Crown Office.
Mr Whitehouse and his colleague Paul Clark, who also worked for corporate restructuring firm Duff & Phelps and has been awarded a share of the £21m compensation, had been charged with fraud after Rangers’ takeover by Craig Whyte in 2011 and subsequent collapse the following year. Others involved were also investigated and prosecuted but none was convicted and the compensation and costs linked to related civil actions against the Crown Office could top £100m.
Mr Whitehouse said: “What happened to me was utterly scandalous and there needs to be some form of inquiry and investigation to ensure it does not happen again.
“What needs to happen is for the Crown Office and Police Scotland to take responsibility, own up with candour over what happened and address it. What should not happen is a scattergun approach to using the public purse to just buy it off. This was not a situation where they made mistakes. They absolutely knew there was not an evidential basis for what they were doing, and they did it for an improper motive.
“Then Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland was at the pinnacle of the decision-making process and was, therefore, responsible for the prosecution. I have made my feelings on him clear to the Crown Office. I think the Lord President should be asking him to account for his conduct and should be considering whether he is a fit and proper person to sit as a judge.”
Now, Mr Whitehouse, 54, has told how his life was shattered after being investigated and charged without evidence. He was first arrested in November 2014 then again in September 2015, ahead of a court appearance where prosecutors said they were seeking further time to investigate the case.
He said: “I was taken from my house in Cheshire at 8.30am driven to Glasgow and spent six days in a police cell, with no bed and a concrete floor, at Helen Street station. I was treated worse than a terrorist.
“On the Saturday after I was arrested, I was visited in the cell by an officer who said he was obliged to tell me they had received intelligence that my family was at risk and there was material on the internet and so on. I asked to speak to my family and my lawyer and was told the duty sergeant said no.
“It was akin to torture. Why would you come into a cell to tell someone, ‘your family’s at risk but there’s nothing you can do about it’?
“They opposed bail on the basis I might flee the country and I spent six days locked up on a complete fabrication. If they had called me, I would have attended at any police station for interview. The second arrest, they turned up first thing in the morning, blocked my street with police cars and handcuffed and searched me in the street. It was just awful behaviour.”
Mr Whitehouse said Mr Mulholland must answer for the initial investigation launched without evidence but Mr Wolffe, his successor as Lord Advocate, must explain why the case was not dropped and why the Crown defended his civil action for years despite the lack of evidence against him.
He said: “The civil litigation should never have been defended in the manner it was defended. They maintained for four years that Crown Office staff were entitled to proceed and it was only when a cloak of immunity was lifted, and they had to provide the evidence to support this, that they crumbled, said they did not have the evidence and admitted a malicious prosecution.
“Had they made that admission four years ago it would have had a very different impact on me, and that sits with the current Lord Advocate. That cannot be allowed to go unchecked.
“People should be entitled to a presumption of innocence and their liberty should be respected and, indeed, sacrosanct. The effect and the strain from this, on all aspects of my life over several years, has been huge.”
Mr Whitehouse and Mr Clark are understood to have received around £21m in damages and more than £3m in legal costs from the Crown Office who admitted liability, including, it is understood, for the conduct of police. It’s understood Police Scotland paid out a nominal six-figure sum over the case.
The pair were awarded the compensation after the Crown Office’s QC admitted in court their prosecution over the 2012 Rangers administration had been malicious.
Mr Whitehouse said orders granted previously for recovery of Crown Office documents limited the material’s use to the civil litigation which has now concluded. He said: “The Court of Session application is to enable me use the material for the purpose of making criminal complaints and reports in relation to conduct and, secondly, to be able to give evidence at any subsequent public inquiry.
“I am in a position where I had the means to afford litigation to bring these people to account and it begs the question of how often this kind thing happens and people can’t afford court action. It shouldn’t just be for the wealthy to achieve justice.”
Two others involved in the 2012 Rangers buy-out, former chief executive Charles Green and Imran Ahmad, also received Crown Office apologies and are seeking damages of about £20m each. Another Duff & Phelps administrator, David Grier, who was also investigated then cleared, is suing the Crown Office and Police Scotland for about £14m.
The Crown Office said: “The Lord Advocate intends to make a statement to the Scottish Parliament when the actions raised by Mr Clark and Mr Whitehouse are concluded.
