So much happened yesterday, I’ll be as brief as possible:
Newco Rangers sent their counsel to the Court of Session to protest Charles Green’s contract with the club, stating it should pay legal expenses, now crystallising ahead of his forthcoming criminal trial.
In opposing Green, James Wolffe QC raised various objections, but as is often the case when people speak on behalf of Newco, included an arbitrary insistence that Newco operated the same club as the now liquidated Rangers.
Green’s QC, Jonathan Brown, put his pit boots on before stating his client’s case, but tantalisingly, before lunch informed the court that he would return to the same club/new club debate later. And didn’t he. Brown explained that Sevco Scotland purchased the assets of Rangers, not the club itself, with poetic prose adding:
“The team are paid by Sevco, plat at a ground owned by Secvo, are trained by a manager who is employed by Sevco and fans buy tickets from Sevco. That is the business that is being carried on.”
Adding that Rangers were “a collection of assets”, “What if the players were sold to one person and Ibrox to antoher, where is the ‘club’ then?”
I had to look away from court reporter, James Dolman’s Twitter feed at this point. It was like watching an acquaintance being humiliated. Not something you want to see.
Lord Doherty will determine if Newco should pay Green’s costs in due course, but this will be soon, as Jonathan Brown noted, “the rainy day has arrived”.
This next bit is really important:
Soon after court ended, Dave King was out with a rambling statement on the Newco website. If it was designed to play to the galleries, it hit the spot. If it was designed to influence what happens to his club, or how others will regard his input, it was surely an horrendous mistake.
It was a hard day to be chairman of Rangers International FC PLC. The court hearing only happened because the club objected to its contract with Green, so the unedifying episode could easily have been avoided. Despite this, sometimes you have to shut your mouth.
Sure, some Newco fans love a bit of grandstanding, but you know what yesterday’s statement will achieve. If the objective of the statement was to convince other Scottish clubs not to consider disciplinary action against Sir David Murray, or oldco Rangers, for their actions, it was an almighty miscalculation.
Threats seldom work. This one is unlikely to curry favour: “If the history of our Club comes under attack we will deal with it in the strongest manner possible and will hold to account those persons who have acted against their fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and to Scottish football.”
In short:
Don’t threaten clubs you are trying to influence.
Don’t grandstand to your own fans if you are trying to influence other clubs.
Keep a poker face. Keep your mouth shut, even if it means taking grief from your fans for the lack of public reaction.
King’s statement also addressed the sporting advantage issue from what we now know was an unlawfully operated tax scheme. While the EBT scheme saved tens of millions of pounds, and King earlier intimated this did provide a sporting advantage, yesterday he insisted the advantage was financial, that the shareholders were “committed to providing funding to the club” and would have done so, if required.
Here’s the thing, in 2012 another King statement revealed, “I have made a claim of £20m on the basis of non-disclosure by the then chairman, David Murray, of Rangers true financial position as far back as 2000.”
That commitment to further shareholder funding seems predicated on some controversial information. According to King, of course. Controversial enough to launch a £20m claim, but not to inhibit investment.
For the war-chest hunters among you, if you read this article covering King’s 2012 statement, you’ll find a strong clue.
One other quick but important point:
Some media are attempting to portray questions of sporting advantage as Rangers being punished for spending money they could afford, a travesty, as so many other clubs have done likewise.
This must surely be a deliberate attempt to misunderstand the issue and manipulate the debate.
No one suggests Rangers should be punished for spending money they could not afford. The questions are straightforward:
Did Rangers break tax law, break SFA rules and break SPL rules, when contracting football players?
Did they disclose matters openly with authorities (in other words, inadvertently make mistakes), or did they conspire to subvert the rules by hiding incriminating information?
Spending like the Borgias? Time to move on. Conspiracy to subvert the rules? We have a problem.
Don’t be distracted by potential ramifications to these questions, they are irrelevant for now. We should consider no more than did they break all of the above rules, should any the rule breaking be interpreted as an oversight, or does evidence of conspiracy to subvert the rules exist?
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On/off button and Home button pressed at same time until Apple logo appears should sort out most problems with an iPhone 5
Canalamar
It’s beyond parody for any Celtic fan or any other team for that matter, to even dream, the SFA will police, let alone condemn themselves.
The court of session decision is just another chapter in the great fraud of Scottish football.
Gaun yerself Rod
M1888
Cheers, I’ll give it a go
Melbourne Mick on 13th November 2015 9:08 pm
Yes great that you are all keeping the spirit of our founders going
Well Done
HH
Ireland are actually 3-0 up but nobody noticed.
EXCLUSIVE TMW – Celtic, offer for Marco Motta: the situation
11.13.2015 17:55 of Alessio Alaimo Twitter: alaimotmw article read 6818 times
© photo by Daniele Buffa / Image Sport
EXCLUSIVE TMW – Celtic, offer for Marco Motta: the situation
Sirens from Scotland for Marco Motta. The former Juventus defender, currently free, collecting acclaim abroad. Offer of one year plus an option from Celtic Glasgow. Ongoing contacts, Motta reflects. And in the background the Celta Vigo in Spain and some of the MLS teams. Motta ready to return to the field, comes on the market …
Melbourne Mick
When can I expect to see the prize :-))
Or do I need a 2nd team
BRTH
I wish you the very very best for tomorrow, what a gesture Bhud
Please get me the address for passing on warm clothes
And Richie – very hooooooopy birthday to you :-)
Fancy building a chronological list of their torments? I reckon it started with…
The CIty of London raid of Ibrox in July 2007.