“A number of ongoing related court actions will restrict the scope of this statement. However, the Lord Advocate is committed to supporting public understanding of these cases and will provide as much information as he properly can. The Justice Committee has written to the Lord Advocate on this subject and that correspondence will be responded to in due course.”
Police Scotland said: “We have reached an agreement to resolve this dispute and, as part of that agreement, will make no further comment.”
The background:
The consequences of businessman Craig Whyte’s ill-fated takeover of Glasgow Rangers in May, 2011, are still unfolding in the courts.
Whyte bought the club from Sir David Murray for a token £1 and the promise of wiping millions of pounds in debt but, it later emerged that, before the sale had been completed, he had borrowed £26 million against future season ticket sales.
Rangers were placed in administration the following year with London-based finance firm Duff and Phelps appointed administrators. They retained most of the playing staff and pursued a Company Voluntary Arrangement which could have provided an opportunity to pay off debts.
In June, 2012, this proposal was rejected by HMRC and, around the same time, the Crown Office, under Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, asked police to investigate the purchase of Rangers and the club’s subsequent financial management. The assets of the club were sold to a consortium led by Yorkshire businessman Charles Green and the club went into liquidation in October, 2012.
Mr Whitehouse and Mr Clark were detained by police in November, 2014, in relation to the probe into Whyte’s takeover but the charges against both were later dropped.
In 2016 they launched cases suing the Lord Advocate and the Chief Constable of Police Scotland claiming they had been mistreated and their human rights had been breached. The cases were settled four years later following the Crown Office’s unprecedented admission the prosecutions had been malicious.
Whyte was cleared in 2017 of acquiring Rangers by fraud following a High Court trial.
OPINION: It is unprecedented, shocking, and has to be investigated. But how? By who?
By Graeme Pearson, former head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and a former MSP
It is completely unprecedented in Scottish legal history that a prosecution would be admitted as malicious. That is not incompetence or oversight, that is someone knowingly engaging in a wrongful prosecution and that is shocking.
I am also shocked at the relative lack of comment on this matter in public life across Scotland. More than £20 million has so far been paid from the public purse in damages. The Crown Office’s entire budget last year was around £120m and there are yet more cases to come.
I would have thought the noise would have been deafening. Instead, there has almost been silence. The Justice Secretary, the Parliament and the Scottish Police Authority have said little or nothing.
In my experience as a police officer you gather evidence and, if you are unsure where it’s taking you, direction is taken from the procurator fiscal (PF). The PF acts as a devil’s advocate, challenging evidence. It helps decide if there is a case to answer.
I would have thought Crown Office would have been right in the middle of this case. Yet we arrive at the point where warrants were issued, offices searched and people were detained before someone said ahead of the trial, “whoops, this prosecution shouldn’t have been mounted” and it’s eventually declared malicious. I can’t understand how we got to that point and the system’s checks and balances didn’t close it down much earlier. It’s a legal scandal in a very real sense.
It used to be said that Scotland was a world leader in the administration of justice and the protection of human rights. It’s all the more reason to question how this situation even occurred with none of the checks and balances operating in either Police Scotland or the Crown Office.
I think the establishment could find it almost impossible to identify an appropriate office to conduct any criminal inquiry into this. The Crown Office have always seen themselves as standing above any other investigative authority in Scotland other than the courts and, more recently, perhaps, the Scottish Parliament. Strictly speaking, it’s the police’s duty to act under direction of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Therefore, if another police force is brought in to investigate, all they could do is check the administrative element of the various stages dealt with by Police Scotland officers.
In the absence of greater clarity in the future I can only imagine a senior judge-led inquiry could hope to get to the bottom of this debacle.
————————————————————————————————
I continue my campaign to get assistance from my MSP, Rona MacKay, who is a Deputy Convener of the Justice Committee and a Substitute Member of the Public Petitions Committee of the Scottish Parliament for a pubic inquiry into this scandal.
This morning I was finally led to a route to talk to her and I now expect to do this over the next few weeks.
PLEASE LOBBY YOUR OWN MSPS (NOT MPS AS THIS IS NOT A WESTMINSTER ISSUE) TO SUPPORT A FULL INVESTIGATION WHICH GOES RIGHT TO THE HEART OF THIS ISSUE.
@ CELTIC40ME on 1ST FEBRUARY 2021 1:15 PM
Ahh yes, negotiations were protracted because we were negotiating a contract with the player as opposed to a transfer fee with a club.
John McGinn anyone?
We have seen Celtic dither on many transfer in the past. Another to add to the list.
‘re Davis :This team will be broken up at the end of the season.
Subsequently I’m not too bothered about failing to sign a loan player I’ve never heard of.
Much bigger fish to fry.
HH.
Lennon and Lawwell won’t be missed.
They won’t be forgotten either.
Add DD and the board and we have the perfect storm for this disaster.
Did I hear someone say, “Recruitment.”? “Development.”? “Coaching”? “Tactics”?
A disgrace!
They would never have got away with it had we been at games…and they know it but don’t give a shit.
Expect the moonbeams when the Season Tickets are up for renewal.
Maybe we could have Lawwell do another Prince Andrew type interview to reassure us all?
But, only a complete mug would believe anything Lawwell or his successor will say.
What Marspapa said☝️
TURKEYBHOY on 1ST FEBRUARY 2021 12:52 PM
ERATIC,
Err,you have not done your homework.Read back.We should not be signing anyone permanently in this window.According to those who know these things,that is.Keep up man,for Gods sake.
—————————————
Someone posted a while back the list of players signed and hardly any and some no return at all in the last 3 years….
I certainly don’t want transfer budget / fees wasted on players who the next manager wont play.
I would hope there’s a new approach to buying players.
I’ll take 3rd in the league if it means a complete clear out and a fresh start / new ideas from the new manager/backroom staff and CEO .
I think it’ll be 2 seasons before we see the benefit.
Yeah, it could take longer than two Seasons, put it this way, who is going to rush out & pay £600+
renewal,considering the present day climate, not being allowed back into the Stadium, & what’s on
show @ present. The quicker we make the changes, the quicker we will benefit from it, or it will
be the continuing same as/same as & more disappointment.
Looks like Mr Whitehouse could blow the bloody doors off…
!!BADA BING!! on 31ST JANUARY 2021
2004 – £166,000
2005 – £299,000
2006 – £291,000
2007 – £264,000
2008 – £550,000
2009 – £739,000
2010 – £753,000
2011 – £80,000
2012 – £999,000
2013 – £999,000
2014 – £999,000
2015 – £999,000
2016 – £999,000
2017 – £1,167,000
2018 – £1,168,000
2019 – £3,549,000
2020 – £1,112,000
Total – £15,853,000
Add this year’s salary,and a wee leaving present as well no doubt.
could anyone explain why PL was paid £3.549.000. in 2919.
It would be nice if anyone can answer this question???
I have a couple of thoughts regarding this large bonus, I’ll let you know my thoughts on why he got such
a large bonus.
2019
It’s comforting to know that if we drop points tomorrow and witness
joke defending
non triers
baffling or no substitutions
apathetic bench
that absolutely nothing will happen .
Moaning about others “bleating”.
Priceless.
I sit in the hope that Lennon is ‘sacked’ today, just like his puppet master was at the tail end of last week.
However, lets not forget the role players have played in our downfall. Each and everyone of them needs to have a long hard look at themselves in the mirror to see if they gave all to the cause this season. Did they do more than required to take Celtic to Ten in a Row? They knew what lay at stake. They knew that they could take their place at the very highest reaches of Celtic folklore.
In my opinion not one of them took on the challenge. Not one of them put Celtic’s and the supports best interest ahead of their own. They took their wages and their jaunts abroad, but gave nothing back in return to those of us who pay them.
I won’t forget this. I won’t allow them to forget it either. To me they remain the third side in Scotland do do the 9. No more, no less.
I don;t mind being second best when you can clearly see everyone giving their best. This is not the case here. We have weak hearts and weak minds in our midst and I would gladly see the back of them all.
To think the fans who turned up after Ross County cup defeat were ridiculed by many on here. They and we didn’t do nearly enough protesting imo.
OldTim 67, you are damn tooting.
Who leaked the story to flush out suitors? Payer and agent playing the system holding out to the last minute to asses all options.
that’s the most obvious conclusion to me.
ROLLING_STONE on 1ST FEBRUARY 2021 1:25 PM
McGinn again :|
It’s a different situation to the McGinn deal.
If you are football player and Celtic or Liverpool want to sign you ,which one will you pick,It’s a no brainier Liverpool and wages ,so it’s isn’t about Peter Lawell..