But what was the next shame to humiliate Dignity FC ?
This could be a lonnnnnnnnnnng list…..
Still Bosnia HerzeFOGovina 0 Ireland 0
Reuters say at least two dead and seven wounded in shooting in Paris. Casualties at explosion at Stade de France nearby unknown
God help us!!!
JOE FILIPPIS HAIRCUT on 13TH NOVEMBER 2015 8:30 PM
Marco Motta is the Player you are talking about, last Club was Watford.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Johnjames latest…. I still can’t work the bloke out.
Dear co-investors,
No-one knows more about tax evasion than I do. I can categorically assure you that I shared your disappointment when David Murray chose a tax dodge from a pornographer, when I was willing to give him my tax porn for free. I questioned Murray’s sense of adventure. Who could resist a trust fund in The Sunshine Islands, with its equity owned in The Turks & Caicos, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Guernsey, with an interest in a private jet that flies exclusively in International waters? I refer to this as Catch me if you can, which I have protected as a trademark in South Africa.
As I have a criminal conviction for every year of my career, I’m uniquely qualified to comment on financial impropriety. No-one does it better than your chairman. Why use an EBT to loot a pension fund, when you can arrange for the Financial Director to sign it over to and then to join your company with indecent haste. What made it even more fun was that Greg and I were both pretending to be accountants who had qualified in Scotland.
I model myself on my half-brother Don King, who is constantly collecting belts from the WBO, IBF, WBF and WBA. I collected pension funds, including those of Umgemi and some of the major municipalities, then siphoned off their value by selling off the equity on the fly. Greg and I laughed so much that we though someone was pumping nitrous oxide through the office air conditioning system.
However you’ll be laughing on the other side of your face if you think you can take our titles. First of all you will note that DM refused to adopt my suggestion that he write the side letters in invisible ink. I even offered David a loan of my portable paper shredder. (Note to self, ask Martin Bain to return my shredder on next trip to Scotland.) So I’m sure you will wholeheartedly agree with me that if I had been Chairman, and not Lionel Rich Tea, avoiding title stripping would have not been inordinately taxing.
You have to take a holistic view of taxation, debt and title stripping. Don and I embody what Scottish Football should aspire to. Our family motto is ‘Live Strong’ which we borrowed from our favourite cyclist, Lance Armstrong. We won’t be countenancing any of those little teams getting their hands on our prize money. Besides what would they do with it? Improve fan facilities? Don and I have had more spectators at our games of Subbuteo than attend their grounds.
Anyway less of the velvet glove, and a bit more iron fist. If you don’t cease and desist this title stripping malarkey I will buy some shares in your clubs and donate them to Craig, Sandy and their Australian cousins at The Sons of Strewth. I will ensure that their gazebo-piercing polemics disrupt your AGM. I have also commisioned Je Suis Graham to forensically examine all club accounts and if he so much as detects a hardboard free kick wall with a dodgy football lace, He will unleash a tsunami of Whataboutery.
For those who think I’ll be less effective when banged up in a London ‘Pokey’ at Christmas, then think again. Jim Whyte from Sky Sports will be dropping by for an audience at Her Majesty’s, Brixton, so that I can address the Rangers Commonwealth. Should I find out that anyone has been stirring the titles stripping Eggnog, I can assure that I won’t be taking prisoners.
When it comes to tax evading and prisons. you know that your chairman speaks with a seasoned authority.
I was thinking we need another right back we’ve only got four and we usually have five
10 minutes of the ghost game left.
Gearoid 1998
Yes thats what makes us unique.
Wee mhan is coming along nicely second top scorer for his team last
year just need to keep reminding him not to try and do everybody’s job
and concentrate on his own.
Forgot to say theres a few 9,s and 10,s of our picks and 4 sitting on 11
its amazing how most CQNrs are on the same page as us.
H.H Mick
Canny see Bosnia or Ireland winning this
IRELAND HAVE SCORED
1-0,priceless
1-0 Ireland
Ireland score (apparently)
Ireland score – couldn’t see that coming
It should head with…An alternative Dave King statement.
Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Unbelievably Ireland scored
HH
Cashed out for £5.64 ;-)
James Forrest
I had the Mis-fortune to hear that absolute buffoon on the radio, as I drove home
He should be out of a job after that
Let’s see what’s happens, I would guess nothing.
Wish someone would phone and make the point
The rules, declare full contracts to be allowed to play
They did not, only point EBT needs mentioned, hidden contracts, therefore played illegible players
What are the rules for playing in-illegible players ?
Thrown out of competitions, and a 3-0 defeat for all games
No more needed for any discussion on the matter
Foggy dew !!!!!
And now stuck 14p on the draw ;-) ;-) ;-)
Haven’t the foggiest who scored it.
ONE ALL
COYBIG…
HH
OOOOPPPPPSSSS
One each
HH
Wooft – that was a quick equaliser!!
Melbourne Mick
Am no looking for a teeshirt but I ruled out 1965-1980, so I think my team was the best from 1980-2015 !
Cashed out for 83p
Turned 14p into 83p in less than a minute – what’s that in APR terms??
A measured statement from Celtic.
Probably the way to go stating facts.
Me? I’d be giving the Hun it with both barrels , taking no prisoners.
Maybe that’s why I ain’t running Celtic!
Very much hope it’s just an opening salvo and all will be unleashed very very soon!
HH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF0HhrwIwp0
Kings of Leon
HH