Its just like the McGinn deal until you look even a tiny deeper than the “dithering” narrative
How come we only get players no-one else wants
Boycott or continue to see this gers-loving board (they are keeping gers on existence and destroying celtic completely and totally).
Boycott St s
Some making out a transfer is like unlocking The Enigma Code,it’s not,take a look around….
SAN LUIS on 1ST FEBRUARY 2021 1:43 PM
well put, agree , the only ones up for the 10 were the fans , the rest it would appear didn’t give a monkey’s.
Oldtim- good to see you posting sir,I think the big bonus, was deferred smaller (ha ha) bonuses….others will know more.
FAO SQUIRE DANAHER…
Do you have ANY advice that you and your good lady may have been given PRIOR to receiving your Covid Vaccines in relation to ” A timescale about Eating and drinking fluids, BEFORE and AFTER the Vaccine is given” ?
I cant see any advice whatsoever in relation to eating and drinking etc in my Letter.
Cheers mate.
HH.
@ celtic40me
‘Because they had to. We were negotiating a precontract with him not a transfer’
Are you are implying that negotiating a transfer is easier than negotiating a contract with a player?
The point I’m making is whether it is McGinn (failure to agree fee until player was in Birmingham) or week long negotiations to agree a pre-contract, Pedro has previous.
Another to the list…
Celtic40me
What’s difficult about it, you would think, if you can, that when negotiating you have a ceiling you can go to and of course you’d negotiate that down if you can, if not, you walk away, We couldn’t even close the pre contract agreement, Why were PL lapdogs still spouting it was done, even PNE thought it was done? (And they work in those circles and not guessing like all of us)
I don’t mind that you defend PL no matter what he does, to me, it just seems like he’s too busy trying to prove he’s the last to blink.
How long have we needed a CB, why are we procrastinating, do we think the 5 and 6 point cushions to Aberdeen and Hibs is enough? You can answer that if you like.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtFSFH9XAAAP7BP?format=jpg&name=medium
Cercle Brugge have sacked head coach Paul Clement.
James Forrest 12.33
100% correct
I was employed ,for 50years in sales ,I know how to close a deal Lawwell doesn’t .
The players not playing to spite Lennon, Lennon playing Duffy to spite lawwell, lawwell keeping Lennon on to spite the supporters. The problem is no one thinks they’re in the wrong
The issue re Davies is that it should not have come down to the player being put in the position to make a choice.
Celtic websites have been banging on most of this season that we have been after the player.
Especially after Jullien getting injured (and other factors well documented), a CB was urgently required.
Had our Sharp Suited Man – just for ONCE – signed the player in a deal the seller wanted, he would’ve been our player. But naw, he knows best. McGinn and Doughty two further examples of his legendary technique.
I don’t buy this “he was waiting for Liverpool”. The deal should’ve been done.
!!BADA BING!! on 1ST FEBRUARY 2021 1:50 PM
Some making out a transfer is like unlocking The Enigma Code,it’s not,take a look around….
The transfer wasnt the issue, we negotiated a pre-contract with the player.
thems fans raise £55,000 for Red Arrows to fly over Ibrox to mark first Premiership title
Big Jimmy
It is suggested you don’t consume alcohol for a couple of days afterwards as it may impact the impact of the vaccine on your immune system.
You get handouts with info re: advice/side effects when attending for the jag.
We had sore arms the following day and felt a bit wabbit for no other good reason 7-8 days later. Otherwise no probs.
https://www.nhsinform.scot/covid-19-vaccine/the-vaccines/side-effects-of-the-coronavirus-vaccines
We were promised a January review and yet the same old regime is trying to sign players. The outcome of the review seems to be a lifetime contract for NL. The club’s owner is showing contempt for the supporters.
SQUIRE DANAHER on 1ST FEBRUARY 2021 1:59 PM
The issue re Davies is that it should not have come down to the player being put in the position to make a choice.
How do you force a player to sign a pre-contract?
Had our Sharp Suited Man – just for ONCE – signed the player in a deal the seller wanted, he would’ve been our player
There wasnt seller in the deal. It was a negociation between Celtic and the player.
Celtic 40- either way, it’s not as difficult as folk making out,we are just amateur at it.
Celtic40Me.
I think you being disingenuous here.
Celtic had an aggravated need for a player who’d been identified as a target for months.
The club were willing to sell.
Celtic should have said here’s the offer to come now as opposed to June. Put a time limit on it and if he refuses to sign then we say GTF and move on.